[RUME] RUME elections

[Natasha Speer]

The terms for our current Program Chair and Secretary are up soon.  
Statements from the candidates running in the election are below. The  
window for casting your vote is Dec. 4 - Dec. 18. The on-line voting  
website http://www.maa.org/voting/sigmaa_rume. You can also find the  
candidate statements on the website.

You will need your MAA member ID number to log in and cast your vote.  
You must also be a current member of RUME to vote. If you cannot find  
your MAA member ID, contact Karen Marrongelle (karenmar at pdx.edu).

The candidates for Program Chair are Sean Larsen and Jason Martin. The  
candidates for Secretary are Jessica Deshler and Eric Hsu.

Please take a few minutes, read the statements, and cast your vote!

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Program Chair Candidates:
Sean Larsen

Like many of us, I work in a department of mathematics, and as such, I  
am very interested in how the RUME community interacts with the  
greater mathematics community. I think it is important to offer  
quality sessions at the Joint Mathematics Meetings and Mathfest that  
our mathematician colleagues will find intellectually stimulating and  
relevant to their work. These meetings offer an opportunity for us to  
showcase the excellent work that our community is doing, and I would  
be privileged to coordinate our efforts to capitalize on these  
opportunities.


For the past ten years I have been actively involved in the RUME  
organization.  After the upcoming conference in North Carolina I will  
have given eleven presentations at seven RUME conferences.  I have  
also participated in RUME sessions at the Joint Mathematics Meetings  
and Mathfest (this year I directed the RUME sponsored session on  
teaching and learning abstract algebra), so I am familiar with our  
organization’s ongoing presence at those conferences. I have served  
numerous times on the program committee, so I have experience with  
process of preparing for the RUME conference and the various post- 
conference activities to which the program chair contributes  (e.g.  
the best paper award). These experiences should serve me well in the  
position of RUME program chair, and I would be delighted to serve my  
favorite professional organization in this capacity.



Jason Martin

Jason Martin recently received his Ph.D. in Mathematics under the  
Undergraduate Curriculum and Pedagogy Research Program Option (a RUME  
option) from the University of Oklahoma.  Jason is currently a  
Postdoctoral Scholar in the Center for Research and Innovation in  
Mathematics and Science Education (RIMSE) associated with the School  
of Mathematics and Statistical Science at Arizona State University.   
For his dissertation, under the guidance of Teri J. Murphy, Jason  
utilized the notion of concept images to analyze and describe some of  
the different ways in which experts and novices conceptualized the  
concept of convergence in the context of Taylor series.  Currently,  
Jason is working with Michael Oehrtman to extend his analysis by  
employing the theoretical perspective of conceptual metaphor to better  
explain how students reason about and with their emerging Taylor  
series scheme.  Beyond Taylor series and calculus, Jason is interested  
in the influence of technology on learning and data collection, and he  
is currently working with improving the teaching and learning of  
geometry at a local high school.


Vision Statement:
I desire to do everything in my power to promote the continued success  
and growth of the SIGMAA on RUME as it strives to foster research on  
learning and teaching undergraduate mathematics and to provide a  
support network for those who participate in this area of research.  I  
already have experience with organizing and planning seminars at a  
university and as Program Chair I would assist the Organizational  
Director in the planning of the RUME conference and SIGMAA on RUME  
paper sessions during meetings such as the Joint Meetings and  
Mathfest.  I would like RUME to not only continue to bring in well  
respected plenary speakers to the RUME conference but also to other  
meetings.  For the RUME conference, I would like to see specific  
sessions dedicated to specific topics whither they be based on  
subjects in mathematics, such as calculus or linear algebra, or based  
on research methodologies and theoretical perspectives, such as  
discourse analysis or constructivism.  Furthermore, a small poster  
session at RUME to visually display research projects would be a  
wonderful addition to an already growing schedule of events.  In times  
when finding funding for conferences is becoming more difficult for  
participants, it would be nice if RUME could offer small scholarships  
or travel grants to reward graduate students who have demonstrated  
excellence in scholarly writing and research.  These are some of my  
ideas that influence my vision for the future of RUME conferences.   
Thank you for your consideration as Program Chair.


------------------------------

Secretary candidates:



Jessica Deshler

Jessica Deshler received her Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics  
from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1998. She then  
went on to receive her Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in  
applied mathematics from The University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2001  
and 2008, respectively, while working as a teaching assistant. From  
2004-2008 she was a National Science Foundation New Mexico Alliance  
for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NM-AGEP) Fellow and  
received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the UNM  
Department of Mathematics and Statistics in 2002. She was the first  
student from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNM to  
complete a dissertation on Undergraduate Mathematics Education.
Jessica joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at West  
Virginia University (WVU) in the Fall of 2008. She was a 2008-2009  
Mathematical Association of America Project NExT (New Experiences in  
Teaching) Fellow, and is a member of the Institute of Math Learning  
(IML) at WVU. She is currently the Graduate Teaching Assistant  
Coordinator and Tutoring Coordinator for her department. Her current  
research interests are the effective teaching of undergraduate  
mathematics, interactions in the classroom and the professional  
development of teaching assistants.

My vision for the SIGMAA on RUME in the near future is the continued  
strengthening of existing degree programs that have an emphasis on  
RUME as well as an increase in the number institutions where students  
can study the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics  
education.  For existing programs with active research faculty members  
creating venues for them to present their work at the local and  
national levels increases the visibility of RUME programs, thus  
strengthening the SIGMAA on RUME at the national level. For schools  
where there are currently no programs focused on RUME, I would like to  
see an increase in resources and professional development available  
for collegiate mathematics instructors as a way to introduce others to  
the current research in this field. I am dedicated to the improved  
instruction of mathematics at the undergraduate level, and to  
increasing the knowledge base of how undergraduate students learn  
mathematics. My department has an established Institute for Math  
Learning with 7 full time faculty members who conduct research in the  
field of undergraduate mathematics education and we are currently in  
the process of implementing a RUME emphasis into our Ph.D. program,  
offering the first course this semester. I would love the serve as  
secretary of the SIGMAA on RUME community.



Eric Hsu

I am Associate Professor of Mathematics at San Francisco State  
University and currently PI on an NSF CAREER grant studying graduate  
instructor development in the context of their professional and non- 
professional communities, and co-PI on an NSF Math Science Partnership  
and a California Math Science Partnership. I have served as Secretary  
of the SIGMAA on RUME since 2002 and done other related service,  
serving on the Web, Literature, Nomination and Election Committees  
over the years.  You may also know my name from my running the RUME  
mailing list, the RUME Math/Stat Education Literature Database, or the  
Calculus Problem Database (the last two at betterfilecabinet.com).   
Other current projects include developing a capstone course for  
secondary teachers and an experimental hybrid online/live group work  
calculus course.


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