Making maths more accessible

The Numeracy Centre aims to support students studying Mathematics and numeracy-based courses, such as Statistics.

Contact us

The Numeracy Centre, coordinated by Carolyn Kennett, is located in Room 188, 14 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Avenue (14SCOA). Links to online help can be found on the Centre's iLearn page.

Aims

We have two major aims:

  1. To improve students’ access to mathematics and numeracy-based courses, such as statistics, at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
  2. To improve students’ completion rates of mathematics and numeracy-based courses.

In striving to achieve these aims, the Numeracy Centre offers a number of services including free drop-in service, weekly workshops for some first-year courses, bridging programs and preparatory courses at the beginning of each semester and some online resources.

The Numeracy Centre is funded by the University through Access and Equity initiatives.

Tutors

The Numeracy Centre has one permanent member of staff, the Director of the Centre, Carolyn Kennett.

The Centre also employs a number of casual tutors who work in the centre on a roster basis and also teach some of the workshops.

Meet the tutors currently employed by the Numeracy Centre below:

 Matthew James Fernandes is currently doing a PhD that involves computation and simulation of electromagnetic and acoustic wave scattering. Matthew have been a teacher and tutor for both secondary and tertiary maths on and off for over 20 years and he enjoy helping make maths more understandable.
 Martin Flood did actuarial studies at Macquarie University many years ago. He retired from IT work in the finance and banking sector but still invests in the share market. Martin is studying Science with a Maths major and a Master of teaching. He can help mostly with first year Maths, Stats and Finance. He also responds to "Marty " and "Hey you".
 Tasawar Iqbal is a Ph.D. candidate and a sessional academic in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Macquarie University. He is an HEC-MQ co-funded scholar from district Lahore, Pakistan. His major area is applied Mathematics with a specialization in fluid dynamics. His research interests include fluid flow at a low Reynolds number and laminar flows. Tasawar has a passion to travel and explore nature.
 
Carolyn Kennett oversees all aspects of the work of the Centre. She has taught at Macquarie University for more than 25 years. She has extensive experience teaching mathematics and statistics to first year students. She also specialises in teaching numeracy skills to students who feel daunted by mathematics. She aims to make maths more accessible and enjoyable for all students.
 
Jack Nibbs graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from UNSW in 2014. During his time there he developed a keen interest in space and decided to start studying Astronomy and Astrophysics here at Macquarie University in 2016. After discovering just how much he loved Mathematics he added it as a second major. Jack graduated in 2020 and is now currently pursuing his Masters of Research in Astrophysics where he study "binary star interactions."
 Bala Pasupathy has been teaching statistics for over a decade now. She is passionate about departing my statistical knowledge to student. Bala goal is to help students achieve their best possible progress in their statistical units at the university and retain that knowledge beyond their university life.
 

Matthew has taught Mathematics from high school level to third year undergraduate level as well as Stats, Physics Chemistry and IT at first and; in some cases second year level. Apart from a stint with CSIRO and some time writing mathematics software for schools Matthew has taught in Schools, Colleges and Universities for almost forty years. He has been involved in teacher training for around 17 years and has written content for Macquarie University and NESA.

Zoom tutors

Meet the Zoom tutors currently employed by the Numeracy Centre.