Gerard T. LaVarnway, PhD
Consultant
For more than 30 years, Dr. Gerard LaVarnway has shared his passion for mathematics, teaching, and leadership with his students, colleagues, and through professional affiliations. He brings a distinguished record of successful and progressive experience as a seasoned faculty member, administrator, mathematician, and researcher in higher education to his work as a consultant with Stowell and Associates.
Professor LaVarnway’s areas of expertise are numerous and include curriculum development, educator training and development, faculty mentoring, coaching for promotion and tenure, leadership in faculty and administrative searches, accreditation, and program self-studies. Recently, Dr. LaVarnway has been involved in implementing non-parametric statistical techniques to predict academic success in order to improve college and university retention and graduation rates. These techniques may also be implemented to identify students at risk.
As a Professor of Mathematics at Norwich University, Dr. LaVarnway teachers a wide range of courses, advises students, collaborates with colleagues on research, and has been recognized for his leadership in many critical areas of university governance. He served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics for seven years, as the Chair of the Norwich University Faculty Senate for two terms, and as Vice Chair of the same group for two terms. He is a proponent and strong advocate for faculty governance within college and university environments and has been recognized for successfully collaborating with administrators on issues of importance to the faculty at large.
Dr. LaVarnway has been a frequent presenter at professional conferences and has been invited to speak to variety of non-profit, government, and professional groups about careers in mathematics, college retention, faculty leadership, and other related topics. His research interests include classification algorithms, ocean surveillance, cryptology, and mathematics education.
Dr. LaVarnway holds the distinction of being the only researcher to be awarded eight consecutive U.S. Navy – American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Summer Faculty Research Fellowships. These fellowships, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), supported Dr. LaVarnway’s applied research at the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) in San Diego, California where he was involved in the development of classification algorithms for the identification of radar and remote tracking of ships at sea.
Professor LaVarnway earned a B.S. Degree in Secondary Education – Mathematics and Science, cum laude from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. He also holds an M.S. in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.