Kriti Sood
Helping her students understand how they belong to the immense universe is Carolyn Mallory’s goal.
A professor and faculty adviser for the astronomy department, Mallory has been teaching at Pierce College for four years.
She is passionate towards making her students recognize that astronomy lies within them.
“It makes my students complete when they realize that they are a part of the universe,” she said.
Mallory taught at L.A. Mission, Moorpark, Glendale and Santa Monica colleges before coming to Pierce.
Comparably, she thinks of Pierce students as being very ambitious.
“It is wonderful to be at Pierce,” she said. “Students really appreciate you when you do something extra for them. My students have been very kind and understanding.”
Mallory uses an unusual technique with her students to help them understand things better. Pretending she doesn’t remember the answer to something, she utilizes dialogue to let the students give the answer.
She wants her students to be actively involved so that they are not left “hanging at the end.”
Kindergarten was the point when Mallory started thinking about astronomy. By eighth grade, she decided she wanted to major in the discipline and it “never varied from then.”
“I saw things happening that no one could explain to me. I wanted to find out,” she said.
Mallory, a resident of Agoura Hills, has a passion towards her students and family. Inclined towards learning about other cultures and fond of traveling, she has given lectures in Australia, the Caribbean and New Zealand.
No one else in her family gets excited about astronomy the way she does. However, she is making an effort to help them gain interest in the science of the universe.
Content with her life, Mallory thinks of herself as “fortunate and blessed.”
“Honestly, I am happy with what I am,” she said. “However, I hope to keep growing, not stay where I am.”
Mallory closely identifies with Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine who once said, “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”