Professor Steve Shaff retiring from Sauk

By Glen Wicks, staff reporter

After having a teaching career at SVCC for thirty-two years, math professor Steven J. Shaff is planning to retire on July 31st of this year. 

In 1988, he earned his master’s degree in Mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa. Shortly after receiving his degree, he did some substitute teaching at the high school in his hometown of Camanche, IA. 

Shaff stated that it was his old high school teacher that mentioned the open teaching job at Sauk and encouraged him to apply for it. “I ended up getting the job, and I’ve been here ever since,” added Shaff.

After reminiscing about how he acquired the position of a math teacher at Sauk, he threw out several ideas on what he might accomplish in the future after retiring. 

One idea Shaff discussed was renovating his relatives’ farm house once he retired. “I’m looking at the possibility of buying my grandparents’ farm house which has been sitting vacant for a while and maybe fixing it up and doing some things with that,” stated Shaff. “It’s really been in a condition of neglect for a while, and it’s just kind of a treasured property that I’d like to kinda bring back to a nice condition.” 

Another idea involved him staying with the math scene even after retiring from his teaching career. “I think under the right conditions, I might be open to coaching some area high school math teams like I did previously,” noted Shaff. “I think maybe, you know, if there’s interest in that, and things fell together, I definitely would consider it.” 

It seems that other faculty members have felt strongly about Shaff and his time spent at SVCC. “My impression of him is that he is highly knowledgeable in his subject and takes it beyond the classroom, such as organizing the American Mathematics Competition for area high school students,” commented Jon Mandrell, the Vice President of SVCC. “Steve has dedicated his life and career to the area of mathematics.”