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Faculty Focus: Nick Shay

Campus News | Monday, February 3, 2025

Nick ShayFrom an early age, Nick Shay was exposed to higher education in his family. His grandfather, Ron Shay, spent 38 years as a teacher, football coach, Dean of Boys, and development director at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus. (An Ohio State University graduate, Ron had been the captain of the OSU baseball team in the 1950s as he pursued his own degree.) While Ron was clearly a role model for what would lead to Nick’s career as an educator, it could have also led to a different career route.

Shay realized he wanted to be a teacher while still in high school, perhaps in history or literature. “However, my grandfather tried to dissuade me from those fields,” he said. “He was a practical man and had read in "Consumer Reports” magazine that there might not be a sufficient demand in those subjects. He also worried supporting a family as a teacher would be challenging. And he would know first-hand as the father of five children.”

Shay said the teaching bug grew stronger in high school after excelling in math courses. “I had the same teacher for Geometry and Algebra II. She supported my decision to skip pre-calculus because I wanted a challenge. I went straight to calculus my senior year.”

A good friend was in that class. “She and I would meet weekly to go over the lessons.” It was during that time that teaching really ‘clicked’ for Shay. “I was explaining points to her, and I was learning and feeling more confident in my abilities while being able to teach someone,” he said.  

Shay graduated from Bishop Watterson High School. (He lived across the street from the school and, as a result, he said, “I could never play hooky because my grandfather worked there), He earned a Bachelor of Science in Education at Ohio University in 2005. It was an Adolescence/Young Adult grades 9-12 degree track.

In 2009, he began a Master of Arts in Teaching degree at Miami University in Oxford with an emphasis in Mathematics.

The master’s degree opened the door for an adjunct teaching position at Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) in Newark for the summer semester in 2011. Shay was hired full time that fall and spent eight years at the college.

In 2019, an acquaintance at Columbus State told him about a mathematics teaching position that had just been posted. He applied and was hired as an associate professor for Autumn Semester that year. “While I enjoyed working at COTC, Columbus was my community,” he said. “I have lived here and grew up here, and it provided me with a chance to work at a large college. The rich cultural, ethnic, and creative diversity of the faculty at Columns State helps me.”

Shay uses the built-in diversity of the Columbus State student body to aid his students. “I have them work together for group exercises,” he said. “That gives them real-life experience working with people who are ‘not like them.’ It will expand their horizons when they begin their careers.”

Those “group exercises” are vital to Shay’s teaching technique. “I facilitate conversations by having students teach each other in small groups,” he said. “It goes back to my experience in high school when I helped teach classmates and learned more about math in the process.”

“I think it’s more effective than standing in front of the class telling demonstrating a process. They learn more when they are forced to explain something while helping teach each other. Some students are hesitant to do group work, but I see it as ‘rising tides lifts all ships.’”

Shay added, “When a “B” student has to sit down and explain it, they are helping the other students while simultaneously deepening their understanding of the concept. I see some of them become “A” students. It is one thing to ‘do’ a math problem; it is another when they must ‘explain’ it.”

His teaching methods clearly resonate with students. They have nominated him three times for the Distinguished Teaching Award.” In 2024, he (and three other faculty members) won that honor.

“I get joy taking someone that walks into my class with a look as if they are going to get a root canal provide them with reassurance that regardless of their prior experiences, they can do well and taking a math class does not need to be a painful process.” he said. “I enjoy seeing them begin to understand and grasp the math concepts.”

Shay’s most challenging time in his career came in 2020, when, like all faculty nationwide, he was forced to convert all classes online. “Classes on Zoom were challenging because of ‘student accountability,’” said Shay. “If their cameras were not turned on, they may or may not be engaged. To compensate, I learned to use Zoom ‘breakout rooms’ with an exit question they were required to answer.”

Shay said the experience helped him refine his online classes. “I took professional development courses,” he said. “For intensive training, I took ‘Effective Online Training,’ which provided additional knowledge of working with students from a distance.”

In 2023, Shay was granted tenure at Columbus State and was promoted to associate professor. For now, Shay said he does not see any significant career change on the horizon. “I love teaching.”

 

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