Notable Alumni | Tracy Watson Shares Math Happiness in Her Classroom

Editor’s Note: The College of Arts & Sciences Notable Alumni Awards honor alumni for broad career accomplishments, commitment to community service, and valuable contributions to Ohio University and the College of Arts & Sciences.

Theresa “Tracy” Watson ’93 M.S. Mathematics

Theresa “Tracy” Watson acquired her love for teaching math in graduate school, but her husband, Corey Boby ’96 M.S., always wanted to be a teacher, says an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article titled “Benton math teachers create inviting tone.”

Watson earned an M.S. in Mathematics from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University in 1993. Boby earned his M.S. in Mathematics in 1996. Both teach math in Arkansas.

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Watson is a math and computer science teacher at Benton High School. Her husband works with math teachers in 22 schools district in the Benton area and is a 2017 PAEMST awardee. The couple, who met in graduate school, just celebrated 22 years together this past summer.

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She told the Democrat Gazette:

Watson had no intention of becoming a teacher. It wasn’t until she was in graduate school at Ohio University did she fall in love with the idea.

“I had no desire until three years into graduate school,” Watson said. “To get them to pay for your tuition, they threw me into a classroom as a teacher’s assistant.

“That’s where I found I just like doing math. You give me math problems, and I am happy. And I found with teaching, that’s what I could do.”

Watson, who was also a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for 13 years, said she just loves school, and the math class is what she enjoyed the most.

“I got my undergraduate degree in math, and it wasn’t until I was forced to teach that I realized I could stay in school for the rest of my life and be a teacher,” she said.