December 2002: Vol. 82, No. 1December 2002: Vol. 82, No. 1 |
UGA in the news |
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The National Science Foundation has awarded a $10.3 million grant to UGA's department of mathematics education for a five-year project aimed at improving the proficiency of future teachers, new teachers, and those already in the field.
"We know that the single, most important factor in raising student achievement is teacher quality," says Louis Castenell, dean of the College of Education. "Here, we are attempting to reinvest the infrastructure of mathematics education, to include or strengthen those elements which research shows are necessary to create mathematics teachers of excellence."
"Last year, half the mathematics education teaching positions in the nation went unfilled," says Pat Wilson (center).
UGA researchers say mathematics teachers need a special kind of math knowledge to teach more effectively—one that differs from the type of mathematics that is taught to architects, engineers, computer scientists, and research mathematicians.
"We want teachers to have a profound understanding of mathematics," says Pat Wilson, department head of mathematics education, who is a principal investigator and director of the project. "They have to be able to unpack the mathematics so students can learn it. They need to be able to connect it to other ideas both in and outside of mathematics."
To achieve this goal, UGA will create a national Center for Proficiency in Teaching Mathematics, which will aim to enhance teachers' effectiveness in the classroom through changes in their mathematics preparation and by making mathematics classes in local schools the primary site and resource for their professional learning.
The new center will use a model of proficiency from a 2001 National Research Council committee report co-authored by UGA Regents Professor Jeremy Kilpatrick and colleague Brad Findell. Titled "Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics," the report says the nation can and should groom all students to be mathematically proficient, mastering much more than disconnected facts and procedures.
"We have been teaching mathematics proficiency, but I think we've focused more on concepts and skills," says Wilson. "This national center is going to work on incorporating strategies, reasoning, and disposition, as well as understanding and procedures."
NSF is financing a $50 million initiative across the country to improve teaching and leadership in mathematics, science and technology. It funded two centers last year and three centers this year, including the one at UGA. NSF is concerned that 33 percent of mathematics teachers in grades 7-12 have neither a major nor a minor in their teaching field, yet teach more than 26 percent of all mathematics students. Even more alarming, the human resources for training new mathematics teachers are dwindling. More than half the faculty in universities that grant doctoral degrees in mathematics education will be eligible for retirement in two years, and nearly 80 percent will be eligible in 10 years, according to the NSF.
UGA's partners in the center include the University of Michigan and several Michigan colleges and school districts. Georgia partners are the State Board of Regents and school systems in Social Circle, and in Morgan and Gwinnett counties. Much of the work will be done in these local school districts, as well as at UGA and special summer institutes.
Kilpatrick and James Wilson, professor of mathematics education, are also principal investigators in the project. But the center's work will involve all faculty members in the department, as well as faculty in UGA's mathematics department.
Gov.-Elect Perdue appoints CFO Henry Huckaby to transition team
Doing double duty
UGA's senior vice president for finance and administration, Henry M. Huckaby, who was director of the state of Georgia Office of Planning and Budget during the administration of Gov. Zell Miller (AB '57, MA '58), has been appointed to the transition team of Gov.-Elect Sonny Perdue (DVM '71). As such, he will be on loan to the state government for a six-month period.
Huckaby, who has been in his current position as the University's CFO since 2000, was director of UGA's Carl Vinson Institute of Government from 1997-2000 and director of the fiscal research program at Georgia State University for the two previous years. Prior to that, he worked for more than 20 years in Georgia state government, holding in addition to the top job at OPB such positions as executive director of the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority and commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
During the six months Huckaby is on loan to the governor-elect's transition team, he will also work one day per week at UGA.
Gov.-Elect Perdue (center), with Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith (left) and President Adams will rely on Huckaby's budgetary skills. The three men were photographed at Legislative Day.
"Hank Huckaby's depth of experience in fiscal management in Georgia state government is unsurpassed," says President Michael F. Adams. "That Gov.-Elect Perdue would turn to UGA to fill this key position is a tribute to both Mr. Huckaby and the University."
Adams has appointed two associate vice presidents in the division of finance and administration to oversee day-to-day operations during Huckaby's absence. George E. Stafford, associate vice president and comptroller, will manage administrative matters for the division, while Ryan Nesbit, associate vice president and budget director, will direct budgetary matters.
