MAA President
Dean and Professor, School of Engineering - Campbell University
Term: July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027

This Section Visitor is available to present on the following topics at Section meetings:

Weaving Students In Versus Weeding Them Out: Evidence-based Strategies that Support Equity and Success in the Math Classroom
An instructor’s focus on equity is important to student success in the math classroom. Because students bring with them different levels of social capital, as well as different mental frameworks of success and smartness, what mathematics is, and what it takes to succeed in college, traditional instructional approaches can introduce aspects to the classroom that actually exacerbate inequity. Fortunately, there are a number of research-based strategies that instructors can implement to increase the sense of belonging and level the playing field in math classes.

An Unlikely Career Built Out of Saying “Yes!”
Forty years ago when I graduated with my B.S. in Mathematics, my goal was to get my Ph.D. and teach at a university. I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams the unique opportunities that would come my way nor that these opportunities would take me far afield from my original goal (although I still teach one college mathematics course each semester). People ask me all the time how I have time to do everything I do. Like legendary MAA Member Joe Gallian and his famous advice for Project NExters, the catchphrase “Just Say Yes!”, I have found that the secret is to say “yes” to interesting opportunities that align with your passions and your strengths. Then it’s not really work at all.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Teaching Math in a Post-Pandemic World
The pandemic upended mathematics instruction in both K12 and higher education, forcing our sluggish systems to embrace radical change overnight and shining a spotlight on systemic inequities faced by many of the students we are trying to serve. As much as we might want, it is clear that our post-pandemic world of mathematics instruction is not the same as it was pre-pandemic. We need to view this upheaval as an opportunity to make permanent changes in our institutions, programs and policies to meet our students where they are. Entry-level mathematics is the ideal candidate for such an effort. The status quo has worked poorly for years. Let’s create a new, better normal.

Top Secret: Women’s Contributions to the History of Computing
Did you know that the first “computers” were humans, not machines? Did you know that these “computers” were women, not men? Did you know that these women were in their late teens and early 20s – not PhDs? Learn about the central role that women and mathematics played in the early development of computing, including the significant contributions of a group of young women called the “Top Secret Rosies” during the transition to the computer era in World War II.

For more information about the Section Visitor program, please visit the Section Visitor webpage.