Beverly Reed, associate professor of mathematical science, won the Outstanding Mathematics Teacher Award from the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics and will be honored at a reception on Oct. 17 in Dayton at the OCTM annual conference.

“It makes me very happy because I love teaching and to have others acknowledge my passion is cool,” Reed said.

“It’s an honor, of course, but also a responsibility to try to live up to it every day in the classroom.”

The Kenneth Cummins Outstanding Mathematics Teacher Award is named after Kenneth Cummins, who taught at Kent State and was well-known throughout Ohio for his teaching practices, according to the award website.

“Ken Cummins was an outstanding educator and to be awarded recognition in his honor deeply touched me,” Reed said.

Reed said she started as a part-time instructor at Kent State in 1986 and became a full-time instructor in 1990.

She received her Ph.D., from Kent State in 2007 in curriculum and instruction.

Reed said she thinks it’s important for students to learn and understand the material instead of just mimicking what they were shown.

“I try to de-emphasize meaningless memorization and focus on understanding,” Reed said. “Achieving understanding takes significant effort on the part of the students and significant patience on the part of the teacher.”