Marsh – Testing & Certification Entry Hello, my name is Matthew G. Marsh, and I am the Testing & Certification Coordinator (and undergraduate advisor) for the Education Department. I came to Sul Ross in 2008 as a graduate student and in 2010 became a full-time staff member for the Education Department. I served as Testing & Certification Coordinator till the end of 2016, when I left to begin work on my Doctorate degree in North Dakota. This April (2019) I made the long drive back from North Dakota to take up my old position. I am also an adjunct professor in history, teaching one or two history classes a semester, as needed, for the Behavioural & Social Sciences Department.
I am originally from the city of Humble, a suburb in the Northeast area of Houston, which I promptly fled after living there twenty-four years. I have attended four different schools: North Harris College for my Associates; University of Houston-Downtown for my Bachelors; Sul Ross State University for my Masters’ degrees; and currently I am finishing coursework at the University of North Dakota for my Doctorate degree.
As Testing & Certification Coordinator, one of my largest roles is as the Undergraduate Advisor for the Education Department’s Interdisciplinary Studies degrees. Advising was not a role that I had initially intended to pursue but when I became a full-time staff member in 2010, academic advising came with my job. Advising is a role that I enjoy greatly, for it enables me to help students navigate their degree plan and pursue the degree that best suits the direction they wish to take in their professional life.
As an adjunct professor, I teach introductory history survey courses in United States and World History, so basically, I teach from the beginning of time to the present day! I first started teaching for Behavioural & Social Sciences in the Fall of 2013 and taught almost every long semester until the Spring of 2017. My expectations are, I think, relatively simple. I know that history is not everyone’s favourite subject. Yet the past is what defines who we are as a people, a nation, or a civilisation, today. To understand the past you need to read, to question, to process and synthesise knowledge in a way you understand. As the instructor, I try to highlight important events, trends, and movements that will help you understand not only what happened, but why.
My office hours are very broad. I am in the office from 8:00-12:00pm and 1:00-5:00pm Tues/Thurs/Fri, 8:00-1:00pm and 2:30-5:00pm on Mon/Wed this Fall semester. The best way to reach me at least initially is either by e-mail, or by simply coming by my office in MAB 305-D