Mathematics professor Aaron Wootton has been awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award for the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Pacific Northwest Section. Winners of the section award are automatically nominated for the national MAA Deborah & Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, given to nominees who are widely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching, who have had an influence in their teaching beyond their own institution, and who foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics in their students. The Pacific Northwest Section includes all institutions of higher education in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest, Nunavut, and Yukon territories.
Wootton has been teaching math classes spanning the entire undergraduate curriculum for 21 years. The success of his teaching comes down to his willingness to listen carefully to his students and colleagues and adapt his teaching methods accordingly. He teaches classes offering students multiple formats to help in their learning, creating a safe and comfortable learning environment, and by regularly communicating with them to learn about their individual needs and concerns. For example, he requires that every student picks up each of their tests from his office in person. Though these meetings take up a tremendous amount of time (200+ meetings per semester), every minute is time well spent as it allows him to build an honest and trusting relationship with his students, and it provides him with the opportunity to identify and help students who are struggling.
Outside of the classroom, to pique student interest in mathematics, Wootton created a course in cryptography and drafted an accompanying 200-page textbook. Nationally, Aaron is recognized as the founder and series editor of the book series Foundations for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (FURM, published by Springer Verlag). To date, FURM has released one volume with two further volumes in press. He is a member of the Mathematics Calculus Consortium, a group of educators ranging from high school teachers to faculty from world-renowned research universities. Since joining the Consortium, he has been involved in the completion of four new edition textbooks, all of which are published by Wiley, and are strong sellers throughout the world.
After 22 years of exemplary cheerful service, Carol Bruce is retiring from her position as office manager and de facto den mother for the mathematics and communication studies office. A farewell party for Carol will take place on Thursday, June 20, from 3 to 5 p.m., in the Pilot House. All are invited to come by and wish Carol well and thank her for all she has done as a faithful University of Portland employee.
Hannah Highlander, mathematics, has been awarded the 11th Annual Sigma Xi Outstanding Researcher Award, given annually by the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi, the international scientific research honorary society. She will be honored at a ceremony on May 28. College of Arts and Science dean and mathematics faculty member Herbert Medina points out that this is the second consecutive year that a UP mathematics faculty member has won the award (with Aaron Wootton winning kin 2018).
The mathematics department is hosting the 2019 Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America (PNW MAA) conference on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13. Friday’s plenary lecture is open to the UP community and will feature Carlos Castillo-Chavez of Arizona State University. He will present the Distingushed MAA Pólya Lecture, “Role of social dynamics and individual decisions on the spread of infectious disease” at 8 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium.
The University’s annual Reading Fair will take place on Sunday, February 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Chiles Center. “Rumble in the Jungle” will be a reading fair and family STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) day hosted by Kappa Delta Pi and the UP STEM Education and Outreach Center. The fair is freeand open to all children from preschool through 8th grade.
The Oregon Academy of Science has selected Stephanie Salomone, mathematics, as a winner of the OAS 2019 Outstanding Educator: Higher Education award.
The following science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty members have been selected as STEM Innovation Fellows and will participate in the first REFLECT institute in May, funded by a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grant, according to Stephanie Salomone, mathematics. The REFLECT project stands for “Redesigning Education for Learning through Evidence and Collaborative Teaching,” and will develop and facilitate training workshops to expose faculty to highly effective evidence-based resources and pedagogies at UP.
The University of Portland’s STEM Education and Outreach Center is sponsoring a new speaker series to encourage students to think outside the box about career possibilities, according to Tisha Morrell, education. The speaker for the premiere session will be Tommy Pham ’09, ’11, lead patent strategist at NIKE. He will speak on his experience in the worlds of entrepreneurship and science, and his work in global innovation. His talk will take place on Thursday, April 12, 7 to 8 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. Refreshments will be served. For ADA accommodation requests or questions, please contact 
Ronald “Ron” Smit, who retired from the mathematics faculty in May 2005, passed away on February 20, 2018, in Vancouver, Washington, at the age of 77. Please join the University community at his Memorial Mass on Thursday, March 22 at 4:30 p.m., in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. For questions, please contact campus ministry at x7131 or 
Please join the mathematics department in welcoming their next Math Colloquium speaker, Wanchunzi Yun of Arizona State University, on Monday, February 6, at 4 p.m., in Buckley Center room 103. Yun will present “Robust Dose-level Designs for Binary Responses.” Refreshments will be served.