Newswise — The Mathematics Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been given the 2009 Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department. Presented annually by the American Mathematical Society, the award recognizes a college or university mathematics department that has distinguished itself by undertaking an unusual or particularly effective program of value to the mathematics community, internally or in relation to the rest of society.
"This year, the committee recieved a remarkably strong pool of nominees," said Steven A. Bleiler, professor of mathematics at Portland State University and chair of the award selection committee. "One can honestly say that every one of this year's nominees deserves the kind of recognition that an award of this type confers. Yet it was very gratifying to see Nebraska emerge from our review process as a first among equals and receive well deserved accolades for the profound effect their innovation, outreach, and willingness to do things differently have had on their own programs, as well as on the future face of our discipline."
The Nebraska Mathematics Department has become known for its success in mentoring women PhD students in mathematics. In pursuit of this goal, the department has improved the climate for all of its students and has transformed itself into a place where talented people---women and men, faculty and students---are given the encouragement and support they need to reach their highest potential. Today the department is viewed as a highly desirable place to get a PhD in mathematics or to be a faculty member.
It was back in the late 1980s that Professor W. James Lewis, who had just started a term as department chair, realized that the department was not serving well its women graduate students: Even though women made up 20 percent of the graduate student population during the 1980s, the department awarded *no* PhDs to women in that decade. In challenging the department to seriously address this problem, Lewis set the mathematics faculty on a transformational course.
Some of the steps taken were small---making sure that outstanding women undergraduates are encouraged to consider graduate school, having an open-door policy so that students feel comfortable coming for help, supplying cookies for the graduate student seminar. Other steps were larger and more strategic, like improving financial support for graduate students and instituting qualifying examination workshops. The department also set up ways to provide its students with opportunities to build a professional portfolio, such as being in charge of a course, or helping to choose textbooks.
In 1998, the department received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, specifically for its success in mentoring women PhD students. The department used the US$10,000 from the award to launch the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, which has now become an annual tradition drawing 200 women students from across the country. Among the other programs in the department are IMMERSE, a summer bridge program for math majors who have just been accepted into graduate school; All Girls All Math, a week-long summer math camp for mathematically talented high school girls; and Math in the Middle, a major teacher development program aimed at improving middle school mathematics education across the state of Nebraska.
These large-scale programs have been extraordinarily successful and have raised the national profile of the department. And they were not gimmicky add-ons designed to draw attention. Rather, they grew organically out of the department's day-to-day commitment to nurturing students and faculty so that all can excel to their highest potential.
The official announcement of the award, including the selection committee's citation, appears today in the May 2009 issue of the Notices of the AMS, at http://www.ams.org/notices.
Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society has more than 32,000 members. The Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.
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