Teaching Geometry, Arithmetic, and Algebra at the freshman level, new faculty member Chris Bailey connects with students.

He just recently moved to Bartlett from Hampshire, Illinois to be closer to his new job.   The move was also a good choice because his girlfriend teaches at Harper Community College.

Bailey grew up in Southern Wisconsin with two older brothers and played little league baseball as he grew up.

His father loved traveling, and every summer their family would go somewhere new. The only two states Bailey has not visited are Hawaii and Alaska.

During high school, he worked a car wash and ended up earning his GED at Blackhawk Technical College in Beloit, Wisconsin. Before going for his Bachelor’s at UW Green Bay, Bailey attended UW Rock County to further establish himself academically because of his decision to end his high school career early.

He then went on for his Master’s at Northern Illinois University and will be finishing up his Ph. D in the spring of 2013 from NIU. All of Bailey’s degrees are applied mathematics degrees.

Bailey immediately knew he wanted to teach math when he started college. He mentioned how it was never something that just came to him naturally and how he doesn’t remember being great at it as a child.

“It took me awhile to become good at it but I learned a lot.”

During his college years, he has worked at a Frito Lay factory in Beloit and taught math at Kishwaukee Community College, but before going for his Master’s, Bailey taught seventh grade math and coached baseball, basketball, and football on a Navaho Indian Reservation in Arizona where he worked and lived for a year.

“It was very isolated, so going from there back to the college life was a change,” commented Bailey.

“I really enjoyed the time I spent there.”

He also mentioned how a gas station and a grocery market were the only things near him. But there was a canyon down the road, where the 90s thriller “California with a K” filmed a part of their movie, that Bailey enjoyed visiting often.

Currently, Bailey is focusing on teaching at the college and raising his eight-month-old daughter. He will also be getting married eventually.

“I would like to further explore everything the college has to offer,” he added.