Greg Lewis

Professor

“I’ve had a lot of positive experiences here. And SMC has given me some of my very best education.”

Greg Lewis went to grade school, junior high, Santa Monica High—all “just down the street”—before going on to SMC and UCLA. “So I guess I’m about as local as you can get.”

Greg teaches Math 21 (finite math) that’s been restructured for use in the new environmental college program. “My students frequently asked me, ‘What am I doing all this math for? How can I use it?’” remembers Greg. “So I always gave them an application for what they were studying.” One of these applications—a study of water loss through L.A.’s leaky household faucets—led Greg to teach the uses of math in ecological studies. “So now my students can say, ‘Wow! I actually see something useful in this math!’”

Greg shuttles to the airport campus to teach his class. “About two-thirds of my students are taking this class because it’s an environmental class,” he says. “So I know we’ve touched a nerve there.” He actually enjoys the shuttle ride and says ”shuttling can be fun. After class, I hop on the bus and there’re all my students. So we get a chance to talk about what’s on their minds.”

But on Greg’s mind frequently these days is time. ”With a new house, a brand new daughter, the beginning of school and work on a master’s thesis,” Greg says, “spare time is my most precious commodity.”

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