Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

We aspire to be a community of mathematicians in which everyone feels welcome and included, and everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Our actions taken towards fostering such a community, and removing barriers to participation, especially by women and people of color, include the following initiatives:

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Vitulli Scholars Program

In order to be more competitive in recruiting graduate students from under-represented groups, we started the Vitulli Scholars Program in 2019, named after Professor Emerita Marie Vitulli. Instead of teaching during their first year, VSP students pursue directed individual or group projects under the mentorship of a faculty member. Since 2021, this program receives part of its funding from an NSF Research Training Group grant.

AWM and AMS Chapters

The department sponsors a number of groups led by graduate students. These include our chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, as well as a new student chapter of the American Mathematical Society. The AWM chapter promotes women in mathematics by organizing a number of programs and events throughout the year with the goal of increasing the visibility of women in mathematics and fostering a supportive environment for gender-minority students. They won the AWM’s Scientific Excellence Award in 2018. The AMS student chapter promotes general diversity in mathematics, and hosts our department’s Directed Reading Program.

Undergraduate summer research program

Since 2018 the department has offered several paid summer research appointments for math majors, giving students the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member for eight weeks during the summer, with the aim of gaining insight into what math research is really like. One of the our fundamental goals with this program was to help expand the participation of women and under-represented minorities in higher mathematics. In the first three years of the project more than half the participants have come from such groups. In 2021, the program expanded with support from an NSF Research Training Group grant.

Directed Reading Program

This program connects undergraduates with graduate student mentors in an opportunity to learn a piece of advanced mathematics, as well as being exposed to what mathematics looks like from a graduate student’s perspective.

Prison Education

In 2019–2020 the math department started offering courses as part of the UO Prison Education Program. Versions of Math 101 and Math 105 were developed for this purpose, and they were very successful. After a hiatus due to COVID-19, these courses resumed in 2022.

Collaborative Research Workshop 2022

Organized by Professor Ellen Eischen and held on the UO campus, this 5-day workshop focused on facilitating diverse collaborations (especially with regard to gender) in the area of automorphic forms, L-functions, and related topics.

Low-cost or free textbooks

It is well-known that the high cost of textbooks can be an obstacle for success in college. The Math Department has been working to adopt low-cost alternatives in many of our core classes. The courses Math 101, Math 111, and Math 112 all now use low-cost materials that were developed by people in the UO Math Department. The main calculus sequence Math 251-252-253 uses a freely available open-source textbook. Most upper level courses use freely available materials. Ultimately we aim to use free materials for almost all courses, materials which sometimes involve substantial contributions by UO faculty.

Improved undergraduate course design

The department is continually in the process of improving our curriculum with the goal of attracting and serving students whose backgrounds might not have led them to think of mathematics as “for them.” Some efforts along these lines since 2017 include Math 101, which replaced earlier “remedial” courses with college level material meant to build and reinforce pre-college skills in an active learning model; Math 107, which now centers around the mathematics of voting and elections; the Math Labs, which expose students to the more creative aspects of mathematics early in their college education; and upper-division courses with an increased focus on communicating mathematics, including Math 394–395 (Geometries from an Advanced Viewpoint) and Math 397 (History and Applications of Calculus). Other major changes in recent history include the introduction of Math 307, Math 343, Math 458, and a complete reworking of Math 111.

Eugene Math Circle

The Eugene Math Circle is an after-school program for 2nd-12th grade students who have a passion for math and want to delve deeper into the subject. It was initiated by the department in 2013 under the leadership of Maria Nemirovskaya. The Math Circle offers classes for five different age groups, which meet on Wednesday and Thursday evenings throughout the academic year. During these sessions, students investigate different mathematical topics through problem-solving under the guidance of experienced instructors. On a typical day, students will engage in various activities such as brainstorming and solving challenging math problems individually or collaboratively, presenting their findings, or even playing strategy games. This approach to math education has received much attention in recent years, and we are fortunate to have several talented teachers (both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty) contributing their time to this project. Thanks to the support of the NSF and the Survival and Flourishing Fund, students from low-income families can participate in the program at a reduced or no cost.

Eugene Youth Math Festival

The Eugene Math Festival is an annual event aimed at inspiring all children to like math and igniting their curiosity for the subject. For about three hours on a Saturday morning, MacArthur Court is filled with stations of math activities for children ages 5–14. These activities include problems, games, math puzzles, hands-on constructions, creative math-related crafts, and even magic shows. During the most recent event, over 400 kids explored 55 different stations run by an exceptional team of 140 dedicated volunteers, including many math faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. It was a sight to see! Thanks to the generous support of the NSF, the Eugene Math Festival is a free event, ensuring accessibility for all. To further enhance inclusivity, Spanish-speaking volunteers offer translation services for participants as needed.

Admission process changes

To help remove barriers to graduate admission, the department stopped requiring GRE scores in 2018, and changed the way we evaluate applications.

Graduate summer support

In an effort to help students develop stronger research records and be competitive for research jobs after graduation, we have found creative ways to substantially increase the number of research GE positions (as opposed to teaching positions) we are able to offer during the summer.

Reading Group

In 2020, the department hosted a reading group consisting of faculty and graduate students, devoted to reading biographies of mathematicians from under-represented groups as well as other material related to furthering the success of these groups in our field.

National Association of Mathematicians

The department is an institutional member of NAM, an organization whose mission is to promote excellence in the mathematical sciences and the mathematical development of all underrepresented minorities.

Education locally and statewide

Dev Sinha and Tricia Bevans have forged strong working relationships with local school districts and the State Department of Education. As part of her departmental duties, Tricia has been working directly with teachers across Lane County, helping them understand new ways of teaching mathematics. Dev has been working at the state level, helping to design and implement high-school standards which support a broader array of engagement styles, including data science for example. Tricia and Dev both put at the center practices which have been shown to support all learners, and especially those from groups which are underrepresented in the mathematical community, practices which include active learning and applications relevant to student interests.

SAIL

The SAIL program is the Student Academy to Inspire Learning. it is a week-long summer camp held twice per summer, in which middle and high school students from across Oregon attend UO for a week, and participate in programs that build leadership skills, connect them to the higher education community, and give hints of what it’s like to study at UO. SAIL camps are subject-specific; in summer 2022, the math department participated in a joint SAIL camp with the economics department, and will do so again in Summer 2023.