With years of industry experience working with some of the biggest companies in the sector, Mr. Stuart Alden is stepping into new territory: teaching upper school students.
Early on, Mr. Alden realized his affinity for what many now call STEM fields.
“I was always interested in math and had an interest in computers from age ten in fifth grade,” Mr. Alden said. “Computers were relatively primitive, and we had a teletype machine and the computer was a large mainframe.”
After high school, Mr. Alden earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a graduate degree from the University of Michigan, both in mathematics. After university, he was a consulting actuary, where he gave advice to large corporations regarding their healthcare plans, helping them with designing, funding, and accounting.
“I wanted to keep my hand in math but have a business career. The actuarial field seemed like an ideal candidate for that,” Mr. Alden said.
Once he retired from consulting after thirty years, Mr. Alden felt compelled to discover the other facets of mathematics.
“I wanted to learn more about data science, so I took a nine-month boot camp on that topic,” Mr. Alden said. Having taught mathematics during his time at the University of Michigan, data science seemed like a topic he was ready to share with others. “After that, I thought I ought to try teaching again,” Mr. Alden said.
He was able to find Haverford and was able to begin his tenure as the computer science teacher last school year.
“I knew about Haverford’s great reputation, and I really enjoy the community feeling, attitude, and culture, especially when I am teaching and learning with the students.”
Mr. Stuart Alden
“I knew about Haverford’s great reputation, and I really enjoy the community feeling, attitude, and culture, especially when I am teaching and learning with the students,” Mr. Alden stated.
Mr. Alden’s warm personality and expansive knowledge look to make for an enjoyable experience for those in his classes. On top of teaching, he is helping to coach the golf team. Students in his class are bound to find a putting machine along with several golf balls and a golf club.
Outside the classroom, Mr. Alden’s interests range from the outdoors to detailed craftsmanship.
“I got into triathlons 20 years ago, and I have worked up to a half-Iron length and hope to do a full Iron soon,” Mr. Alden said. “Beyond math and computers, I like to fool around with home automation and see how many things I can automate around my house.”
Mr. Alden taught computer science last year and will continue to teach both the introductory and advanced courses, along with Statistics. Through these three classes, Mr. Alden hopes to both share his love of math and create an environment where it can become a “second language” for all students.
“I want to share my enthusiasm about math with my students,” Mr. Alden said. “What I learned is that if you treat math like a language and you do as much reading, writing, speaking, and listening as possible, you pick math up relatively easily and you enjoy it all the way along.”
