Tracy Black

I would like to congratulate Tracy Black on her new role as "super mother."  A baby girl soon to arrive and an upcoming wedding to the love of her life, Tracy will be busy - but when has she not been busy. 

She will be taking a year's maternity leave.  Her adventurous spirit, her ability to build courses (and roofs), her team spirit, her smarts and her friendly smile will be missed.  Lindsay will be lonely without her co-conspirator.  Lee will not know what to do with Google courses.  Anytime Online math students will miss her expertise but also her encouragement and support.  The department will miss her work and direction in the development of exams. 

I remember when we hired Tracy.  Michael and I had just gone through two rounds of interviews for an "online high school instructor to work at a college".  We had interviewed many candidates, from the unstable tutor to the underemployed phd. research assistants.  We had turned them all down as unsuitable.  We were about to give up hope, when a resume appeared online for a suitable candidate for a casual instructor position.  She had taught math at numerous levels, was comfortable with technology, glowing references and was looking to establish herself in Calgary.  We called to arrange for an interview.  For the three of us the best we could arrange was an Adobe Connect meeting, with Tracy in between classes in Lacombe, Michael at his house, and me at mine, talking over webcams. I gave the sales pitch:  established online program using the latest technology, that of course meaning we were using pdfs and we had been around more than two years.  She asked how organized we were.  I told her that we had an online assistant and we ran a tight ship.  In retrospect, we had everything everywhere.  Poor Michael's audio was not working well, so he spent most of the meeting nodding.  Obviously, she saw or heard something she liked and decided to join us.  

She showed up only to find that I was away on holidays for the first week: it could not be helped.  She discovered that she needed to help us organize. She found out that we were not so technologically advanced.  She saw that a lot of work needed to be done.  And she let me know about it when I returned.  Ever since, she has worked hard to get us organized.  She has always led by example.  She is the first one done.  She does not accept less: she takes great pride in her work and in the work of others.  She genuinely cares about her students and teaches them math as her contribution to making this world a   better place.  In between all of this, she works on her house and climbs mountains.  She is an Anytime Online leader, a curriculum hero and a really good person.

I will miss her.  Her baby will be so blessed to have such a mom.  Her husband to be is a fortunate man.  We hope she will visit and return to the team when she is ready.