The Mathematical Association of America Maryland-District of Columbia-Virginia Section

Brief Description

In 1991 the Mathematical Association of America instituted Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics in order to honor college or university teachers who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. In 1993 the MAA Board of Governors renamed the award to honor Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo.

Each year, every section of the MAA is invited to select a college or university teacher to be honored with a Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. Recipients of the section awards then become nominees for the national Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

The the John M. Smith Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching is given each spring. See here for a list of past winners.

Nomination Process

Anyone may make a nomination, but nominations from chairs or MAA liaisons in departments of mathematical sciences are especially solicited. For this reason, this call for nominations is sent to both department chairs and MAA liaisons so that the responsibility for nominations can be shared between them. An outline of the nomination process can be found here.

We urge you to submit a nomination for the MAA John M. Smith Teaching Award if you have someone eligible and qualified in your department. Even if not selected this year, it is an honor for someone to have been nominated, and your candidate can likely be nominated again in a future year. Your department will receive recognition for its commitment to excellence in teaching, and the work done in preparing a nomination folder for your candidate is a tribute in itself. Self-nomination is not permitted.

The Award Selection Committee will determine the recipient of the John M. Smith Teaching Award from those nominated. The awardee will be honored at the Spring meeting of the Section and will be widely recognized and acknowledged within the Section. The awardee will also be the official Section nominee for the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

Eligibility

• College or university teachers who currently teach a mathematical science at least halftime during the academic year in a public or private college or university (from two-year college teaching through teaching at the Ph.D. level) in Maryland, Washington DC, or Virginia. Those on approved leave (sabbatical or other) during the academic year in which they are nominated qualify if they fulfilled the requirements in the previous year.
• More than seven years experience in teaching a mathematical science.
• Membership in the Mathematical Association of America.

Guidelines for Nomination

Nominees should

• Be widely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching.*
• Have teaching effectiveness that can be documented.
• Have had influence in their teaching beyond their own institution.**
• Foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics in their students.

* "teaching" is to be interpreted in its broadest sense, not necessarily limited to classroom teaching. It may include activities such as preparing students for mathematical competitions at the college level such as the Putnam Prize Competition or the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, attracting students to become majors in a mathematical science or to become Ph.D. candidates, working with pre-service or inservice teachers, etc.

** "influence beyond..." can take many forms, including demonstrated lasting impact on alumni, influence on the profession through curricular revisions in college mathematics teaching with wide-ranging impact, influential publications or innovative books concerned with the teaching of college mathematics, etc.

Submitting a Nomination

Nominations can be sent in at any time, though nominations received too close to the award date may have to wait until the following year for consideration.

There is a two-step nominating process. Initial nominations are made by completing the Short Nomination Form by. The Section Award Committee will review these "short" nominations, and finalists will be invited to submit a full nomination packet.

Please fill out the Short Nomination Form (doc format, odt format, or pdf format) and email it to: Ann Stewart at stewart@hood.edu.

The two-step process is designed to make it easy to submit an initial nomination, and so that only a few nominators need to go through the rigorous process of furnishing the full set of materials. Nominators will be informed if their candidate is a finalist. For the finalists, the full nomination will include, in addition to the short form,

• a narrative (at most five double spaced pages),
• additional documentation (at most three pages),
• and letters of recommendation (at most five).

Complete instructions are available online here.

We look forward to your participation in this exciting MAA venture of taking substantive action to honor extraordinarily successful teaching. We want to see such teaching recognized at all post- secondary school levels. We depend on you to help us identify those who merit such recognition.

Awards Committee

See the section officers page for the current members of the awards committee.