My favorite professor: Deanna Hammarsten

I had many great professors at Lafayette, but Prof. Deanna Hammarsten in the Math Department was really special. She no longer teaches here, but I still remember how great she was at teaching and also just being a friend.

I didn’t want to take any math class in college because one, I was bad at it, and two, I didn’t think I would need it. After talking to my adviser, I agreed to give it a chance and took Math 125 with her. It was the best decision ever. She was super organized. She was also super nice. She made it so easy to talk to her.

That was my first semester at Lafayette, and I was super uncomfortable seeing professors because back home we don’t do that. She made it so easy for me to just approach her and be honest. It was really gratifying to finally know that I could do some math.

We talked a lot about our favorite movies outside class. She told me that she would always go to the theater and watch movies with her husband and kids. We talked about nothing related to math, but we also talked about math a lot in class and during office hours. I ended up loving math (at least the three math classes I took at Laf) and took another math class with her the following semester. —Mirana Randriamanantsoa ’21