Math professor joins NCTA

Sept. 3, 2019

By NCTA News

CURTIS, Neb. – Students and faculty welcomed Gloria Bautista as assistant professor of mathematics to the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.

Her duties are within the General Education division at NCTA, said Eric Reed, division chair.

“We are very glad to have Gloria join our college faculty,” Reed said.

Bautista and her husband, Henry Mendoza, arrived in Curtis for opening day of college classes, on August 26^th, and are settling into the community.

Previously, she taught college-level microbiology in her home country of Colombia, and most recently was the coordinator of math and statistics tutors at the San Diego City College Math Center in California.

At NCTA, Bautista is teaching all courses in mathematics such as Algebra I and II, Statistics, Math for Veterinary Technicians, Math for Agriculture, and will establish a math tutoring center.

"As I said the first week of school to my students, two months ago I had no idea that today I would write some lines about my story,” Bautista said.

“I was born and raised in a small town within the Colombian mountains in South America, a place with great human warmth. The first time I came to Curtis I had the pleasant feeling of being at home,” she shared.

The couple moved to Curtis from California.

“My passion for teaching and helping others began in my childhood, and it was growing over the years,” she says.

“My family is my great treasure. I am the mother of two wonderful children of whom I feel very proud. As I advise them, I also do it with my students, to never be afraid to try new learning experiences and open their minds to diversity. I am at NCTA to share my knowledge and give my students the best of me."

She earned two master’s degrees from the University of Colombia at Bogota in microbiology with emphasis in agricultural microbiology, and in statistics.

Bautista bachelor’s degree is in microbiology with a concentration in bacteriology and clinical laboratory from the Industrial University of Santander at Bucaramanga, Colombia.