Husband and wife Todd and Andrea Hendricks share a combined 63-years of dedicated service to Perimeter College—both as effective mathematics professors and respected college administrators.
“I feel like I was raised here,” Andrea said, noting that in addition to multiple professional honors and opportunities received during her tenure, she and Todd also have celebrated 30 anniversaries and given birth to three sons over the last several decades.
The Hendricks’s longevity at the college also includes a number of years as donors to the Perimeter College Fund which provides ongoing support for student programming and faculty initiatives. The Hendricks view their work in higher education as a “calling” that inspires their philanthropy.
“That calling is what compels me to want to give,” Todd said, adding that the “hard-working” students at Perimeter also influence his decision to contribute.
Todd and Andrea started their careers at Perimeter College in 1992 and 1993 respectively, with both initially working in mathematics learning support classrooms back when Perimeter was known as DeKalb College.
Todd first learned about Perimeter in the late 1970s when an older brother and sister attended. One of five children, he started college at Georgia Tech and graduated from the University of West Georgia and Florida State University with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees—thanks, he says, to his dad who was born in the 30’s and, with a very strong work ethic, became the first in his family to go to college.
Andrea’s dad served as a church pastor in a small Florida town, where she grew up as one-third of girl triplets who all graduated in the top ten of their class, with Andrea as valedictorian. She attended Palm Beach Atlantic University and Florida State University for her undergrad and graduate degrees, thanks to scholarships, Pell grants—and help from her parents.
“When you have three girls in college at one time, that's not a cheap thing,” Andrea said.
While at Perimeter, Andrea has served in multiple teaching and leadership roles. Currently, in addition to being an associate professor of mathematics, she is senior director of online initiatives. In 2017, she received the college’s highest faculty recognition, the Cole Fellow Award. She is also a past winner of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Teaching Excellence Award and the 2019 recipient of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Teaching Excellence Award. In addition, Andrea has published four traditional developmental math textbooks and authored a fully online, interactive text called “College Algebra with Support.”
Todd is unique among Perimeter faculty in that he has taught on every Perimeter campus since the college’s founding and online. As associate professor of mathematics, he also manages the college’s tenure and promotion process and has served as chair of the statutes and bylaws committee for Georgia State’s University Senate.
Nowadays, the Hendricks are both based on Perimeter’s Newton Campus where, even outside the classroom, they’re known as staunch advocates for students. For example, Andrea volunteers with multiple student-focused organizations and initiatives, most recently helping students to start a campus version of the Rotary Club called Rotaract.
Whether in the classroom, via extracurricular activities or through the Development fund, the Hendricks say that giving to Perimeter is the right thing to do.
“Working at an institution for 30-plus years impacts a person,” Andrea said.
“We've not only acquired valuable skills and knowledge through training and leadership opportunities but have also forged lifelong friendships and connections that have enriched our lives in countless ways.
We give out of gratitude and a sense of responsibility to ensure that the college remains a place for students, faculty, and staff to grow and thrive.”
Contact Victoria Dorsey, senior director of Development at Perimeter College, [email protected], to learn how you can support education through philanthropy.
Story by Kysa Anderson Daniels
Photo by Shay Richards