Have you ever seen a familiar face around the math department but not been sure who it is? That person is most likely Fr. Arnold Perham. Fr. Perham is a dedicated math and science teacher who has been involved in the Viatorian community almost his whole life, having grown up at Saint Viator Parish in Chicago. In his high school years, he began to learn more about the works of the Viatorians.

“I was impressed with their spirituality and saw myself fitting in with them,” he said.

Fr. Perham went on to college to receive an undergraduate degree in math from Loyola University Chicago, a master’s degree in math from the Catholic University of America and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame. He later pursued a teaching career, which he attributes to his parents’ strong value of education. From math to physics to computer science, Fr. Perham has taught it all.

“I was the chairperson of the math department when computers were just beginning to be seen in high schools,” he said.

These first computers, another area Fr. Perham has worked in extensively, were used to provide enrichment to the math and physics programs. Working with Fr. John Milton, a physics teacher at the time, Fr. Perham was able to show students the mathematical and scientific capabilities of the new technology.

“A number of our early computer students became professional programmers and software engineers,” said Fr. Perham.

Fr. Perham also had the opportunity to become familiar with the use of computers at the college level when he taught math at Loyola University Chicago. He has taught so many courses at many different levels that he has even taught some of the current staff members at Saint Viator, such as Mr. Mike Manno, the baseball coach, and Mr. Quinn Hayes, the boys’ basketball coach.

With such a vast expertise in math and science, he has had some of his work published. Fr. Perham is one of the authors of a work on computer-based units from the early 1990s that was created for his math students. More recently, he has written articles about the use of computer software in math in “Mathematics Teacher,” an international math journal.

Now retired, Fr. Perham no longer teaches at Saint Viator; however, he is still very much involved in the school, working with the freshman Querbes Scholars and the Math Club. He can attribute his devotion to the Viatorian community to the fact that he feels that the school is very interesting, stating that the Blue Ribbons received in 2008 and 2014 were “no accident.”

Nicole Durso, a freshman Querbes Scholar, said, “Fr. Perham has been a big help in the recent Querbes project and is a great educator.”