Like many first years students Phyllis Rump is getting to know Cabrini College and she is without a doubt making the most of her time. Have you met Phyllis Rump yet? She is the coordinator of Science Education, Curriculum and Development as well as the Assistant Professor of Science Methods, which is a pilot science class for education majors. When she is not in the classroom, Rump researches grants that may be used to fund Cabrini’s Science Education program for the new science building. Her research within other schools has produced grants from the National Science Foundation, which have contributed to the science education curriculum and the new building. Currently, Rump is meeting with members of RBS (Research for Better Schools) to write a grant totaling $200,000, which would be awarded by the National Science Foundation.
There is no question that Phyllis Rump is a dynamic and positive addition to the Cabrini College faculty, but how did she arrive here? Dr. Kimberly Boyd professor of Biology and President Iadarola approached Rump to be a curriculum consultant, but as Boyd and Rump continued researching the science method class, Rump proved her dedication and signed a three year contract to continue teaching and researching grants for the science education program. When asked why she agreed to join the Carini family, Rump said, “The comradeship with fellow colleagues is remarkable and it’s a different relationship than I was used to as a public school teacher.” Rump enjoys the friendliness and said, “There’s nothing I can think of that I would change, and it has been a positive experience so far.”
The tremendous work that Rump has done thus far is not luck; rather it is the result of her higher education and extensive work in elementary education throughout her life. Rump was born in Kansas and attended Wichita State University, following graduation she attended graduate school at North Georgia University, a branch of the University of Georgia. Rump received her doctorate at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. Rump worked in elementary schools throughout Georgia. Her teaching skills were recognized when she was awarded the Science Teacher of the State award by President Clinton in March of 1995. Rump most recently worked in the Lower Merion public school district where she was an eighth grade teacher. The upbeat and ambitious Rump has many fond memories of elementary teaching and has made an impact on hundreds of students. She keeps in-touch with a few students who attribute much of the person they have become to her. Rump said, “It is the students who come back years later and thank her that makes teaching worth the emotional and physical strain.”
When Rump is not teaching and working to improve the science education department, she and her husband enjoy sailing on the Chesapeake River alongside her Dalmatian Eaton who also enjoys life on their boat. Rump spends time with her two daughters but misses her two sons and grandchildren who live in the south.
Rump loves the work she is doing for Cabrini and is surprised that she is here because she was planning to retire from the Lower Merion school district after the previous school year. Although retirement is likely after Rump’s three-year contract is up, the Cabrini faculty and students will surely have reaped all the benefits of this caring and fun-loving professor.
Posted to the web by Angelina Wagner
