Program Team

Dr. Deborah Gochenaur, PI

dlgochenaur@ship.edu

With humble beginnings as a college dropout at the age of 18, Dr. Gochenaur returned to school at the age of 32 when her youngest child was in kindergarten, graduating with her Ph.D. the same year that her oldest child earned a B.A. in Mathematics. Dr. Gochenaur earned a B.S. in Mathematics from Penn State Harrisburg and a M.S. in Mathematics from Shippensburg University. After spending several years teaching high school, and four years teaching at a private college, Dr. Gochenaur joined the Ship Math faculty in 2009. Her professional interests lie in mathematics education and learning disabilities that negatively impact students' abilities in mathematics, and she enjoys partnering with mathematics education students to conduct research in learning disabilities. Debbie is an active member of mathematics and mathematics education organizations, serving on state and national committees, including serving as President of the Pennsylvania Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators from 2020 to 2022. In her personal time, Dr. Gochenaur likes to read, garden, tend the chickens, and spend time with family, especially her grandchildren.

Dr. Johnna Goble (Barnaby), Co-PI

jpbarnaby@ship.edu

Dr. Goble received her B.S. in mathematical sciences from Franciscan University of Steubenville. From there she went on to receive her PhD in Applied Mathematics from Florida State University. Dr. Goble joined the SU faculty in 2019. Her interests include mathematical modeling, with a focus on biological applications.

Matthew Pragel, Co-PI

mepragel@hacc.edu

Matthew Pragel is an associate professor of mathematics at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College. He previously served as the department chair for the mathematics and computer science department at HACC. Matthew was a 2021 recipient of the Leila and Simon Peskoff award from the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC.) He is also a cohort 9 fellow of the AMATYC Project ACCCESS.

Jennifer S. Szczesniak, Co-PI

jsszczesniak@hagerstowncc.edu

Jennifer Szczesniak is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and started teaching at Hagerstown Community College in the fall of 2007. Since arriving in Hagerstown Jennifer has taught classes ranging from developmental math to Calculus III. She has developed new curriculum including a general education class in applied algebra and a programming class for engineering students. She has spent the last 12 years as one of the advisors for the college’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

She has a BA in Mathematics and French from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA and an MS in Mathematics from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. She is currently taking classes towards an MS in Data Science at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Candace Claar, Senior Personnel

cyc5183@psu.edu

Dr. Claar is Senior Personnel for professional development for Shippensburg’s Noyce program.  She received her B.S. in business education and M.Ed. from Frostburg State University and an Ed.D. from Shippensburg University/Millersville University.  In her educational career, Dr. Claar was an high school and middle school teacher, principal, and director of curriculum.  After her years in K-12 education, she was the Director of Professional Experiences, and Outreach at Shippensburg University.  In 2022, she is an Assistant Professor in Workforce Education at Pennsylvania State University.  Her research interests include teacher preparation and teacher leadership.

Dr. Kate McGivney, External Evaluator

kgmcgi@ship.edu

Kate McGivney is the external evaluator for Shippensburg's Noyce program. She received a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Hartford, a M.S. in mathematics from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Lehigh University. After completing her Ph.D., she accepted a three-year teaching post-doc position at the University of Arizona. She returned to the northeast in 2000 when she joined the faculty at Shippensburg. Her areas of interest include probability and statistics. Dr. McGivney has extensive experience conducting program evaluation at Shippensburg and serves on several committees focusing on assessment.