Alder Award Session
Moderated by: MAA President Jenna Carpenter, Campbell University.

Friday, August 8
MAA MathFest 2025

Abstract: The MAA established the Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member to honor beginning college or university faculty members whose teaching has been extraordinarily successful and whose effectiveness in teaching undergraduate mathematics is shown to have influence beyond their own classrooms. Each year, at most three college or university teachers are honored with this national award.  The awardees are invited to make a presentation in this session.  The session is moderated by MAA President Jenna Carpenter, Campbell University.

Recognizing Teaching as an Application of Mathematics in Undergraduate Coursework
Liz Arnold, Montana State University

Core courses in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum often have designated examples and exercises attending to specific application areas such as science, engineering, and business. These problems serve to emphasize the utility of mathematics in these areas, to legitimize the application areas as requiring deep mathematical thinking, and more tacitly to help undergraduate students understand the breadth of career opportunities for mathematicians. Through the MAA project, The Mathematical Education of Teachers as an Application of Undergraduate Mathematics (META Math), my colleagues and I have focused on adding “secondary mathematics teaching” explicitly to the list of legitimate application areas of undergraduate mathematics by developing and researching the use of nine lessons, aligning with courses in single variable calculus, introduction to statistics, discrete mathematics, and abstract algebra, that include teaching applications. In this talk, I will share examples of teaching applications and report on their use in undergraduate coursework, highlighting key findings and takeaways.

What’s Saving My Academic Life
Sarah Klanderman, Marian University 

As professors, many of us are navigating the ongoing challenges of teaching, mentoring, and showing up fully in a profession that asks a great deal of us. Taking time to reflect on what’s sustaining us can offer clarity and a deeper sense of purpose. For me, unexpected joy and renewed energy have come from practices like alternative grading that emphasize progress over points, learning communities with faculty and staff that foster genuine collegial connection, and undergraduate research mentoring that reconnects me with my love for mathematics. In this talk, I’ll also share how moments requiring me to adopt a growth mindset—rather than just promote it—have deepened my empathy for students and strengthened my support for their learning. My hope is that, even if the things sustaining your academic life look different, this talk might help you name—or rediscover—them for yourself.

Self Advocacy: How Teaching Self-advocacy Improves the Learning Experiences of Students
Shanise Walker, Clark Atlanta University 

In recent times, students are more reserved when it comes to asking and seeking assistance that would drive their success both inside and outside of the classroom. While these reservations may be attributed to the impacts of the pandemic on social interactions or the juggles of a first-year student navigating a new environment, it remains that students are not advocating for themselves and their needs. In this talk, I will discuss examples of self-advocacy opportunities for students in my courses and how students learn to advocate for themselves and their needs. The importance of self-advocacy as a part of the mentoring process is also discussed.