UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS AT UCONN

by Jeffrey Tollefson

The department is embarking on a major effort to dramatically improve the undergraduate program from top to bottom. Special emphasis will be placed on calculus and the major. This project is still in the planning stages but will begin this fall and will extend over a four or five year period. We will briefly mention some of the highlights.

We expect to develop and implement procedures to assess the effectiveness of each course, measuring its success against its mission statement. Math 101 will be completely revolutionized following the highly successful model at the University of Maryland. We will develop a new calculus curriculum with more emphasis on the fundamental ideas of the subject, as well as on the essential skills of reading and writing mathematics, problem solving and logical reasoning.

Considerable resources will be devoted to making the major an attractive and worthwhile endeavor for mathematically talented students at the University. Looking at other schools with successful majors, one sees how the system builds upon itself. It begins with a calculus sequence that engages the students, challenges their imaginations and creates a strong feeling of camaraderie. At the same time, the students have opportunities to mix and become acquainted with more advanced students who speak highly of their own experience with the program. They meet faculty who take pride in the major and the whole package becomes something they want to be part of.

We have been encouraged by recent events. This past fall an undergraduate mathematics club and an undergraduate colloquium were both brought back to activity through the efforts of an energetic junior faculty member. Their success has been beyond what any of us would have imagined.

Some of the things we want to accomplish for our majors include: a weekly undergraduate mathematics colloquium series leading to a W credit, research opportunities for undergraduate mathematics majors, continuation of the development of an active math club, career talks and in-house job interviews, department computer accounts, tutoring and grading jobs, a web page newsletter, a math major lounge, field trips to events such as the Connecticut Valley Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium.

We will be reviewing all of the upper division mathematics courses. We expect to include an increased emphasis on writing in all of our courses since communicating mathematical ideas with understanding is essential for learning and using mathematics after graduation. We will also develop a comprehensive 4-year Honors Program experience for math majors.

We will begin active recruitment for the major program by first making it an exciting program that sells itself. We also plan to establish a merit-based scholarship program for students in the High School Coop Mathematics program who are planning to major in mathematics at UConn, and will welcome financial assistance from alumni toward this scholarship.

[Editor's note: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is undertaking pilot projects to transform the undergraduate experience in Mathematics and History. Jeff Tollefson is spearheading the pilot in the Department of Mathematics.]