American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Opening Doors Through Mathematics Volume 23, Number 2 March 2008 News ISSN 0889-3845 Monumental Doings in a A New Era for Project ACCCESS Monumental Place The new era of by Judy Williams AMATYC Project AMATYC ACCCESS is well on its Join us November 20-23, Project ACCCESS way! The first Cohort Advancing Community College Careers: Education, Scholarship, and Service th 2008, for the 34 annual of the new AMATYC AMATYC conference, making Project ACCCESS (Advancing Community College Careers: Educa- Washington, DC, a monumen- tion, Scholarship, and Service) Fellows is currently hard at work on tal place for mathematics! their projects, attending affiliate conferences, communicating via The conference will provide the listserv, and implementing ideas they got from the Minneapolis attendees with outstanding conference. sessions and networking op- Project ACCCESS began in 2004 with a grant from ExxonMobil portunities, and DC is a capital and continues today through support from AMATYC and donations location to be in. to the AMATYC Foundation specifically for ACCCESS. The project’s With so much to do in Washington, bring your family and goal is to provide experiences that will help new faculty become more arrive early or stay late. For those who accompany you, make effective teachers and active members of the broader mathematical sure they come to the Hospitality Room Thursday, November 20, community. This highly successful project has already benefited over at 8:15 a.m. for our session “Making Connections: Families and 120 new faculty members at two-year colleges across the nation. Friends.” The current Fellows will complete their formal activities with Getting around town for you and your guests will be simple attendance at the Washington, DC conference in November. They with the Washington Hilton Hotel just a few blocks from the Du- will be joined by a new group of Fellows chosen this summer. If you pont Circle Metro station. Music and theater options range from are a new faculty member, please consider applying for this wonderful Broadway caliber shows and the National Symphony at the Ken- project, or if you know of someone else who is a new faculty member, nedy Center to excellent local bands and stage productions. As please encourage them to apply. The project is for faculty in the first, the November schedules are announced, look for updates on the second, or third year of a full-time teaching position at a two-year Local Events pages through www.amatyc.org, and check for special college. AMATYC ticket offers. Applications for the 2008-2009 Cohort of Fellows will be accept- Whatever your interests, Washington has a museum for ed from March 1st to May 1st. Applications and important informa- you. Many offer free admission, but some require you to write for tion are available on the AMATYC website. The twenty-four Fellows advance tickets. Many close in the late afternoon, so be sure to to be selected will attend check hours to avoid showing up to shut doors. the AMATYC conferences in Contact your Senator (www.senate.gov) or Representa- Washington, DC in 2008 and Inside This Issue tive (www.house.gov) to request tickets for a White House tour Las Vegas, Nevada in 2009, 2 President’s Corner Tuesday through Saturday mornings. When making the request, where they will attend special you’ll need to supply information on each guest for a security sessions designed for new 3 Nominations check. Notification that you have tickets will not come until the faculty as well as many of 4 SML Results first week of November, but your congressional office may send a the conference sessions and 5 AMATYC Needs You! list of names to the White House Tour Office up to six months in activities. advance, so make your call by May 1 to assure that your request The Project Coordina- 6 Committee Reports for tickets is sent to the tour office. tor is Karen Gaines from St. 7 Traveling Workshops You can also request your congressional office to arrange a Louis CC. If you, or any new 8-9 Professional Development Capitol tour. These are led by a person from your district who will faculty in your department, personalize the experience. You can also get help with a visit at have any questions feel free 10 News from Coast to Coast the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the State Department, and to contact her at 11 Calendar of Events the Voice of America offices and studios where you can perform [email protected]. For more 12 AMATYC Foundation in front of the blue screen. These are just a few of the attractions details, visit the AMATYC 12 Dates to Remember you might want to visit; all of these are easily accessible via Metro. Project ACCCESS website at www.acccess.amatyc.org. President’s Corner Reflections across the Curriculum Consider one of these activities in your department: Rethinking Pre-Algebra through Calculus... Organize a department meeting to Questions and Actions... open dialogue about how your math- Rikki Blair ematics curriculum can be structured to meet the needs of today’s students. Lakeland CC Kirtland, OH Plan a meeting with mathematics fac- ulty and faculty from other disciplines There are many responsibilities for College Algebra to integrate quantitative and reason- mathematics faculty, but few are more College algebra had the largest enroll- ing skills into other courses and devel- challenging or more critical than thinking ment in 2005 (206,000 students) of any op student outcomes in quantitative seriously about revitalizing mathematics college credit-bearing mathematics course literacy. courses and programs. The need for more (Lutzer, et.al., 2007, p.139). This course, Search for models that work. Study quantitative literacy and mathematics rea- along with precalculus, is the gateway to the components and activities of such soning skills in our global technological college mathematics for the large number models and incorporate those compo- society is more important today than ever. of students. Instead, college algebra may nents into a course at your college. be serving as a filter, rather than a pump Did you know? Use the Implementation Cycle of Be- for other mathematics courses, closing the The top 10 jobs projected for 2010 yond Crossroads (AMATYC, 2006) to door to future mathematics course enroll- didn’t exist in 2004. design an implementation plan to re- ments for many students. Are we em- The amount of technical information imagine your college class or depart- phasizing the appropriate content in this is doubling every two years. For col- ment’s program. course? Does the content of this course lege students, half of what they learn Engage in the scholarship of teaching prepare students for their life’s work—not will be outdated by their third year. to build the research base of innova- just for their next math class? We are preparing students for jobs tions in two-year college mathematics that don’t currently exist, using technolo- Calculus education. Share those results with gies that haven’t yet been invented, to It is time to take an honest look at others in our community. solve problems we don’t even know are the mainstream calculus sequence. En- Attend professional development problems yet. In this environment, it is rollment in calculus courses, which made workshops or design a traveling work- not only what our students know, but up 8% of total mathematics enrollments shop at your college. how they learn that will set them apart. in 2000, decreased to only 6% of enroll- Bring together a consortium of high In order to prepare our students to be ments in 2005 with a total of 81,000 school, two-year and four-year college informed citizens and successful in their students (Lutzer, et.al., 2007, p.139). In mathematics faculty in your region or careers, we need to examine what we are contrast, there was a 31% surge in “non- state to discuss curricular improve- teaching and how we are teaching that mainstream” Calculus I, perhaps reflecting ments. content. a growth in calculus enrollment by biology Most importantly, don’t be satisfied and life-science majors. What can we do Remedial and Developmental Math- with the status quo. Think outside of the to encourage students to take more calcu- ematics box. Embrace change. Take the first step lus and consider majoring in mathemat- In 2005, the total number of “precol- and try something new in one of your ics? What are the backgrounds and needs lege” mathematics course enrollments at classes. Collaborate with your colleagues of the students taking calculus? How can two-year colleges was 964,000 students, an to develop mathematics courses and pro- we re-imagine the calculus courses to bet- increase of 26% from 2000 (Lutzer, et.al., grams that will prepare our students with ter serve our students? 2007, p.134). Some of our students are the reasoning skills they need for tomor- taking arithmetic, pre-algebra, and begin- What can you do? row. Working together, we can provide a ning algebra for the first time, but many The challenges of developing inno- meaningful mathematics experience that more students have taken these courses vative curricula are daunting for two-year will have positive results for our students. before, often more than once. colleges, positioned between the K–12 and References: In jest, some say the definition of in- four-year college sectors. Finding solu- Lutzer, D.J., Rodi, S.B., Kirkman, E.E., & sanity is “doing the same activity in the tions for improving two-year college cours- Maxwell, J. W., Eds. (2007). Statistical same way a second time and expecting es and programs begins with each pro- Abstract of Undergraduate Programs in different results.” Is this what we are do- fessional accepting the responsibility for the Mathematical Sciences in the United ing in our developmental mathematics taking the first step.