Michael

Certified Tutor

I started looking into tutoring when I was looking for opportunities to earn money during the summers while I'm working on my Ph.D. in Philosophy. It seemed like an ideal set-up for me since I teach at a community college and I wanted to continue developing those teaching skills in my job. It also allows me to set a schedule that works with my ongoing classes.

Here's a more in depth look at my career in academia: I entered my first college (Furman University) with the plan of double-majoring in English and Computer Science because I love to read and love technology. I didn't have any clear career path in mind, but I thought I'd start by following what I'm enthusiastic about. My experience in those classes showed me a darker side of those studies: books like Middlemarch and debugging. Ugh. I found my philosophy class, which I took as part of the core curriculum, to be far more interesting. So I followed that passion to three (I'm m still working on the third) graduate degrees. The first was an M.A. in Philosophy from Texas Tech University and the second was an M.S. in Ethics and Public Policy from Suffolk University. After the second Master's I settled in to do some adjunct professor work at Collin College. It's difficult to earn a living as an adjunct professor. The pay is terrible and it's hard to find enough hours to make a living wage, so I had a second job as a building manager. So, I decided to go back to school to earn my doctorate so that I can work full time in my field at a decent wage. Now I'm in the Ph.D. in philosophy program at the University of South Florida. I'm experiencing some success in the program: besides earning straight As, I was invited to present one of my papers at the University of Hawaii this year. That's where my profile pic was taken.

When I'm not occupied with school work, I like playing the piano and guitar, reading (mostly) Sci-Fi novels, kayaking and fishing with my wife, playing video games, and playing strategy board games (they've gotten a lot better since Monopoly).

I hope that gives you a sense of who I am and that we can have a productive tutoring relationship in the future!