Personal Information

Dr. Robert J. Rapalje

Seminole State College of Florida

Sanford, FL  32773

Dr. Robert Rapalje was born in New Jersey, lived for a short time in Chicago, and moved to Florida with his parents when he was very young.  His first day in Florida, October 12, 1949, was nearly his only day.  His father pulled him out of Lake Eustis and revived him with artificial respiration (no CPR in those days).  Rapalje graduated as valedictorian from Tavares High School in 1963.  He earned his bachelors degree from Florida State University and both his masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Florida.  For his dissertation, Dr. Rapalje studied the Florida College-Level Academic Skills Test.  He came to Seminole State in 1971 and has been teaching at the Hunt Club Center since 1994.  Dr. Rapalje has taught almost every math course Seminole State offers from Basic Algebra through Calculus and Differential Equations.  His passion of late has been to help students who never thought they could succeed in math.  To help students succeed he has written and currently teaches from his own books:  Basic Algebra: One Step at a Time, Intermediate Algebra: One Step at a Time, and College Algebra: One Step at a Time.  The sale of these books, together with matching funds from the State, generated over $50,000 in revenue to fund the One Step for Success Scholarship through the Seminole State Foundation.  Rapalje also wrote a book called Achieving Success in Math, a book designed to help students learn how to study and succeed in math, which is available for free checkout to math students in the Academic Success Centers of Seminole State.  He was recently awarded an Excellence in Education Award by the Florida Developmental Education Association, of which he is a past president, and in 2001 he was awarded the Phi Theta Kappa Award in Excellence.  In February, 2003, Dr. Rapalje was awarded the Chesley G. Magruder Endowed Teaching Chair, to do a project that would enable him to place significant portions of the One Step books on his website on the internet to give free access by anyone who might find them useful.  In the last few years, development of this website has been a high priority, especially the page Math in Living C O L O R !!, in which Rapalje solves problems from the One Step books on the website at the request of his students "in Living Color."

However, the love of Rapalje's life is Martha, his wife and best friend for over thirty-six years.  He also loved teaching math, especially with colored markers.  The rest of his family lives nearby, but now the Rapaljes are enjoying their newest hobby--being retired!!

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