Mary Ellen had a tremendous commitment to our students – not just the ones in her own classes, but all our students. Mary Ellen was initially hired half-time as an instructor and half-time as the Director of the Math Lab. She served as Director of the Math Lab from 1983 to 2001, and as co-Director in 2001-02.  Mary Ellen started the Math Lab in the basement of the Commons building. The lab later expanded into the Student Services Building, and Mary Ellen campaigned to have it moved closer to the math department to better serve our students. In her role as director of the Math Lab, Mary Ellen took a strong position on the Mathematics Placement Test, both the construction of it and the consistent way in which it was used to determine the mathematics placement of new GVSU students.  Because of her hard work and determination, students were placed much more appropriately than with a process that some administrators were pushing for.  In addition, as a result of many years of effort on Mary Ellen’s part, the placement exam at GVSU was finally transferred to the computer system so students could do self-tests. Over the years Mary Ellen offered special sections of Basic Algebra (MTH 097) for math anxious students. These special sections ran over the whole year and helped many students prepare to be successful in Algebra (MTH 110), the university basic skills mathematics course that was taken by all GVSU students.