Chairman of CSC Math Department Dies at Age 69

• by Chadron State College

CHADRON, NE (10/02/2008)(readMedia)-- Dr. Monty Fickel, the professor who guided Chadron State College's mathematics department during a period of tremendous growth, died Thursday, Oct. 2, at Chadron Community Hospital. He had been experiencing health problems in recent weeks.

Fickel, 69, learned his profession by using a slide rule and embraced the many technological advancements of his trade since coming to CSC as in instructor in 1981. He helped lead the integration of calculators to the classroom during his first years on the faculty and later directed CSC's efforts to make all courses of the mathematics program available online. As a pioneer of online instruction, he secured the funds for a server and offered a course over the Internet in 1997. At the time of his death, he was digitally recording lectures and using an electronic marker board to make his classroom instruction available over the Internet.

Fickel, who was promoted twice before becoming a full professor in 1993, was named chairman of the mathematics department in 1997. He also served as dean of mathematics and science from July 1998 to July 2002. His primary teaching areas were statistics and data analysis, applied mathematics, and mathematics courses for teachers.

Since the early 2000s, the number of graduates from the math department has more than doubled and enrollment in the math master's degree program has increased five-fold. Students from around the globe have enrolled in the courses.

In 2005, Fickel was presented the Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology at the International Conference on College Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville, Fla. He also received the Donald W. Miller Distinguished Service Award from the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Mathematics in 1993.

Fickel, who was raised on a farm near Belmont and graduated from Crawford High School, obtained a doctorate in mathematics education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1986.

He also served many years in the U.S. Navy and earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, Calif. He had bachelor's degrees in mathematics from CSC and metallurgical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Survivors include his wife, Gerry, and children Terye Felz of Chadron, Mark Fickel of Virginia Beach, Va., and Sherri Fickel of Berryville, Va.

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