Monday, May 24, 2010
NCTM President Shaughnessy and Four Board Members Begin Terms
Reston, Va., May 24, 2010—J. Michael Shaughnessy and four other mathematics educators began their terms on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Board of Directors at the conclusion of the Council's annual meeting in San Diego on April 24.
Shaughnessy will serve a two-year term as NCTM president. Anne M. Collins, Debbie Duvall, Matthew R. Larson, and Kimberly Mueller begin three-year terms (2010–13) on the NCTM Board of Directors. The new directors fill out the 14-member board that serves as the chief policymaking body for the world's largest professional organization dedicated to the teaching and learning of mathematics. With 100,000 members, NCTM supports mathematics educators in all 50 states and Canada. In addition, the Council provides information and services to members in 104 countries around the globe.
J. Michael Shaughnessy served as the director of the Ph.D. program in mathematics education at Portland State University from 1996–2008. In addition to his work at Portland State, he taught for 18 years at Oregon State University and has held visiting professorships in Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. He brings to his NCTM leadership nearly 40 years of experience in teaching mathematics at all levels in the United States, as well as considerable work with teachers, students, and professional organizations from many other countries.
Shaughnessy earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from LeMoyne College (Syracuse, New York), and Indiana University, respectively. He received a doctorate in mathematics education from Michigan State University. His professional memberships include the Mathematical Association of America, American Statistical Association, American Educational Research Association, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, and TODOS: Mathematics for ALL.
"Forging connections between research and practice has been a personal goal throughout my career. I will work to enhance the Council's efforts to provide more pathways for research and practice to interact and enhance each other," said Shaughnessy. "We will need to work hard to help influence public attitudes and beliefs about mathematics education to reach NCTM's goal of more and better mathematics for all students."
Shaughnessy previously served NCTM as a member of the Board of Directors and as a coauthor of several NCTM publications, including a volume in the highly regarded Navigations Series, and most recently,
Focus in High School Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making in Statistics and Probability—the first volume in a series of companion books for NCTM's influential publication
Focus in High School Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making.
In 2006 Shaughnessy received the Lifetime Award for Service from the Oregon Mathematics Education Hall of Fame.
Anne M. Collins is the director of mathematics programs at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She previously served as a research associate at Boston College and statewide mathematics coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Education, as well as a teacher in the public schools. Collins earned her bachelor's degree from Framingham State College (Massachusetts), a second bachelor's in mathematics from Westfield State College (Massachusetts), a certificate of advanced graduate study from Harvard University, and a doctorate in mathematics education from Boston College. She was program committee cochair for the 2009 Boston regional conference and was named to the Massachusetts Mathematics Educators Hall of Fame in 2005.
Debbie Duvall is the mathematics consultant for Elk Island Public Schools in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada. From 2001–2009 she was the mathematics resource manager and curriculum specialist for the Alberta Education Department. Duvall received her bachelor's degree in mathematics education from the University of Saskatchewan and a master's in education from the University of Portland (Oregon). She is the coauthor of several publications, including
Engaging Kids in Their Learning, published by the University of Portland. She was honored with the Service Excellence Award by the government of Alberta in 2006.
Matthew R. Larson is the K–12 mathematics curriculum specialist for the Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, Nebraska. Larson earned his bachelor's degree and his doctorate from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Larson previously was mathematics department chair and a teacher at Lincoln High School. His recent work with the Council includes participating in the Research Agenda Conference in 2008, and serving as chair (2006–07) of the Research Committee. He has also coauthored articles for NCTM's
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. He received the Don Miller Outstanding Mathematics Educator Award, Nebraska, in 2000.
Kimberly Mueller is a kindergarten teacher in the Florence L. Walther School, Lumberton, New Jersey. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Arcadia University (Glenside, Pennsylvania), and a doctorate from Saint Joseph's University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Mueller has been a speaker at several NCTM conferences, including the annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in 2009. Mueller was a New Jersey state finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2006 and the winner of the award in 2008. She received the award in January 2010 in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has 100,000 members and 230 Affiliates in the United States and Canada. It is the world's largest organization dedicated to improving mathematics education from pre-K through grade 12. The Council recommends that math education for all students go beyond the basics to include higher levels of mathematics. The Council's
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics provides guidelines for excellence in mathematics education. Its
Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, released in 2006, identifies the most important mathematical topics for each grade level. In 2009, NCTM released
Focus in High School Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making which advocates practical changes to the high school mathematics curriculum to refocus learning on reasoning and sense making.
Contact: Gay Dillin, Communications Manager, (703) 620-9840 ext. 2189,
gdillin@nctm.org