Seminole State Advance Faculty

Seminole State Advance strives to help students pursuing science, engineering, and math fields build strong math skills. Once a student establishes strong math foundations, science and engineering subjects become easier to master.

Through Seminole State Advance, our students have exclusive access to a team of people who have made it a top priority to be a support structure to prepare you for success. We want you to expect to achieve your goal of entering a science, technology, engineering, or math field…we can help you do this.

Faculty Listing

Dr. Heather Edwards, a recently tenured professor of mathematics and Principal Investigator for Seminole State Advance, takes great pleasure in working with students pursuing careers in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Her dedication to teaching was acknowledged in January 2008 when she was awarded the Community College Faculty Member of the Year by the Florida African American Education Alliance. Shortly after receiving her Ph.D. in mathematics in December 2004 from the University of Central Florida, Dr. Edwards received her position at Seminole State where she teaches such classes as Calculus I, Calculus II, and Differential Equations. In her spare time, Dr. Edwards enjoys spending time with her family, doing volunteer work for Seminole County Public Schools, reading, and sometimes dabbling in her area of research--bivariate measures of concordance.

Barbara Hunnicutt, a 27-year professor of biological sciences, loves the freedom to be creative in the classroom. She created Seminole State's Biology of Forensics course which was inspired by the TV show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigators and received the FACC Innovative Teaching Award. An avid traveler and adventurer, Mrs. Hunnicutt has visited Botswana and Zambia, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and has been scuba diving in the Red Sea, Fiji, and many other interesting locales.

Hiram A. Malaret currently teaches college algebra, precalculus algebra, trigonometry, and calculus level courses at Seminole State. His early interest in the physical sciences quickly led to an equally strong interest in mathematics; an interest which had a pronounced influence his academic and professional life. After serving in the U.S. Army (mortars; an application of ballistics) he attended the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus where he completed a B.S. in mathematics with a strong physics background. In fact, his first teaching assistantship was as a physics lab instructor supporting the Physics for Engineering courses sequence. After obtaining a M.A. in mathematics from the University of Miami, he returned to military service, receiving a commission in the U.S. Navy. He served first as an instructor at the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power School, and later in various supervisory and technical management positions in the nuclear submarine and surface ship construction, maintenance, and repair programs. During this time he went on to complete a graduate program at MIT obtaining M.S. degrees in both Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. After a time in industry, he has returned to what he has always found most rewarding of professions, teaching.

William Rickman was born and raised in Orlando and graduated from Boone High School where he played trumpet in the marching band. He completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Central Florida, receiving a Bachelors degree in Mathematics in 1988 and a Masters in Mathematical Sciences in 1992. As a graduate student, he researched fractals and began his teaching career at UCF as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Since coming to Seminole State, he has taught almost every math course from Basic Algebra to Calculus II.

Dr. Sherry Savrda was a student at Seminole State College, obtaining her A.A. degree before transferring to UCF to earn a B.S. and an M.S. in Physics. While earning her Master's degree, Dr. Savrda conducted research into gas and solid-state laser materials. After completing her degrees, Dr. Savrda began her teaching career, and soon became interested in the difficulties that students encounter while learning physics. This prompted a return to college for a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Physics Education Research. Dr. Savrda returned to Seminole State College as a faculty member in 2003. When not working with students, Dr. Savrda enjoys hiking, camping, downhill skiing, martial arts, needlework and growing orchids.

Dr. Stephen Summers was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attended the International Studies Academy at Withrow High School. His undergraduate years were spent at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where he earned a B.A. in chemistry in 1990. While there, he pursued an undergraduate research project in chemistry. After visits to graduate schools around the country, Dr. Summers decided to pursue a graduate degree in inorganic chemistry at the University of Florida and conducted research with Dr. Gus Palenik on the syntheses, x-ray crystal structures, and antibacterial activities of several complexes containing bismuth, manganese, gadolinium, europium, and yttrium. In 1994, he completed and defended his dissertation, and was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry. Realizing his passion for teaching, Dr. Summers pursued a position as a chemistry instructor and was hired by Seminole State in August 1994. He has worked at Seminole State since then as a chemistry instructor and, more recently, as the chairperson of the Physical Sciences Department.

SCC Advance Application Deadline August 15, 2009

Did you know?

Seminole State's tuition is approximately 30 percent less than the state university average.