Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics:
Confronting Diverse Student Interests
The AMS and Mathematicians and Education Reform (MER) are jointly launching a project entitled Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics: Confronting Diverse Student Interests. With three-year funding from the National Science Foundation, planning for the project is now under way.
The project has two main goals. The first is to stimulate mathematics and mathematical sciences departments to look carefully at the diverse undergraduate student populations in their classes and to assess how well current courses meet the students' mathematical needs. The second is to facilitate departmental efforts to revise existing courses and develop or adapt new courses to afford all students a meaningful mathematical experience.
Most mathematics students fall into three general groups: students taking calculus but not continuing in mathematics, students fulfilling a mathematics requirement that does not require calculus, and students majoring in mathematically intensive fields who take advanced undergraduate courses. The AMS-MER project focuses on the second and third groups of students.
The project is intended to build on the awareness and expertise gained by departments involved in the calculus reform movement that has taken place over the past decade. This experience can be adapted and applied to other areas of the undergraduate curriculum. The project will also seek the involvement of other groups in the mathematical community, such as the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences and the pertinent committees of the Mathematical Association of America.
The heart of the project is an integrated set of six national workshops held on college and university campuses. Each participating department will be represented by a faculty team of 2 to 4 members. Two workshops will be held each academic year, one in the fall and the other in the spring. The 2001-02 workshops are on December 6-9, 2001 at Arizona State University, Tempe, and on May 2-5 at Washington University, St. Louis. In addition, the project will build networks of mathematical sciences departments, arrange programs at national meetings, and issue publications. While highlighting the needs of particular student groups, the project will also focus on critical issues that cut across all institutions.
The Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics project is an opportunity for faculty to interact with others who are striving to excel in undergraduate instruction, to learn from one another, and to showcase their progress. For further information, contact the project director, Naomi Fisher, ndfisher@uic.edu.