Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science

Wendy has been an academic advisor with the TAMS program since 2001. Although she has lived in Texas for the past 21 years, she still calls North Carolina home. She believes that working with students is what she was meant to do in life. She received a BA in Sociology and a Master of Public Affairs degree from North Carolina State University during the Dark Ages. Before moving to Texas, she taught at a small university in North Carolina. She also worked as a pre-business advisor at SMU for three years, before coming to UNT. She worked as counselor in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNT before embarking on her journey here at TAMS. She says that working with students keeps her young at heart. Wendy is married and has a daughter who attends SMU and another furry daughter, a schnauzer named Sophie, who still lives at home.

Wendy is referred to by many as a “girly girl” and/or “diva.” She doesn’t quite understand why people think of her this way. Does loving the color pink, having a strong dislike for anything that slides, crawls, or slithers, refusing to lift or carry heavy things, hating to sweat, and insisting on having everything around her spotless and clean make her a diva? In her free time, Wendy enjoys spending time with her family, putting together jigsaw puzzles, dancing, eating chocolate, and collecting elephants.

Sam began his tenure at TAMS in September of 2014, but he is no stranger to life in a residential STEM program. Before joining the academic staff at TAMS, Sam was a Residential Counselor for three years at the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in his hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. During his time at Gatton and now at TAMS, Sam has loved being immersed in an environment filled with fun, hard-working students who constantly yearn for knowledge and growth. His passion for the field led Sam to begin pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Gifted and Talented Education, a journey which he embarked on in January 2015. While working at Gatton, Sam earned his Master’s in Student Affairs (Higher Education) from Western Kentucky University. Sam earned his B.A. in History from Vanderbilt University where he enjoyed the following activities: playing trumpet in marching band and pep band, participating in as many intramural sports as possible, serving and learning through Alternative Spring Break, engaging in late-night philosophical/religious conversations, turning classrooms into movie theaters, jamming out on Rockband, and fighting beside his roommate (virtually) in Halo 3 shootouts.

When Sam isn’t tending to the academic needs of his students, he can often be found teaching Calculus II to gifted and talented aardvarks, playing ultimate Frisbee, cruising around town on his Segway, reading a sci-fi or fantasy book, reviving Abstract Expressionism, settling Catan, studying Parisian street mimes, watching too much Netflix, locating Bobby Fischer, attempting to venture to every state in the U.S., re-enacting scenes from Matlock, eating food that isn’t meat, finding a use for his appendix, recycling, marveling at the sheer size of the blue whale, enjoying cheese more than he should, scaling ant hills, avoiding elevators, dropping it as if it were hot, and writing excessively long autobiographies that are only half true. Although he ultimately identifies with Team Jacob, Sam often wonders why everybody can’t just get along.