school – Houghton STAR

Jason Bintz: Southern Math Teacher Turned Seminarian Turned Houghton Math Professor

The first time Doctor Jason Bintz, Houghton College’s new assistant professor of applied mathematics, attempted to visit the Houghton campus, he found himself snowbound. Fresh from a mild Tennessee winter, he arrived in Buffalo to learn that his ride from the college could not drive into the city. Bintz was ultimately forced to find a hotel room, and conducted the first part of his job interview over Skype. Happily, he made it to campus the next day, and was officially offered the position a few weeks later.

Despite the snowy introduction to Houghton, Bintz was thrilled accepted the offer.

“I was just leaving my house when I got the call,” said Bintz. “I went back inside, and celebrated with my family.”

Bintz began his career in higher education as an undergraduate student at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Like Houghton, Covenant is both a liberal arts college and a member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. Bintz graduated from the institution with a degree in mathematics in 2003, and immediately found work teaching high school math in nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three years later, he decided to continue his education, but in a different field.

“In my time working with high school students, I felt called to seminary,” said Bintz. “I wanted to receive the same training a pastor receives.”

This new vocation led Bintz to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he and his wife resided until his graduation in 2008. From there, Bintz returned to teaching math at the secondary level for one last year before he made the choice to pursue graduate work in applied mathematics at the University of Tennessee. He graduated with his Ph.D. this year.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to be in a college setting,” said Bintz.

During his time at the University of Tennessee, Bintz worked on two main projects in the area of mathematical biology. One attempted to find the best way to allocate resources in order to benefit a specific species, while the other involved building a mathematical model to evaluate the policies implemented by hospitals to reduce Clostridium difficile infections. Bintz remains interested in the broad range of mathematical applications for biology research, and hopes to eventually interest his students in this area.

According to Linda Mills Woolsey, Dean of the College and Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Bintz’s work using math to support biology research, along with his abilities as an interdisciplinary thinker, helped tip the balance in his favor during the hiring process. Kristin Camenga, former chair of Houghton’s department of mathematics and computer science, as well as a member of the search committee that hired Bintz, echoes this sentiment.

“One of the things that impressed me about Jason is his care for people and his deep interest in subjects that cut across disciplinary lines,” she said. “The fact that he has a seminary degree and a Ph.D. in applied math gives him a broad base of knowledge to connect with others, but Jason did research to find out about other faculty at Houghton and their interests to discover commonalities. I really think he will be a great addition to the math faculty and the college at large!”

Bintz first met with the search committee from Houghton for a short interview in early January at the 2015 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Antonio, Texas. They met once more during his February campus visit before Bintz was offered the job. While he had applied other places, Houghton was always his preference.

“I had a pretty strict profile in mind of where I wanted to be,” said Bintz. “Houghton was the only school that fit the profile, and the job was exactly what I wanted to do.” He adds that he is also excited for his wife and three children to experience the kind of community Houghton has to offer them as a family. “We’re really happy to be here.”

This semester, Bintz teaches Calculus I, Multi-Variable Calculus, and Probability and Statistics. His experience in his field, his commitment to his faith and family, and his enthusiasm about the college community all point to his being an excellent fit for Houghton.

Last week in the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama outlined America’s College Promise, a plan to “lower the cost of community college — to zero.”

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the proposal aims to waive tuition for community college students who maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA and “make steady progress toward completing their program.” The plan applies to both half-time and full-time students and includes certificate, associate, and bachelor’s degrees. The plan would cost the federal government an estimated $60-billion over ten years, which would cover 75% of projected costs, while participating states would be asked to fund the other 25%.

Dr. Linda Mills Woolsey, Dean of the College, who said she has “mixed feelings” about the plan, described it as a “well-intentioned” attempt to “meet a projected education gap” and to “make sure that there’s access to education for people from all economic backgrounds.” Woolsey said doing this solely through the community college system, however, encourages the mass-production of education,“we’re imagining a kind of Henry Ford type way to get students through their first couple years of education.”

Eric Currie, Vice President for Enrollment Management, said while initially the plan might “create a challenging moment” for Houghton, the already existing “great transfer processes” Houghton has with community colleges will be an important asset. Currie said Houghton is likely to continue to prioritize the continued development of online programs and of the Buffalo campus of Houghton, both of which more closely meet the needs of the demographic of students primarily targeted by America’s College Promise.

President Shirley Mullen said her primary concern is the current prominence of cost in the dialogue about higher education would make it “easy for the idea of a free two-year college to just be too tempting for students for whom that really isn’t the best option and not the only option,” and usually the rhetoric about cost “underestimates the impact of [four year] education on even one’s financial resources over the long haul.” She described a sadness in the potential loss, not just for Houghton, but for all students pursuing higher education if the proposal draws students away from four-year learning communities that in general provide “a more coherent education overall.” However, Mullen also said, “we would like to have more transfer students” as they often bring a greater appreciation for Houghton and a more focused drive. Currently, transfer students make up 18% of incoming students and 15% of the student body.

Currie said while he supports anything that will bring education to more people, he would have liked to see the government offer to pay two years of tuition for eligible students at any college that was able to meet a given price cap. “I would say challenge us all to rise to the occasion. Not just community colleges,” said Currie. “Challenge whoever is willing to go and make it happen…I think that that edifies some of the best things about our society which is innovation, entrepreneurship…and the kind of take charge personality, and yet still meeting people’s needs.”

The needs of the people are not just financial. Woolsey said she embraces the social good of widely-available free education, but is not sure “it will do what we want it to do if in the process we lose the richness and variety of higher education.” Woolsey said, “These small private colleges and even some of the midsized, private Christian colleges offer an education that’s more varied, sometimes more creative, and certainly more focused on the individual.”

Though at this point it seems highly unlikely that the proposal will make it through congress any time soon, Currie said, “Whether it’s President Obama or the next President or the President after that, I think that something like this is going to come through…it’s on the radar in the federal government and in the state governments that they feel that they really want to have an impact on this issue, and I think they feel it’s important.”