Loving math, living the dream

Tracy Watson and Corey Boby love math, each other, their dogs, their pink Jeep, their motorcycle—and Ohio University.

The award-winning teachers are known for their love of teaching and their dedication to helping students succeed, and now they have created a new award that will continue to help students for years to come.

Three decades after they met as graduate students in the Mathematics Department at Ohio University, Watson and Boby are back in Athens, living the dream. They love teaching math, driving around Southeastern Ohio on their Indian Roadmaster motorcycle or their pink Jeep, and spending time fishing on the weekends.

“Coming back to OU has been a dream come true for us,” says Boby, ’96 MS, who serves as an assistant professor of instruction in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Watson, ’93 MS, who is also an assistant professor of instruction in the College of Arts and Sciences, discovered her love for teaching as a graduate student. Boby, though, always knew he wanted to be a teacher.

You might think their three-decade journey would be in the shape of a trapezoid or hexagon, but it looks more like the shortest distance between two points in Euclidean geometry. For Boby and Watson, the journey was from Athens to Arkansas and back to Athens.

Boby first moved to Arkansas in 1996 for a job at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs.

“She convinced me to take it,” Boby said. “I think she was hoping I would never come back,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 

Their careers would span both secondary and college teaching in Arkansas—until they were drawn back to OHIO.

“It is so awesome to be back at OU and feels like Corey and I have come full circle to the place where our lives started as a couple,” says Watson.

Watson, named a College of Arts and Scienced Notable Alumni in 2019, has an interest in sharing how to use educational technology appropriately in the classroom as a consultant for Texas Instruments.

Boby’s career has included receiving the 2017 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. He has a keen interest in mathematics technology and has presented across the United States for Texas Instruments and College Board.

But their lasting legacy is the hearts they’ve touched and the love for math they’ve inspired. 

To help ensure that future lovers of math can pursue their own dreams, they’ve set up the Boby/Watson Rising Star in Mathematics Teaching Award.

The award is being presented each year to a student  who has shown promise as an aspiring teacher as a first-year graduate teaching assistant in the OHIO Department of Mathematics. The awardee is selected by a committee consisting of members of the Mathematics Department through an application process. 

OHIO student John Iluno named as first recipient of new award

The first recipient of the Boby/Watson Rising Star in Mathematics Teaching Award is John Iluno.

As a first-year graduate student in the Mathematics Department, Iluno taught College Algebra and PreCalculus.

In response to being selected as the awardee, Iluno said “I am truly grateful and humbled to have been selected for this award. With each passing semester, I fall more in love with teaching mathematics. I will continue to strive for excellence and work hard to inspire and support my students.”