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Caroline Maher-Boulis


Alumni Profile: Caroline Maher-Boulis, Associate Professor at Lee University

Caroline Maher-Boulis got her Ph.D. in Mathematics at Florida State University in Spring 2004. Her first job was as Assistant Professor at Lee University, where she continues today as an Associate Professor.

Caroline was born in Khartoum, Sudan with origins in Egypt. After finishing her 8th grade in Sudan, the family moved back to Egypt where Caroline received her bachelor's degree in mathematics, with High Honors, from the American University in Cairo. She then started applying to graduate schools in the States while assuming different positions in Egypt: the executive secretary of a TV commercial production company, the cultural coordinator of the Zenab Kamel Hassan Foundation for Holistic Human Development, a freshman advisor and teaching assistant at the American University in Cairo. She came to Florida State to pursue a master's and doctorate degrees in pure mathematics. She earned her Ph.D. under the advisement of Dr. Wolfgang Heil. The title of her dissertation was "Finite Abelian Group Actions on Orientable Circle Bundles over Surfaces."

Here, in her own words, Caroline Maher-Boulis describes her current position and activities at Lee University:

"I am currently an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Lee University, promoted to this rank a year ago. I have been at Lee University for nine years now. During these years I have been instrumental in creating a mathematics degree with emphasis in Actuarial Sciences at Lee. We launched the new program this year. My minor in Financial Mathematics at FSU and my interaction with Betty Anne Case and Paul Beaumont have helped me a lot in the planning of the program and the course I am now responsible for: Financial Mathematics.

"The Natural Sciences and Mathematics department at Lee has vastly grown in the past two years with more students majoring in mathematics. I thus have been able to start a chapter of Kappa Mu Epsilon on our campus after several unsuccessful trials. The Chapter's name is Tennessee Zeta and was installed in fall 2012. We have inducted 18 members since the installation.

"At Lee I have also been the chair of the Cultural Diversity Committee creating academic policies, raising awareness of diversity issues on campus and implementing programs/events which highlight minority cultures to the campus as well as to the surrounding communities. I have also been the chair of the department's Assessment Committee and have been recently elected to serve on the Committee on Rank and the Gender Equity Committee."