NCC Professor from New Canaan Tops 'Rate My Professor' Charts

Students are often tough critics of their teachers and professors. But Norwalk Community College math teacher Andrea Pizone-Novia is an exception.

Kudos to Pizone-Novia, who was ranked in the top 25 nationally among junior and community college professors, according to the annual rankings released last week from Ratemyprofessor.com, a website where students can score and comment on their professors in areas including clarity, helpfulness and easiness.

A quick look at Pizone-Novia's page on Rate on Rate My Professor validates the honor. Comments dating back as far as February 2003 are glowing in student praise.

Comments on Pizone-Novia's Rate My Professor page include this this glowing observation left on Sept. 4, 2010: "Superior math teacher. Never cranky."

And this posted on Oct. 6, 2010: ""I LOVE Mrs. Pizone shes the BEST!!! i'm really bad at math to the point that i dont know my time tables or divide. I hate math so much but Pizone makes math soo easy!! i had her for pre algebra and took her again for algera. shes always soo happy and gives you alot of chances you must be an IDIOT to fail her class."

In a comment posted on Sept. 9, 2012 one student wrote: "Best math teacher in the world. even if you are really bad at math.. trust me you'll pass. You must be an idiot if you fail her class."

Pizone, who began teaching at NCC 12 years ago is originally from Easton. And it's no surprise the glowing comments began to arrive around that time. 

Pizone and her husband Mike Novia make their home in New Canaan where Pizone is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  

"She always says, 'I am a teacher, I love teaching, and it's my life's devotion,'" Mike Novia said of his wife. 
Pizone graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BS in math and received a master's and 6th year in teaching at Sacred Heart University.  She has a Connecticut teacher certification, and according to her husband, "made her bones" teaching for eight years in an alternative high school in Bridgeport where she learned how to adjust curriculum and pedagogy to non-traditional learners. 

At NCC Pizone is currently the coordinator of the developmental math department. In that role, she has instituted a program called The Repeater Program where she tracks repeaters (those taking the same class multiple times), intervenes at many levels and helps students to advance.  She recently won an NCC outstanding teacher award.  
Norwalk Community College is located at 188 Richards Ave. in Norwalk, CT Tel. (203) 857-7000.