Initial Publication Date: November 19, 2013

Mathematical Association of America

19,000 members
Education staff lead: Linda Braddy, braddy@maa.org
http://maa.org
The mission of the MAA is "to advance the mathematical sciences, especially at the collegiate level."

This mission guides our core interests:

  • Education: We support learning in the mathematical sciences by encouraging effective curriculum, teaching, and assessment at all levels.
  • Research: We support research, scholarship, and its exposition at all appropriate levels and venues, including research by undergraduates.
  • Professional Development: We provide resources and activities that foster scholarship, professional growth, and cooperation among teachers, other professionals, and students.
  • Public Policy: We influence institutional and public policy through advocacy for the importance, uses, and needs of the mathematical sciences.
  • Public Appreciation: We promote the general understanding and appreciation of mathematics. We encourage students of all ages, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to pursue activities and careers in the mathematical sciences.

Improving undergraduate education is central to our mission. It is one of our five core interests and has a considerable impact on how we interpret the other core interests, especially with regard to professional development.

MAA has been shaping the undergraduate mathematics curriculum since 1953 when it founded the Committee on the Undergraduate Program, the predecessor to the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM, http:/maa.org/cupm) and the Committee on the Teaching of Undergraduate Mathematics (CTUM). These committees have produced regular reports such as the CUPM Curriculum Guide 2004 (http://http://www.maa.org/programs/faculty-and-departments/curriculum-department-guidelines-recommendations/cupm/cupm-guide-2004) and CTUM Guidlines for the Profession (http://www.maa.org/programs/faculty-and-departments/curriculum-department-guidelines-recommendations/guidelines-for-the-profession)

Since 1994, MAA has been running Project NExT, New Experiences in Teaching (http://archives.math.utk.edu/projnext/), a professional development program for new or recent PhD's in the mathematical sciences.

MAA also regular faculty workshops under its PREP (PRofessional Enhancement Programs, http://www.maa.org/programs/faculty-and-departments/prep-workshops). Many of these focus on undergraduate mathematics education.

Premier Contribution to Faculty Development

Project NExT
http://archives.math.utk.edu/projnext/

Project NExT has been run since 1994, serving almost 1500 new faculty in the mathematical sciences, not counting the many regional spin-offs that offer greater access for faculty who cannot get to national meetings. About 80 Project NExT Fellows are selected each year. Fellows meet three times over a little more than a year and in conjunction with the national summer and winter meetings of MAA. It addresses all aspects of an academic career: improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in research and scholarship, and participating in professional activities. It also provides the participants with a network of peers and mentors as they assume these responsibilities.

There has not been a systematic study of its effect on the profession, but the bonds of Project NExT, expressed through active listserves and gatherings at national meetings, have continued for many of its fellows ever since their initial participation. Much of the leadership of MAA, including its President-Elect, have been Project NExT Fellows.

See links from the project NExT website: http://archives.math.utk.edu/projnext/

Additional Undergraduate Education Activities of MAA