Laura Franks

Attending Texas Tech as an education major, Laura had her sights set on teaching junior high math, that is, until she worked as a student teacher her last semester of college and decided it wasn’t for her. After this revelation, Ms. Franks decided to obtain her master’s degree in mathematics, which was awarded to her in 2008 from Texas Tech. After college, Laura taught at Lubbock High School for four years and then at South Plains College for four years. Now, Ms. Franks is an Instructor of Mathematics here at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. When asked about her favorite thing about OPSU, Laura said that it was, quite simply, the people.

Going from an education major in her undergraduate studies, where it was mostly women, into mathematics in graduate school, where it was mostly men, was very interesting to Laura. She decided to look into why this separation occurred. Ms. Franks uses the knowledge she gained from this insight to try and better help her students, saying in her own words, “My job is to channel my student’s abilities to integrate information and transform each student into the best that they can be.”

Laura and her husband, Mauro Casarez, are the proud owners of two dogs, a Pekingese named Shyling and a Chiweenie named Peanut. Two things Laura loves is watching TV with her husband and dogs, and delicious food. Mexican food is Laura’s absolute favorite, but she stresses the point that she loves all kinds of food.