Howard Petrea
Born: October 19, 1920, Badin, NC, Died January 28, 1998, Raleigh, NC
Howard Petrea graduated from Greensboro High School in 1936. His undergraduate education was at Guilford College, where he obtained a B.S. degree in 1940. His graduate education was obtained at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received an M.A. degree in 1941. He served a four year tour of duty in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Petrea joined NCSU in 1946 as an Instructor of Mathematics. He later interrupted his career at North Carolina State University by returning to the Navy for 2 years in 1951 and retired from the Navy at the rank of Commander. He became an Associate Professor in 1959 and retired in that rank in 1989. He then taught as an Emeritus Professor until 1995. Howard Petrea died in 1998 after a long and courageous fight with leukemia. He was 77 years old.
From the beginning of his teaching career Professor Petrea was known as a tough, but very effective teacher. He would not put up with any nonsense in his classroom. He refused to coddle his students, instead he demanded the best from them and usually got it. His lectures were colorful and thorough: "Learning this subject is like shooting fish in a barrel provided you follow a disciplined approach to it." Although he was known as a demanding instructor, he was still a very popular one; students realized if you passed Professor Petrea's course, you would have learned something. For many years Professor Petrea taught two large lecture sections in calculus or differential equations each semester so that literally thousands of North Carolinians were taught by him. He was one of the most well known faculty members at North Carolina State University. Professor Burniston noted that as he travelled around the country, whenever he ran across a State alumnus they would almost always inquire about two people, Professor Park and Professor Petrea.
Howard Petrea received every North Carolina State University award which recognizes excellence in teaching during his tenure in the mathematics department. In the years 1961 and 1962 he received the Phi Eta Sigma "Freshman Instructor of the Year" award. For each of the years 1970 through 1975, and also in 1977, he was ranked in the top 5% of the faculty "who contributed most to my education at North Carolina State University". In 1965, 1971, and 1983 he was honored with Outstanding Teacher Awards. In 1976 he received the prestigious Alumni Distinguished Professor award.
Petrea was not only interested in college teaching but in the teaching of high school mathematics. Together with Arnold Nolstad he developed a television course on high school algebra and trigonometry which was broadcast on the University of North Carolina public television station, WUNC, for five years in the early 1960's. This was the first open circuit broadcast of high school mathematics in North Carolina. It was also carried in Virginia and South Carolina.
Professor Petrea was an excellent bridge player and competed in many bridge tournaments around the country. He was president of a local branch of the American Contract Bridge League. Another activity he enjoyed was collecting various shells and starfish and sand dollars while walking on the beach near his family's cottage at Ocean Isle, North Carolina.
To honor Professor Petrea, a scholarship was set up in his name in 1995 to be awarded to an
outstanding rising senior in mathematics. This award was funded by Howard's family and his many friends, colleagues and former students.
--N. J. Rose (September, 2002)