Dr. Devereaux Brings Laughs to Math
- Joshua Moore
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Joshua Moore
OLIVET, Mich. — Stephen Devereaux, Ph.D., has earned a reputation at The University of Olivet for making math classes feel less like a requirement and more like an experience students want to participate in. His approach to teaching blends structure, humor, and conversation in a way that stands out across campus.
“I think I start with, 'what are the big ideas that I want my students to come away with?' and depending on what class it is, those can go in a couple of different directions,” Devereaux said. “If it's a math class for math majors, I'm thinking about ideas they’re going to need for courses later on or the big goals of the course we’re in right now. If it's a class for people who aren't math majors, they're not going to need it for anything beyond this. I want their big takeaways to be either learning to think logically and solve problems or seeing how they can actually use this in their life.”
Devereaux keeps his students engaged by incorporating humor and spontaneous moments into his lessons.
“I always believe that if somebody makes you laugh, then you want to listen to them. That gets people’s attention,” he said. “A lot of times I’m trying to interact with my class. I’m trying to create community and get them engaged, and sometimes if you can get a little witty banter going, it really brings the room to life. I try to sneak the occasional joke in every now and then. A lot of it is improv.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic even changed how he navigated the room.
“One thing I noticed during COVID was that I found myself telling riskier jokes because everybody had a mask on,” he said. “When you can only see their eyes, you miss a lot of the face that tells you what people are thinking. It was harder to assess whether they were getting things. But if you laugh, I know you’re okay.”
Students say the humor makes a difference.
“He mentioned once that he did stand-up comedy in college, and it shows in his teaching style,” said Alisha Gahn, a sophomore. “His lectures feel like stand-up comedy sets, and it makes math extremely entertaining. I’ve never laughed in a math class before, but I did a lot in that class. In high school I dreaded going to math, but I never felt that way about his class.”
“What really stands out about the way he teaches is how naturally he connects with every student in the room," said junior Brody Lehman. “It never felt like he was just lecturing at us; he actually paid attention to whether we understood the material, and he’d explain things in different ways until it clicked. He mixed his humor and charisma with real patience, so even the harder topics didn’t feel intimidating. You could tell he cared about everyone keeping up, not just the top few students, and that made his class feel way more personal and supportive than most math classes I’ve taken.”
Not every lesson goes exactly as planned, and students don’t always grasp a topic immediately.
“Everybody thinks about things differently,” he said. “If the majority of the class isn’t getting it, then I’ll back up and look at it from a different perspective. If it’s just one person, I’ll usually find that out during the Try It With a Buddy activity, and I’ll sit with them and talk one-on-one. It’s like a mini office hours where I get to see how they think about it.”
He said the process helps him adjust to different ways students solve problems, whether they prefer visuals, big-picture ideas, or step-by-step approaches. Early in his career, Devereaux learned that some assumptions about teaching don’t hold up in practice.
“There have been a good number of times where I’ve gotten stuck in my own examples,” he said. “Early on, that was terrifying because it looked like I didn’t know what I was doing. But now I actually cherish those moments. Students get to see what I notice that tells me something went wrong, and they get to see how I think through the problem. Those moments became opportunities, not minefields.”
Devereaux also reflected on the long-term impact of his teaching and what he wants students to take away from his classes.
“I hope they feel encouraged,” he said. “I hope they feel like they’re part of a community, that they’re not doing this alone. I want them to feel empowered, because math is empowering. It gives you the ability to ask your own questions and get your own answers. I hope they see there’s goodness in this, and that there’s something useful and meaningful they can carry with them.”