GOA WELCOMES NEW MATH TEACHER DR. KOTLOWITZ

By Jack Spigler ‘24

    The newest member of the math department, Dr. Kotlowitz, joined Golda Och Academy at the end of the first quarter. A graduate of the City University of New York, he is excited to use his teaching experience and doctoral degree in engineering to enlighten GOA students about math.

   After college, Dr. Kotlowitz started his professional career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, involved in telecommunication product development and supply-chain management.  He later continued his career with Lucent Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia. Working as a mechanical engineer for most of his life, Dr. Kotlowitz had always known he was going to work in the field. 
    “I grew up in a household that was sort of technical. My father wasn’t an engineer, but he worked in the engineering industry, and my brother had a degree in electrical engineering,” he said.
    ​In fact, Dr. Kotlowitz’s experience and training in engineering is what got him into teaching.
    “When I attended graduate engineering school at the City University of New York, teaching was required as part of the curriculum,” Dr. Kotlowitz said. “They wanted you to get that experience as an educator.”  
    Senior staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories were encouraged to teach at local universities.  Additionally, Dr. Kotlowitz was also a part-time faculty member at NJIT, where he taught engineering classes in the evening session for ten years. 
    When asked to compare teaching high school students to college students, whom he has extensive experience educating, he noted there are only minor differences between the two, mostly regarding age.  
    “There’s not too much of a maturity difference between a senior in high school and, let’s say, a freshman or sophomore in college, but certainly as college students go through the program and into their senior year or graduate studies, they become more mature,” Dr. Kotlowitz said.    
    Dr. Kotlowitz is getting to know his students and enjoying his time at GOA thus far. He looks forward to continuing to teach math courses where he can incorporate his technical experience. 
     “I teach everybody the same way.  I believe that if you raise the bar, especially in an age group in high school, the students will meet the higher standard,” Dr. Kotlowitz said. “Obviously, talking to a group of experts in engineering is different than working with a younger group. We can adjust the vocabulary, but the teaching style remains the same.”
    Throughout his career, Dr. Kotlowitz has received opportunities for worldwide travel.
    “I’ve traveled pretty much throughout the United States, throughout most of Western Europe, to Japan, to Malaysia, to China, and to Korea,” Dr. Kotlowitz said. “They used to say join the Navy and see the world. It was a real experience to join AT&T and see the world.”
    On his trips, Dr. Kotlowitz was able to learn much about people and culture. His travels have provided him with insight that helps him connect with people around the world as well as students in his own classrooms,
    ​“It’s very enlightening and educational to work with people from different parts of the world and then to actually visit with them. They’re not only workplace colleagues, but become close friends,” Dr. Kotlowitz said. “It also gives you a very good perspective that people tend to be the same all over the world. They’re motivated by the same things, they have the same worries, the same desires, they wish the same things for themselves and families as you do. You come to realize that we’re much closer than we are far apart.