Dr. Mary Tam’s calling has been teaching.  And she’s exceptional at it whether it’s in a structured classroom or at a local school showing off the cool things of science to young minds, proving to them that chemistry CAN be fun.  On top of being a highly regarded Professor of Chemistry, she also works at the Science and Math Learning Center (SMLC) in the Student Success Center as the Chemistry Coordinator for tutoring services.  It is here where she works one-on-one with students seeking help in general and organic chemistry.  While she does not do this job alone, she is responsible for the development and training of many JMU student-tutors, working to provide the best tutoring service available on campus in chemistry, physics, math and statistics. 

Mary knew she wanted to be a chemistry professor early on.  How do I know this?  I knew her in grad school.  And I still know her now.  I have watched her teach and devote time, patience, and more patience to help students learn.  Every year, Mary visits a local school in our community to demonstrate chemistry, even having the students work themselves on laboratory experiments so that the students gain hands-on experience with materials.  She loves her job and the art of teaching is natural to her. 

For the last 3 years Mary has stepped into the Associate Director of the SMLC role as an interim.  She did this not out of desire, but out of necessity, sacrificing her time to; develop the SMLC into a service providing the best possible tutoring available; applying for SMLC certification through the College Reading & Learning Association.  Through the 2020 pandemic and beyond, Mary was dedicated to making the SMLC accessible for all students and did whatever necessary so that students still had the valuable tutoring resources available online.

As a college professor myself, I understand the reward and demands of teaching excellence.  I would like to see Dr. Mary Tam be acknowledged for her contribution toward learning and inspiration toward others.  She’s had students appreciate her so much with personalized cards and gifts like a periodic table shower curtain, periodic table socks and shirts, I mean, how can she not be incredibly influential on students with gifts like these.