Coming Events


2014 - 2015 Dates

Fall 2014 Dates

September 25, 2014, 12pm - 1:30pm, Texas Union Santa Rita Suite, 3.502 - Edward B. Burger, President of Southwestern University

Title: A Profound Disconnect Between Consumers and Producers of Education

Abstract: We will open sharing the unique story of Southwestern's 100% commitment to Inquiry-Based Learning in all of its natural sciences courses at all levels-a commitment no other institution in this country has made. And then move to the boarder question of what defines one's formal education from both the student-side and the instructor-side. We will quickly discover a dramatic gap and we will conclude our remarks with how that gap might be closed over time.

Edward Burger is the President of Southwestern University as well as an educational and business consultant who has led creativity and leadership seminars at the World Bank, Microsoft, the United States Department of the Interior, the International Monetary Fund, and colleges and universities around the world. Most recently he was the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Mathematics at Williams College, and served as Vice Provost for Strategic Educational Initiatives at Baylor University. He is the author of over 60 research articles, books, and video series (starring in over 4,000 on-line videos viewed by over ten million individuals).

Burger was awarded Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Award Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo National Award for Distinguished Teaching of Mathematics. The MAA also named him their 2001-2003 Polya Lecturer. He was awarded the 2003 Residence Life Teaching Award from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2004 he was awarded Mathematical Association of America's Chauvenet Prize and in 2006 he was a recipient of the Lester R. Ford Prize. In 2007, 2008, and 2011 he received awards for his video work. Burger is an associate editor of the American Mathematical Monthly and Math Horizons Magazine and served as a Trustee of the Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

In 2006, Reader's Digest listed Burger in their annual "100 Best of America" as America's Best Math Teacher. In 2010 he was named the winner of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching - the largest and most prestigious prize in higher education teaching across all disciplines in the English speaking world. Also in 2010 he starred in a mathematics segment for NBC-TV on the Today Show and throughout the 2010 Winter Olympic coverage. That television appearance won him a 2010 Telly Award and another NBC appearance led to a secondTelly Award in 2013. The Huffington Post named him one of their 2010 Game Changers; "HuffPost's Game Changers salutes 100 innovators, visionaries, mavericks, and leaders who are reshaping their fields and changing the world." In 2012, Microsoft Worldwide Education selected him as one of their "Global Heroes in Education." In 2013 Burger was inducted as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

October 29th, 12:00-1:30pm, Texas Union Santa Rita Suite, 3.502. Maria Terell, Cornell University, will present Calculus and Engineering collaboration, designed to enhance the Calculus experience for Engineering Students.

Title: "What We Learned about Engineering Workshops in Calculus"

Abstract: During our October Discovery Luncheon Talk, Dr. Terrell will describe a collaborative effort by Engineering and Mathematics faculty at Cornell University to enhance engineering students’ abilities to apply mathematics to solve problems in engineering contexts through collaborative workshops and she will explain how the innovation was assessed. Maria Terrell is the Director of Teaching Assistant Programs in the Mathematics Department at Cornell University, where she is responsible for the professional development of mathematics teaching assistants. As a third generation descendant of R. L. Moore, inquiry based learning is important influence on Maria’s teaching and research. Maria has been the principal investigator on several projects supported by the National Science Foundation that were designed to support undergraduate mathematics curriculum and/or assessment of student learning: the Good Questions Project, to foster and assess in class discussion of calculus, Assessment in Engineering Calculus-the Mathematics Applications Inventory, to assess the implementation of collaborative applications centered workshops in engineering calculus, and she has participated in the development of the Calculus Concept Inventory (PI Jerry Epstein). Most recently Dr. Terrell has coauthored a new calculus book, Calculus with Applications (with Peter Lax) and has coauthored a paper (with Mary Ann Huntley) summarizing a study of high school algebra texts different approaches to presenting linear equations.

November 4, 12:00-1:30pm, Texas Union Santa Rita Suite, 3.502 Cathy Stacy and Rebecca Lyle, Senior Assistant Dean, UT College of Natural Sciences, will present on the OnRamps Statistics Course.

This talk will introduce participants to the OnRamps Statistics Initiative that brings UT statistics content and course credit to high schools across the State.  We will identify the goals that define this dual-enrollment course and discuss how they are developed through a highly-scaffolded learning cycle.  Our presentation will highlight the collaborative, hands-on labs that allow students to engage with real-life data using technology.  Finally, we will take a look at the outcomes in our participating high schools and what they suggest about the future success of this initiative.

Rebecca Lyle, OnRamps Statistics Course Coordinator, Center for Teaching and Learning
Rebecca J. Lyle is currently the Statistics Course Coordinator for OnRamps, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Texas at Austin.  Before joining the OnRamps program, Rebecca used her graduate training in mathematics and statistics to teach at both the college and high school levels. She has also conducted and analyzed various types of surveys for market and medical research.

Cathy Stacy, Sr. Assistant Dean, College of Natural Sciences

Cathy Stacy has been teaching at UT Austin for the past 20 years.  She has developed and taught a variety of courses that focus on critical thinking, logic and statistics.  She is a Provost Teaching Fellow and a recipient of the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award.  Cathy has been actively involved in curriculum and instructional management in the College of Natural Sciences and strives to innovate and improve on a daily basis.