on
February 23, 2017
Employee Updates
If her father and mother had not been brave and ambitious while seeking a better future in America, there would be one fewer software developer, one fewer business manager, and one fewer assistant professor of reading in her family. Sophia Marku stands as a testament to her Greek Father Vasilios and Mother Irene’s dream of a better tomorrow.
Marku wants to live in a world filled with books that come bundled with milk chocolate and a latte, and a 100% literacy rate. She considers herself to be extremely fortunate because her job at OCC simply entails doing what she loves. Becoming a literacy educator was never a choice for her, rather a realization of something she must have always known.
Marku loves helping people develop intrinsic curiosity and likes learning from her students in the process. “I enjoy watching their curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm develop” Marku said. Promoting the value of literacy education and giving students the guidance they need to forge ahead and accomplish their dreams and goals is a remarkable opportunity.
Marku earned her master’s degree in Education/ Literacy and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the State University of New York at Cortland. She brings a strong interest in the local refugee population to her work and feels compelled to help however possible. “It’s my privilege and honor to have the opportunity to eliminate barriers to literacy at Onondaga Community College and help students reach their full potential."
When she’s not making literacy everyone’s business, you can find her with her two wonderful little boys and lovely husband on the family farm feeding the animals and tending to the vegetable garden full of cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, zucchinis, green beans, fig trees, apple trees, and more. Marku enjoys cooking in her warm kitchen with family members all yelling and stepping over one another to get things done while eating like there's no tomorrow. She is thoroughly convinced that if the apocalypse came tomorrow her whole family could live quite comfortably for decades there. She also attempts to powerfully convince her two sons that for the next several years, they will enjoy spend their evenings in Greek school, engaging in their culture.
Marku is an Associate Professor of Reading in the English/Reading/Communication program at Onondaga Community College. She serves on numerous committees including the Achieving the Dream Developmental Education Team, and the Middle States Self-Study and Accreditation Steering Committee. Marku has been recognized with the Faculty Appreciation Award and the Outstanding Service to Students Award. She has been selected as an Assessment Fellow and serves as a liaison for College Credit Now.
Marku may be contacted at markus@sunyocc.edu
