Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Email: jshelton@tusculum.edu
Campus Phone: 5235
Campus Mail: P.O. 5027
Office: Meen 108-H
Department: Division of Math & Science
Campus or Site Location: Greeneville
Professor Joel Shelton graduated in 2013 from East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in pure mathematics. During his undergraduate career, Prof. Shelton focused his attention on abstract algebra and multilinear algebra. This opened up an opportunity to apply his knowledge of algebra in a graduate setting. He continued to study at ETSU for his Master of Science in applied mathematics. Prof. Shelton graduated with his M.S., degree in 2016. His thesis was titled, ‘Consensus Model of Families of Images using Tensor-based Fourier Analysis,’ which looked at representing images of tensors and reconstruct those images using a Fourier transform in the computer programming language called Python. Following his graduate work, Joel worked at a variety of academic institutions where he taught everything from college algebra, statistics, pre-calculus, calculus, and linear algebra.
He joined the Tusculum University faculty in Fall of 2022 as an Instructor of Mathematics. Prof. Shelton teaches a variety of different courses here at TU, including general education math courses and math major courses. Professor Shelton wants his students to gain appreciation for mathematics from both an abstract and applied perspective by showing them all the abstract beauty and how math can be used to solve real-world problems. He often presents his research in noncommutative algebra and history of mathematics at the annual AMS Joint Mathematics Meetings. With all of his experience as an educator and academic, this eventually lead to his promotion to Assistant Professor of Mathematics in Spring 2024. In his free time, he enjoys filmmaking, boxing, baseball, literature, music, cosmology, political theory, economics, quantum field theory, basketball, science fiction, table tennis, and history.