Campus Connection

The hall between offices of the UW-L Mathematics Department on the first floor of Cowley Hall is seldom quiet. At almost any given moment, you’ll find two or more faculty members talking with one another. Sometimes it’s about their weekend activities, but more often you’ll hear conversations about their curriculum and how to better connect with students. “I know that when I was a young teacher, much like our faculty is pretty young, I would come out of a class and say ‘man, I gave a good lecture,’” says Jennifer Kosiak, a mathematics professor who received an award from the Regents in 2012. “Now, I turn to them and say 'So what? How do you know your students learned during that lecture?' So now we have that conversation of ‘man, my students really got it today’ and we can say 'well, how? What did you do in that classroom?'” Similar discussions are just one small reason why the department is the UW System 2015 Regents Teaching Excellence Award recipient. It’s the only department in the state to earn the honor. “It’s not so much about being proud of winning the award,” says Becky LeDocq, chair of the Math Department. “It’s about being proud of what we do and what has gotten this award for us.”  

Preparing students for future careers and graduate level education

The Math Department is one of the lucky few on campus that touch the lives of just about every student. With few exceptions, every student enrolls into some math course at some time. Of those who choose to make a career out of math, about one-third are education majors. They take part in a program pioneered by faculty called the Secondary Teacher Education Preparation. It provides mentorship and support for students as they spend more then 100 hours teaching math in first through fifth grade classrooms.

Supporting diverse student needs

A growing need for students to be tutored through math courses was answered through a tutoring center. The Murphy Learning Center was established by members of the Math Department and now serves several other departments. It also provides student tutors invaluable teaching experience. The center had 20,000 student visits during the 2013-14 school year. The department also developed a Fast-Track Mathematics program, where incoming freshmen develop math skills online for six weeks before meeting on campus. In the first two years, 73 of the 75 participating students moved forward into credit-bearing math classes, saving students and taxpayers money. There’s also the Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC, which UW-L faculty and staff developed. It allows anyone in the world to become ready for college math.

Working together

For the past few years, the Math Department has found itself collaborating with others, including the Biology Department, which earned the same Board of Regents award in 2013. Together, the departments developed new curricula, programs and hired new faculty, including a professor specializing in mathematical biology. “To make progress you have to be collaborative; you can’t make a whole lot of progress if you’re not, or it would take you a really long time,” says Anita Baines, an associate professor of biology.  

Thinking beyond the diploma

The Math Department has seen a major increase in the number of students interested in undergraduate research. During the 2013-14 school year, there were more than 40 student presentations and publications. Compare that to an average of six a year between 2002 and 2005. Some students are also getting hands-on work crunching numbers for faculty on campus and businesses off campus. The Statistical Consulting Center provides students the opportunity to work as real statistical consultants under a faculty member’s supervision. Along with the faculty research, the students helped with nine projects for local businesses, individuals and non-profits. “A lot of our students actually say that this is an item on their resume that sets them apart,” says Barb Bennie, an associate professor of math working with the Statistical Consulting Center. “At their job interviews, the students get asked about working at the Statistical Consulting Center and are able to say they actually met with a client and helped answer their questions.” “It’s just really nice to see the faculty having something to be proud of,” says LeDocq.