Early Career Teaching Award

In 2017, the EPaDel section of the MAA created an Early Career Teaching award so that the EPaDel community can recognize members of the section early in their careers who are extraordinarily successful in their teaching both in their own classroom as well as beyond.

Each year, the awardee will also be the official section nominee for the MAA Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member. In addition, the award carries a cash prize.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Eligibility requirements are based on national criteria. The award is open to college or university teachers who:

• hold a doctorate degree
• have held a full-time faculty appointment in a department of mathematical sciences in the EPaDel Section for at least two, but not more than seven, years since receiving the Ph.D. (see note below).
• hold membership in the MAA

A nominee who has just started the eighth year of teaching at the time of the application is still eligible for the award. If a nominee has held his or her doctorate for more than seven years then the nominator must indicate on the nomination form the times that the nominee was not teaching. Common exceptions to the 7-year limit are maternity, paternity, family, or medical leaves. Sabbaticals and postdoctoral fellowships are exceptions only if they involved no teaching and the application does not include accomplishments made during these times.

Nominees should:

• be recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching
• have effectiveness in teaching undergraduate mathematics that can be documented
• have had influence in their teaching beyond their own classrooms and beyond their own institution. This influence can involve things like impact on alumni, publications that advance mathematics pedagogy, or contributions to professional organizations in the area of teaching
• foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics

Nominate

To nominate someone for the Early Career Teaching Award, please send an email to our Awards Coordinator, Dr. Ali Alikhani-Koopaei, at axa12@psu.edu. Please include "EPaDel Award Nomination" in the subject, and include the following information:

• Nominee's name, institution, and email address (the nominee will not be contacted unless they are selected as the recipient of the award).
• Nominator's name, institution, email address, and relationship to the nominee.
• In at most two pages, a description of why you believe the nominee is deserving of the Early Career Teaching Award, especially with regard to the qualities described above.

Recipients of the Early Career Teaching Award

• 2024: Samantha Pezzimenti, PSU Brandywine
• 2024: Allison Lewis & Ying (Joy) Zhou, Lafayette College
• 2020: Wing Hong Tony Wong, Kutztown University

Alder Award Winners

The following are members of our section who have won the national MAA's Alder Award.

• 2021: Alexander Diaz-Lopez, Villanova University
• 2016: Benjamin Galluzzo, Shippensburg University
• 2012: Michael Posner, Villanova University
• 2006: Garikai (Kai) Campbell, Swarthmore College