Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Business at Goldey-Beacom College

What inspires you?

The driving force of my professional life is my fascination with the perfection of mathematics. This captivation has always been evident in my research as well as my teaching. Continued advances in mathematics and applications to all areas of life still amaze me even today. I am content when my students leave the fear of math behind and start seeing its beauty and complexity. Every one of my courses includes examples from theoretical and practical research related to concepts covered in the course. My students are another source of inspiration. I truly enjoy working with honor students as well as students that dislike mathematics and see no need for it in their studies (yes, I have these as well). When my students continue to press on, persevere and realize that they can be successful in mathematics at their own level, I think that my goal of helping them succeed is accomplished.

What makes a great leader?

I believe that a great leader should be able to have a clear vision and present it well to those that he/she leads. Empowering and working alongside every member of the team, helping them succeed, establishing a great relationship of trust and appreciation is very important. As challenges arise, a great leader should consider and seek input from experienced coworkers and, at the same time, motivate everyone on the team to help find solutions.

Tell us about a time you felt truly proud of your work. What did you accomplish?

Regarding my mathematical research, I became very interested in theoretical statistics early on in my doctoral studies. I have worked with great statisticians, but I also had a vast background in advanced mathematics. Blending these two areas together, I was able to describe a class of shrinkage and adaptive statistical estimators as isometries of the hyperbolic space. That lead me to discover and introduce a new class of spherical shrinkage estimators using the n-dimensional sphere. This topic actually became my doctoral dissertation and I was proud to connect together statistics and Riemannian manifolds, two seemingly unrelated areas of mathematics. On a practical level, I have served as chapter sponsor of the Alpha Chi Honor Society at Goldey-Beacom College (GBC) for many years. My work with the honor students of GBC is something that I am very proud of. Every year, the GBC student delegation to Alpha Chi National Conventions earns awards and wins scholarships for research presentations. These students also earn awards for their service and stand out at the regional and national level, making the GBC chapter of Alpha Chi the most awarded in the North-East region and one of only three institutions of higher education in this region holding the highest national award, the President’s Cup.

Tell us about your most difficult challenge and how you overcame it.

I was blessed to have a rewarding professional life and my most difficult challenge is actually a personal one. One of my children developed a debilitating life-long illness and the only way out of my pain and despair was my faith in God. Since I went through deep waters, I am now able to help those facing challenges and come alongside to share hope and healing.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Victoria Neagoe is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Business at Goldey-Beacom College, Wilmington, Delaware and she currently serves as President of Region VI of Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. She received her B.S. in Mathematics from University of Bucharest, Romania. She completed her M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Systems Science Mathematics from Portland State University, Oregon. Dr. Neagoe held teaching positions at Oregon Institute of Technology and University of Portland and consulting positions at Portland State University’s Statistical Consulting Laboratory. When she is not teaching, Dr. Neagoe enjoys reading, gardening and watercolor painting. She has been married to her husband, Alex, for 29 years and they share two adult children. They currently reside in Hockessin, Delaware with two small shih-tzus.