Biography:
Tia really cares about her students and enjoys being involved in their activities.
As an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Technology and Architecture and the award-winning advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers Student Club, she spends a lot of time with students in class and out of class. And that’s important to her.
Her efforts are paying off. The ASCE Student Club is very active. The club received the Most Outstanding Student Club award from ASCE National for five out of the last six years. In addition, Fairmont State represented the entire region at the National Concrete Canoe Competitions for the last three years and has been the only West Virginia college invited to this event.
Tia, who has been a full-time professor here since 1998 and also does research for the West Virginia Division of Highways, wanted to teach full-time at FSU because of its smaller class sizes. Having earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from WVU, she wanted to teach classes where students receive more personal attention.
For her efforts helping students, Tia was honored with the Excellence in Academic Advising Award in 2004 and was nominated for the Boram and Straight teaching awards in 2007.
What have you learned while teaching at Fairmont State?:
While teaching at Fairmont State, I have learned that the students want to learn. As their professor, you have to genuinely want them to learn and may sometimes have to modify your approach to reach them all, which often creates more work for you. No question is stupid! If you treat them with respect, they will treat you with more respect and they will work harder.
What do students like best about your class?:
I give a lot and I expect a lot, and by and large the response has been favorable. My classes are not “textbook.” Engineering is not an exact science and so answers are not black and white. Tying real life scenarios to the textbook materials really helps students to understand real word approaches to problem solving, even if the solutions are long and involved.
