Dr. Nancy Warden is no stranger to the graduates at USAO. Many of them spent time in one of her math classes to complete their degree requirements.

Warden will have one more chance to speak into the students' lives as she presents the address to the class during the Fall Commencement at the college.

Warden will address 62 graduating seniors and their families at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma's Te Ata Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are required to the ceremony due to the expected overflow crowd.

For those who cannot get tickets, overflow seating will be provided in the Davis Hall Amphitheatre (if needed). The ceremony also will be televised live on USAO Channel 18.

A DVD of the event will be available through the Office of Media and Community Relations for $15 plus tax ($3 extra if mailed). The DVD can be ordered by calling 574-1318.

Warden is a professor of mathematics at USAO. She has been a faculty member at the college for 29 years. Before coming to USAO, she was a teacher and chairman of the Secondary Mathematics Department at Chickasha High School for two years, a math teacher at Minco High School and a teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma.

She received a bachelor's degree from East Central University, a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma and her doctorate degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Warden was voted the People's Choice for Favorite University Professor in The Chickasha Express-Star this year, received the Outstanding Service Award from the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 2008 and received a Present Service Award from the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1999.

She received the USAO Regents Award for Superior Teaching in 1988 and 1984 and was awarded the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation's State Alumni Hall of Fame Recognition in 2006.

In addition to several research projects and publications, Warden makes presentations at professional meetings and schools that include The Math Lady is a MathMagician!; Optical Illusions: Mathematical Applications; Make and Take Origami -- A Monster Stellated Icosahedrom; Careers in Mathematics; Optical Illusions and Standards; Math Magic in the Classroom; Testing Hypotheses in Elementary Statistics; Mathematics and Communication and others.

Warden is a member of the American Mathematics Competitons, Mathematical Association of America, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Outside of the classroom, Warden is seen frequently at Drover basketball games, softball games, baseball games, at music concerts and other college events.

Warden, along with Dr. Linda Crumb and Fred Kemper, wrote words to the Drover Fight Song played at basketball games today.

She has served many years as a Grady County 4-H Volunteer Leader and continues to host the annual Grady County Speech and Illustrated Presentations event on the USAO campus. Warden is a member of the Circle of Champions for the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation and served a four-year term on the foundation's Board of Directors.

She is a member of the Chickasha First Baptist Church and the FBC Worship Choir. Warden has been married for 34 years to Richard Warden, who is the director of surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital.

She has a daughter and son-in-law, Jeanna and Todd Smith, and a grandson, Cade Michael Smith, who is 15 months old.