Sam Bazzi named co-principal investigator in innovative NSF mathematics teaching project

Sam Bazzi is wearing glasses and an orange polo with a grey curtain behind him.

HFC math instructor and Michigan Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (MichMATYC) secretary-treasurer Sam Bazzi has been named co-principal investigator for a new National Science Foundation grant project, “State-wide Professional Development to Promote Active Learning in Mathematics for Michigan Community Colleges.”

Estimated to run through February 2028, this grant project is a collaborative partnership between MichMATYC and Kellogg Community College. The NSF awarded KCC a $593,783 grant for professional development programs aimed at improving math instruction across all Michigan community colleges, including HFC. KCC math professor and MichMATYC president David Tannor will serve as principal investigator. While KCC is housing and piloting this project, HFC will house the Institutional Review Board to be headed by Bazzi.

Bazzi said the purpose of the grant project is three-fold:
1. To increase Michigan community college mathematics instructors’ awareness and use of evidence-based instruction
2. To train and mentor mathematics instructors on how to implement and sustain active learning strategies in their classrooms; and
3. To examine relationships between mathematics instructors’ self-efficacy for active learning and its implementation in mathematics courses.

Bazzi will manage the teaching squares statewide

The grant project will involve the creation and execution of two training programs for mathematics instructors focused on active learning, mentoring and peer observation, and the development of a statewide community of faculty learners through the use of “teaching squares,” a cohort-based program through which a team of mathematics faculty from six different community colleges will work together through peer observation to improve their teaching practices.

These six teams will be immersed in activities focused on the implementation of active learning pedagogical practices and transforming their mathematics courses. This grant project seeks to align with state-level goals to provide equitable and inclusive learning opportunities across the two-year college landscape. Ultimately, this project will engage mathematics faculty in an effort to increase access and broaden participation in STEM academic pathways.

“These teaching squares will allow us to observe each other’s teaching styles and share ideas and input with one another,” said Bazzi.

The grant project is part of NSF’s Innovation in Two-Year College in STEM Education (ITYC) program, a STEM-based initiative to support potentially transformative projects that will advance innovative, evidence-based practices at two-year colleges nationwide in STEM-based education.

“HFC has always been a leader in taking initiative”

A native of Lebanon, Bazzi earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the Lebanese University in Beirut and Wayne State University. He speaks fluent English, Arabic, and French. Bazzi taught in the Detroit Public Schools and as an adjunct at Wayne State, Oakland Community College, and Owens Community College in Toledo, OH.

Bazzi also taught overseas at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the United Arab Emirates before coming to HFC in 2001. In late 2014, he took a leave of absence from HFC to work for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company Aramco, which is one of the largest oil-producing companies in the world.

He returned to HFC in early 2016. In the fall of 2017, Bazzi was named the College’s first Arab American Community Liaison to promote HFC’s mission to the Arab American community, continue to build and nurture personal relationships, and facilitate a productive dialogue regarding educational issues, policies, projects, and events with various Arab American institutes and the Dearborn Public Schools.

“HFC has always been a leader in taking initiative in new and innovative projects. We have to keep trying new and innovative methods in the classroom to drive student retention and success,” said Bazzi. “I want to acknowledge the support I received on this grant project from then-HFC President Russ Kavalhuna, current Interim President Dr. Lori Gonko, HFC Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Michael Nealon, HFC Vice President of Institutional Advancement A. Reginald Best, Jr., and Dean Janice Gilliland of the HFC School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).”