Phone: 309-677-3176

Email:  pnugent@bradley.edu                                                        

Dr. Nugent joins the Bradley community as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education in the College of Education and Health Sciences. Her specialty is in mathematics education. Dr. Nugent graduated Magna Cum Laude from Millikin University in 1984. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. After graduating she taught mathematics at the high school level from 1984 until 2001. In May of 1989 she obtained her Master of Science degree in Educational Administration and Foundations from Illinois State University. During her time teaching at the secondary level she was involved in an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) initiative working with student portfolios in all disciplines. In addition, she also worked in leadership roles at her local school. She served on the School Improvement Committee, the District Curriculum Advisory Board and as the chair of the District's Mathematics Curriculum Committee.

In the fall of 2000, Patricia started her work on her Doctoral degree in Mathematics Education at Illinois State University. During the time she was working on her degree, she served as a graduate assistant on a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Also, as a graduate assistant she taught undergraduate mathematics and mathematic methods classes for elementary education majors. She earned her Ph.D. in May 2004.

Dr. Nugent is looking forward to the many opportunities that are available at Bradley University. She believes that the current reform in mathematics education is helping our students understand mathematics…not just mimic mathematical procedures. In all of her classrooms she strives to model effective teaching strategies as determined by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. She feels that it is important to model what current research states about the teaching and learning of mathematics, so that preservice teachers have an experience with a reform based mathematics learning community. Dr. Nugent is committed to improve the mathematics learning experience of elementary education majors so that their positive learning experiences transfer to their own future classrooms.