Welcome to my website!
I retired at the end of Spring semester 2024, but you can still find me at my appstate email address (hirsthp at appstate.edu).
I am still serving as the editor of The Centroid, the Journal of the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the technical editor for the Journal of Computational Science Education. I am also involved in Accreditation Visits for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Conference on Colleges.
When I am not cooking, traveling, reading, sewing, crocheting, hiking, or generally lazing about, I am working on a repository of modeling projects and a set of materials for computational mathematics.Before coming to Appalachian in 1990, I served as an adjunct instructor of Mathematics and Assistant Director of Academic Computing at Ohio State. Prior to retiring from Appalachian, I served as the math MA program director or co-director (1995-05, 2013-20, 2022-23), as Acting Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences (1998-99), as SACS Self-study Director (1999-02), and as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies (2005-13). In addition, I served on many state, regional, and national committees, including as Secretary for the Board of Directors of the Shodor Foundation (1994-2024) and Coordinator for the National Computational Science Institute (1998-2005).
See my vita for more information.
I am married to Jeff Hirst, professor emeritus of mathematics at Appalachian. We both love mathematics, cooking, music, science fiction, hiking (especially in the NC High Country), traveling (especially to St. John USVI), and living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.