Vitae Magazine, Spring 2011 - Valencia College

ALUMNI WHERE ARE LIFETHEY NOW?
Cliff Morris
His Love for Math
Knows No Borders
by Melissa Tchen
Cliff Morris retired from Valencia
in 2005, but that doesn’t mean that
his days as an educator are over. In
fact, the former West Campus dean
of mathematics is back in front of the
classroom—it just happens that the
classroom is halfway across the world—
in South Africa.
As often as three times a year, Morris makes the trip to
Cape Town, South Africa, where he teaches mathematics
to students at Portland High School for two and three week
intervals.
“I connect with educators around the world, especially
in South Africa,” said Morris. “They have the same concerns
and challenges that we do. They don’t have enough teachers
or enough resources. That’s where I can help.”
Morris first realized his calling in South Africa back in
2000, when he traveled there through a nonprofit group
called People to People International. He joined 37 other
U.S. math educators for 10 days to tour South African
schools and meet with education officials.
Cliff’s students
at Portland High
School, Cape Town,
South Africa.
Wanting to help improve the state of education there,
Morris and the other group members asked how they could
be of assistance. They were told to share their expertise in
the classroom. Morris decided to do just that, making his
first solo-teaching trip to Portland High in 2002 and
sparking a long-term relationship with the school.
While Morris’s trips to Portland High have become
routine, his experiences there certainly haven’t. Sometimes
he’ll spend an entire visit assisting one teacher, other times
he’ll hop around from class to class. Oftentimes he ends
up being the on-call math substitute, stepping in to teach
anything from algebra to calculus.
In addition to teaching, Morris has helped Portland High
26 • Alumni Life