Debbie Desrochers    A photo of your female instructor on a raft in Alaska

After graduating from high school, Debbie received an A.S. in Computer Information Systems from Springfield Technical Community College, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She then went to work for Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford, CT, where she advanced from a computer programmer to a senior programmer analyst. To satisfy her curiosity of how the computer was actually working, she entered the Electrical and Computer Engineering program at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She received her B.S. Cum Laude in Electrical and Computer Engineering and took a position as a field engineer with Integrated Systems Inc., ISI, in Santa Clara, CA. Part of her responsibility at ISI was to teach training classes in the use of a software product for control systems engineers. 

Finding that she loved teaching, she decided to pursue a full time teaching position. After studying the options, she decided to teach at a community college because of the emphasis on teaching rather than on obtaining research grants. To achieve that goal she entered UC Davis to pursue an advanced degree in electrical engineering. While attending UC Davis she worked as a teaching assistant, teaching courses in electric circuits and control systems, and as a research assistant. She received her M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and then continued on towards a Ph.D. while searching for a community college teaching position. Since her research involved high level mathematical concepts, she also completed the course work for a masters degree in mathematics. Her research was in the area of mathematical modeling of control systems.  

Debbie joined the faculty at Napa Valley College in 1994, and worked as a full time instructor of engineering and mathematics until 2000 and then concentrated full time on mathematics until 2005 .  In 2005, she left her job at Napa and her and her husband moved to Mount Shasta where she is teaching Mathematics and Yoga part-time at COS and is teaching Yoga in the Mt. Shasta community. She loves working with students, especially those who have had bad math experiences in the past.  Her goal is to help students see the relevance of math and realize their true potential in learning mathematical concepts.  Debbie also teaches and practices Yoga and enjoys music, travel, sea kayaking, whitewater kayaking, whitewater rafting, skiing, and hiking.

She can be reached at:   desrochers@siskiyous.edu     or by phone at 938-4461 ext. 5412.