Christopher Potvin Is In Math For The Long Haul
Jonah Turner | March 24, 2026
Photo of Christopher Potvin in front of a chalkboard in Spidel at Warren Wilson College (WWC) in Swannanoa, N.C.. (Jonah Tuner/Echo)
Did you know that Christopher Potvin loves to bring people happiness?
“I get to do one of my absolute favorite things to do as my job,” Potvin said.
Christopher Potvin, assistant professor of math and data science at Warren Wilson College (WWC), remarks on the joy his teaching role brings him and the abundant opportunities he has to make someone’s day.
“Everyone should go out of their way to make someone's day, every day,” Potvin said.
Potvin always knew that teaching was in his future.
“I'm a teacher first, and it's always been that way,” Potvin said.
He attended Bridgewater College in Virginia, hoping to become a middle school teacher and help them have a better time.
“Middle school, for me, was like it was with most middle schoolers…an awful time,” Potvin said.
Towards the end of his four college years, Potvin pivoted from his original plan. Friends and other students began applying to graduate school, which piqued his curiosity as well. Upon discovering the benefits of learning mathematics in higher education, Potvin was able to teach simple undergraduate courses while still being able to continue his study of higher mathematics.
“Once you get that [master’s] degree, suddenly you can teach higher-level classes, so the math is more interesting,” Potvin said. “[That’s] the real benefit of teaching college over teaching middle school.”
Christopher Potvin is in math for the long haul. Faculty in the Math Department at WWC have a long-lasting legacy. Professor Gretchen Whipple taught students for 30 years before recently retiring. Professor Holly Rosson has taught for 20 years and now teaches some of the data sciences classes.
“The idea of being here in 27 years and looking back and being like an institution of the school, I think, is really alluring,” Potvin said.
As an academic advisor, he strives to reach first-year students beyond the math and data science department, reaching into the first-year seminar classes.
“I've learned so much about the school and the different majors and all of the different questions that I have from that,” Potvin said.
Teaching math is not only what creates happiness for Potvin. He seeks to create happiness with various hobbies, which he compares to the popular diagram of a nutritionally balanced dinner plate present in stereotypical middle school gyms.
A considerable slice of the plate? Baking.
“Let me tell you, if you want to feel good about your cooking, you should cook for college students,” Potvin said. “They think anything you make is gonna be better than their dining hall.”
Potvin’s baked goods can turn a sour class period into a sweet semester highlight.
Another section of Potvin’s balanced plate-partitions of play takes him to the soccer fields, where he regularly attends pick-up games with the WWC Ultimate Frisbee Club.
“Frisbee is really important to me,” Potvin said. “The other physical activity that I like to do is hiking, because the places where I went to grad school didn't know what a hill was, certainly.”
The final piece of the balanced hobby “food-groups” finds Potvin plotting around a table with friends. Ask him about deep-strategy board games, like Twilight Imperium or Root, or tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
The passion Potvin has for connecting with others, so evident in his social hobbies, exists within the more academic setting of his work as well. Every year, he extends multiple research opportunities to students looking for a deeper understanding of data science and math.
“One is doing data science with climate-related data where we're working on long-term weather forecasting,” Potvin said. “The other one is working with a nonprofit in Asheville that tracks financial investments in harmful development projects.”
Potvin invites interested math and data science students to inquire about either of these projects.
After all of the effort is exerted and the academic week is over, Potvin knows that his teaching, advising and ability to show up for students fulfills his week.
“I feel that a lot of my happiness is derived from making other people happy,” Potvin said. “I hear people say, ‘You do good things for people, that's really nice.’ I'm like, ‘No, you don't understand. I'm not doing it for other people; I'm doing it because actually that's what makes me feel good.’”