Preparing Graduate Students to Teach Undergraduate Mathematics

By: Erin R. Moss, Co-Editor of DUE Point, Millersville University of Pennsylvania The College Mathematics Instructors Development Source (CoMInDS) project supports colleges in providing high-quality professional development to graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs). The work of the CoMInDS team addresses the unique needs of faculty Providers who are tasked with either creating or redesigning departmental programs...

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Three Ways to Respect and Support Your Introverted Colleagues

By Anonymous VITAL faculty, TJ Murphy, and Rachel Levy Remember when people were first asked to stay at home due to COVID-19? So many people expressed loneliness, boredom, anxiety, and other results of the forced reduction of in-person social interaction. In response, there was an outpouring of empathy, songs and memes, and multiple opportunities for online interactions. For...

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A 5-Step Process for Preparing for Fall Teaching

By: Carrie Diaz Eaton, Associate Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, Bates College, @mathprofcarrie When I talk to colleagues about preparing for fall*, it all feels more overwhelming than in the past. So I took a step back and thought: how could I break this daunting task down into just a few steps? I hope the...

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A Glance in the Rearview Mirror While Driving MAA Periodicals Forward

By: Bonnie Ponce, MAA Managing Editor, Journals 3 Years of Partner Publishing with Taylor & Francis GroupIn 2018 the Mathematical Association of America chose a new path for their MAA Periodicals by partnering with Taylor & Francis Group. We ventured on this path in 2016 when it was clear that the landscape of scholarly publishing...

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Establishing Self-Care Practices While Pursuing a Math Grad Degree

Student Authors: Alberto Alonso, Jasmine Camero, Alejandra Castillo, Fabrice O. Ulysse, Victoria Uribe, Andrés R. Vindas Meléndez  Organizer Authors: Alexander Diaz-Lopez, Pamela E. Harris, Vanessa Rivera Quiñones, Luis Sordo Vieira, Shelby Wilson, Aris Winger, Michael Young  The year 2020 has been filled with unprecedented events, some of which challenge the way we interact with society....

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Mathematics and Society

By: Michael Pearson, Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America The recent surge of political activism exemplified by the Black Lives Matter movement poses a fundamental question: How do we, as a community of mathematicians, respond to social issues, especially those that transcend partisan preferences? A further reminder of the ways in which larger...

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Thank God for the Fallow Time!

By: David Bressoud @dbressoud David Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics at Macalester College and Director of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences AAAS is running a series of five online discussions of Talking about Leaving Revisited. The next, on STEM Learning Experiences and Their Consequences, will be held on August 18. Details...

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Of Course, 2 + 2 = 4 is Cultural. That Doesn’t Mean the Sum Could be Anything Else.

By: Keith Devlin  @profkeithdevlin The following statement appeared on Twitter recently:  “The idea of 2 + 2 being 4 is cultural and because of western imperialism/colonization, we think of it as the only way of knowing.” It was actually part of a discussion among academic scholars about educational issues that K-12 teachers face all the time....

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Using 2020 Spring Student Experience Data to Inform Future Course Planning

By: Monica D. Morales-Hernandez, Sherli Koshy-Chenthittayil, Pamela E. Harris, Alicia Prieto Langarica, and Melissa Gutiérrez González The COVID-19 pandemic caused a pronounced disruption in academic environments. A major change was most colleges and universities transferred to an online learning platform to continue educating students. Our anticipated return in the fall semester calls for us, as instructors,...

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Valuing Creativity in Calculus

By: Jana Talley, Co-Editor of DUE Point, Jackson State University The Reshaping Mathematical Identity Through Valuing Creativity in Calculus project aims to place students with more creative thinking skills in the STEM workforce. To do so, it focuses on training undergraduate mathematics faculty to cultivate mathematical creativity in introductory calculus courses. More specifically, our team assists...

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