For those of you who have trouble pronouncing my name, it easier to say my nickname, "Mari" (pronounced mah-dee).

Birthplace:  Brownsville, Tx. (border town located in the southern tip of Texas). Brownsville is considered part of "El Valle" (the valley).

Race: Mexican   

Family: I am married to my wonderful husband, Jeff. He's an Aerospace Engineer (knew he wanted to be one since 6th grade!). We've been married 5 yrs. +, and don't have children yet, but we have a Weimaraner dog, "Smokey". My husband's an only child and I come from a family of 7 siblings (5 bros & 2 sis.).

Hobbies: Enjoy watching movies, cooking, running, dancing, playing with Smokey, playing games (monopoly board game and pac-man video game are my favorite). Love being outdoors when the weather's nice. 

Work Experience:

•  Migrant Farm Worker - ages 14-16, hoeing cabbage in North Dakota and picked cucumbers in Ohio (first paying job to help out the family)  --> I've valued life even more after this back breaking, but wonderful experience that my family and I had!

• Concession Stand Worker - age 17. I had the opportunity to work one summer at the Cowboy summer camp in Austin, Tx. Got to meet the top players, Aikman, Smith, and Irving.

• Translator - ages 18-19.  As I began college at Austin Community College, I had a part time job as a bilingual translator in a family clinic, where I translated for a social worker and medical doctors.

• Dance Instructor - I think I was 20 at that time. I taught children's and beginner's adult Ballet Folkorico classes. Besides math, dance is my other passion!  I miss it a lot! (see following link to the professional dance company I used to dance and teach for, and to learn what Ballet Folklorico is http://www.rlbft.org/)

• Mathematics Teaching Assistant - at Texas Tech University.  The first time I ever took full responsibility of teaching math courses.  It was great! The two years I spent in  Lubbock, Tx. were memorable, I remember the crazy cold wind gusts, powerful tornado-like thunderstorms, the pretty red dirt, the weird smell, but beautiful campus and fun hang outs.  One of the best calzones served in the infamous "One Guy from Italy", so good and cheap!

• Evaluation Specialist - Worked for 5 yrs + 2 mo for the Research and Evaluation and the Office of Institutional Research departments at the Evaluation and Accountability division of Dallas ISD.  I learned so much at Dallas ISD. It was gratifying to know that my work involved helping our schools with plenty of statistics. The first two years I mainly worked on evaluating educational programs that were implemented in the school district, such as the Accelerated Reading Instruction program. This involved collecting test data, designing surveys, and meeting with program managers, principals, and school administrators.  A report presented the program findings and recommendations.  After my second year, I began working in the Office of Institutional Research.  That was a chaotic, but fun experience. Instead of evaluating programs, I was busy analyzing data on a daily basis, provided many ad-hocs, was involved with high-priority district studies, and managed several projects.  It was never boring, always learned a lot, but did have its stressful cycles. My ex-coworkers were a great team to work with, hard-working and fun. To learn more about Dallas ISD see www.dallasisd.org, and the division I worked in see http://www.dallasisd.org/inside_disd/depts/evalacct/. 

• Developmental Math and Mathematics Instructor - Richland College at DCCCD. I worked as a part time evening instructor for approximately 2-2.5 yrs while working full time at Dallas ISD. I taught Developmental math courses, Business Math, and Statistics.  Enjoyed every minute of it. I stopped teaching once I started my more demanding job at the Office of Institutional Research department.

• Mathematics Associate Professor - Now once again I am a math instructor. I left my Dallas ISD full time job (the one you just read about above). Why? Well, I missed interacting with people and helping  them.  Don't get me wrong, I loved analyzing data and at least have that background if I ever do it again as a full time job. However, I decided that after a couple of years of working in front of a computer every work day for 8 hours was not what I wanted to do forever.

I am also at the moment waiting to get an active real estate license (I just passed the licensing state exam this past Thursday, Jan. 24, 2007). Yes, I know you may think I am crazy - it seems I'm all over the place, but hey this is another goal I wanted to meet. As a homeowner I saw how much paperwork was involved to purchase a home, inspections, financial stability, etc. I wanted to learn the process to be better educated next time, and to help others with this complicated and long process. Purchasing a home is a big step and an investment that should be carefully dissected and discussed about thoroughly.

Good thing my husband has supported me all the way and at least didn't kill me for leaving a good paying job! We complement each other well, he's the laid back one, and I can't stay still. But that's how we met each other and respect and love each other just the way we are! We wouldn't be where we're at now if we weren't ourselves!

...well at least you get a general idea of where I come from, and to understand my personality and mindset, somewhat.

Marisela Martinez                                                                                  C:\CLASES_COLEGIO\2007\                                                                                           01/27/07