Dr. Tracey McGrath's journey to PHC

Before teaching physics and advanced math at PHC, Dr. Tracey McGrath had an extensive career in Ivy League academia. Read more about how she came to PHC and why she loves it here!

McGrath holds a Ph.D. in Computational Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. She began lecturing in 1994 after completing her postdoctoral at NASA and later taught at Princeton and Cal Tech. At the time, McGrath was extremely career-oriented.

“That phase of my life was about research, me, and getting tenure,” she recalled.

After over 25 years of the academic grind, McGrath could not help but feel like God had more for her than this. “I felt like it was time to pass things on to the next generation,” McGrath remembers.

Once her daughter left for college, McGrath moved down to Virginia to help care for her father, who suffered from dementia.

Though doubtful she would still be able to teach, she began the job search.

Despite already having a job offer, McGrath had this “ridiculous urge” to look on PHC’s website in 2017. “The entire time I’m mentally scolding myself that this is a waste of time… because it’s a humanities school and they’re never going to hire a physicist,” McGrath recalled.

To her surprise, PHC had just posted for a physics and math professor.

“So I interviewed a couple of days later and got the job,” she said. McGrath now believes that urge was the Lord guiding her.

PHC originally hired McGrath as the science professor for the 2017 fall semester, but she soon replaced the outgoing Dr. Michael Kucks as both the math and the science professor when he retired.

Coming to a classically based Christian school, McGrath felt free to share her passion for pointing to God’s handiwork in creation.

Outside the Ivy League sphere, she feels an amplified encouragement to engage with subjects outside of one’s individual field. “That intellectual growth opportunity is very beautiful,” McGrath said.  As she conversed with other faculty, she realized how classical thought could be implemented in her STEM field. 

After teaching at PHC for a few years shy of a decade, McGrath says Core Physics is the one class she would never give up. “I love teaching Core Physics more than anything. Why? The joy of getting a student to realize that they can describe the physical creation… in the language of mathematics, and realize how it applies all around them,” McGrath said.

Through physics, McGrath hopes students will regain their sense of childlike wonder for the natural world.

Ultimately, McGrath feels physics demonstrates God’s greatness. “We can’t know all the variables, but God can. I might not be able to measure the gravitational field at the molecular level at every point within the universe, but God can.”

McGrath explained, “The more I learn about physics, the more I am amazed by the beauty of it. Everything was done with a purpose and perfection.” McGrath especially loves how it only takes about an "eighth-grade education" to appreciate the complexity of the universe. 

Along with Core Physics and its lab, McGrath teaches Physics II, Discrete Math, and Linear Algebra, while overseeing special projects for the Economics and Business Analytics major. 

 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.