Associate Teaching Professor of Mathematics Dimitri Papadopoulos, EdD, recently sat down with Dean David Brown, PhD to discuss classroom techniques, how math translates to other fields and more.  

Papadopoulos earned both a master's degree in mathematics and a doctorate in higher education at Drexel. During his time in the EdD program, he worked with students to help them understand how learning mathematical proofs could translate outside of the classroom. “Exposition matters, and being able to communicate ideas is just as important as being able to generate them,” he explained.  

As a professor in the Department of Mathematics, Papadopoulos strives to make the classroom feel like a learning community. “My approach is to really make sure that students in my class feel heard; that they feel like all of their questions matter and are enlightening not just to them, but also to their peers.”   

What advice would Papadopoulos offer to current students taking a math class? He shared words of wisdom that his own grandfather imparted on him as a kid: “If you can learn math, you can learn anything.”  

“More and more I find that this is the value in a liberal arts education,” he added. “If you can learn any of the liberal arts subjects, they can all be an entryway into basically anything else that you want to learn.” 

Watch the full video below and learn more about mathematics at Drexel here.