Category: Stories In Focus

Dr. Karen Torraca has pulled more all-nighters as a professor than she ever did as a student. This semester, they paid off. She was recently awarded tenure after six-and-a-half years at Houghton.

Tenure is recognition of a professor as an integral part their institution. Dr. Torraca’s tenure solidifies her relationship with Houghton College. She has come a long way to earn it.

Long before her professorship, Torraca came to Houghton as a student trying to get out of Delaware. “I’m the youngest of four kids; I’m the only girl,” she stated flatly. By the time she had finished high school, she was ready to leave home and go somewhere new.

For Torraca, Houghton was a perfect undergrad choice. It was the furthest her father would allow her to get away from home. Her uncle was a professor of physics at the college. It had a reputable science and math program. Also, it was small enough that she could still play the sports that she held so dearly.

Coming to Houghton in 1989, she pursued an interest in both math and science while playing on the field hockey team. The outlet of sports allowed her to get away from her studies and keep her mind fresh. In her first year at the college, she wasn’t sure what discipline she should follow. By her sophomore year, her love of organic chemistry made the answer clear. She made a pact with herself. If she could make it through the year and enjoy chemistry, she would stick with it.

Having survived the semester still keen on the subject, she made her decision. She declared as a chemistry major with the help of her advisor, Dr. Christensen.

In her junior year, she began dating her future husband. He was an english major – a year younger than her.

Between her junior and senior years, she took an internship at Dow Chemical. She loved the experience of working in an industrial environment. She was ready to go to grad school and get out into the field as soon as she could. Yet, the journey would not prove to be so simple.

As her Senior year ended, she was set for a slot at the University of Florida. Pressure from those above her made her feel that she had to attend grad school right away. She was hesitant. Struck by illness and worry about her ability to handle a long-distance relationship, her gut told her not to go.

In the midst of this struggle, a friend of her now husband reached out to her. “They said to me ‘You know, if you don’t go to grad school, if you take a year off, and you end up not going to grad school. Maybe you weren’t supposed to go.’,” she recounted, “All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off.” She concluded that she would defer a year before attending graduate school. Now the challenge came in the execution of such a plan.

She nervously called the University of Florida and spoke to an admissions counselor. Having not known what to expect, she was surprised at how accommodating the school was with her deference. Adding to that, the school’s waiting list for married housing happened to be about a year long, making it a perfect fit for the couple.

The deftness with which these plans fell together seemed unthinkable at the time. However, when she looks back, Torraca said it all makes sense to her, “In hindsight, when I was hitting my head against the wall, I needed to realize that maybe that’s not where God’s leading right away.”

Torraca spent the year living with her husband only a few houses down from the home they live in today. They had married in July of 1993 after deciding to do so only three months earlier. While her husband finished undergrad, she worked as a custodian and tutored for organic chemistry in the evenings.

In Autumn of 1994, she began attending the University of Florida. While being at a large school was a change from her roots at Houghton, she found that the work ethic she developed here provided a seamless transition. After five years studying organometallic chemistry – how metals interact with organic compounds – she had earned her PhD. Finally, she could get out of academia and into the real world.

“God had other things in store,” she said, nodding wistfully. Her advisor recommended that she do postdoctoral research. As much as she did not want to, a poor economy and dearth of industrial jobs led Torraca to accept her advice.

She went on to do research at MIT in the laboratory of Steve Buchwald. Two years later, she had finished her research and was ready to begin interviewing for jobs. After many interviews with companies who wanted her, she decided on Eli Lilly and Company.

The plant she would be working at was in Lafayette, Indiana. She and her husband moved there having never lived off of the East Coast. The experience was new, but rewarding. She remembers,””I felt guilty for earning money doing what I did because I just loved it so much.”

After several years of working her dream job, she got a call from Dr. Irmgard Howard, Professor of Chemistry at her alma mater. She was offered a job at Houghton and promptly answered, “No”. However, in the weeks following, she and her husband talked the offer over. They prayed about it together and began to reconsider. She thought it might be better for their family to be in the environment that Houghton offered, even if that meant taking a pay cut to do so.

Torraca always felt that one day she would teach. It was the profession of both her parents and a passion of her’s to mentor. She came to Houghton in 2007. It was a rough first year. She had no experience teaching before Houghton. She was suddenly thrown into a unknown territory: selecting textbooks, writing notes, and creating exams. At the same time, she had to develop a series of labs to parallel the coursework. Thankfully, her advisor from her undergraduate years, Dr. Christensen, was still in the community. She tapped him and her graduate advisor to help her develop notes for organic chemistry. She expresses great respect for those students who labored with her through the first year. Now, almost seven years later, she has fully reined in professorship. She understands how to cultivate learning in her classes, as well as in the lives of her students.

She is often lauded for both her work in academics and her joyful spirit. “Dr. Torraca is incredibly knowledgeable in her field of study. Her organic chemistry classes are very fast-paced and packed with a lot of information.” Sophomore David Tse stated, continuing,”Students in the past have said that the MCAT chemistry sections are a breeze after taking Organic Chemistry from her. She is usually in her office and is always willing to provide explanations for homework or life advice.” Junior Jina Libby added, “One time, I was studying for finals in the science building, and she and her kids came in with a tray of homemade crème puffs to give away to the students.”

She will oftentimes have students plop themselves down in her office and begin a conversation with, “This has nothing to do with school.” Dr. Torraca sees these four years as a formative time for her students. They are trying to define the world through a new perspective. In some cases, she can see organic chemistry acting as the first barrier that students hit, forcing them to stop and reconsider the path that they are taking. She enjoys mentoring them through these times and hopes that she can help them discover something about themselves.

Having thought back on her past few years and where she has ended up, Torraca reflected,”I’m amazed at the places that God has led and allowed us to be.” She looks forward to a future at Houghton: teaching and learning from her students, having them over for dinner at the end of each year, and going into each new year watching the light bulb moments that flash in their eyes when something clicks. This is why she teaches.