Meet the President-Elect of the MAA!

By Tim Chartier & Jenna Carpenter Earlier this year, frequent Math Values contributor Tim Chartier sat down with MAA President-Elect Jenna Carpenter to discuss her work increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM and her tips for creating more inclusive and welcoming institutions, departments, and classrooms. TC: You are noted nationally...

---

Teaching Math as an Act of Resistance

By Dave Kung During the September Presidential debate, Kamala Harris pulled a surprising judo move. She invited the audience to attend one of her opponent’s rallies. In addition to the people leaving early, clearly a sore spot for her opponent, what I saw at those rallies was a large group of people unquestioningly believing what...

---

Structuring Professional Learning Communities for College-Level Instructional Change

By Erin Moss STEM majors who are placed into college algebra frequently experience the course as an obstacle to success and timely degree completion. Since research has demonstrated that inquiry-oriented instruction leads to increased learning and persistence in STEM degrees, developing faculty who are able to implement that pedagogy in college algebra is a worthy...

---

Calculus for Teachers: On Continuity

By David Bressoud @dbressoud As of 2024, new Launchings columns appear on the third Tuesday of the month. This month’s column was inspired by an article by Xiaoheng Yan, Ofer Marmur, and Rina Zazkis, “Calculus for Teachers: Perspective and Considerations for Mathematicians.” The authors had interviewed mostly Canadian mathematicians. Unlike Advanced Placement Calculus in the...

---

Finding Motivation in Community

By Daniel Tedeschi “Grad school is a marathon, not a sprint.” I have heard this metaphor a thousand times over, but I must say, as a graduate student currently navigating the space, I find it wanting. I find describing grad school as a long walk to be more accurate. The exciting kind, where you trek...

---

A Baker, a Decorator, and a Wedding Planner Walk into a Classroom

By Lew Ludwig Baking, Decorating, or Planning: What Role Are Your Students Playing? Are your students learning to bake the cake? Are they learning to decorate the cake? Or are they acting as wedding planners so they can outsource the cake so they can focus on the other stuff? This analogy, shared by Maha Bali...

---

The Power of Print

Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from the November 2024 “Aftermath” column in Math Horizons. By Tom Edgar I took over as editor of Math Horizons at the beginning of 2020, and I admit that I had my doubts about the sustainability of a print magazine. Math Horizons started in 1993 when digital resources weren’t...

---

The mathematician who—incidentally—helped mathematicians to stop worrying and love the computer.

By Keith Devlin @KeithDevlin@fediscience.org, @profkeithdevlin.bsky.social Yes, this month’s title is a reference to the iconic 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove. Walk into any mathematics professor’s office and you’ll see a computer. Indeed, the chances are high that, even if said mathematician is not actively using it, it’s switched on. Back in 1985—the year AFTER the Macintosh...

---

Three Ways to Support Students

By Axel Brandt Among college and university personnel, faculty (arguably) have the greatest opportunity for interactions with students. We are often called upon to support students in many aspects of their lives, including academic, emotional, and career preparation. Let’s talk about some relatively simple ways that we can answer that call. Academic Support via Office...

---

Beliefs and Belongings in Mathematics

By David Bressoud @dbressoud As of 2024, new Launchings columns appear on the third Tuesday of the month. I believe that there is no discipline that elicits such strong negative reactions as mathematics. To admit that one is a mathematician is to invite comments on how difficult and frustrating others have found their experience of...

---