The Department Chair’s Role in Mathematics Service Courses

Abstract

A Mathematics Department Chair plays many roles within the department and within the university as a whole. Facilitating the development and teaching of mathematics services courses requires working with mathematics faculty as well as members of other departments on campus. In this paper, we discuss many issues related to the Department Chair’s role in mathematics service courses such as determining course content needs, placing students in appropriate courses, scheduling classes, assessing service courses, and looking to the future of mathematics services courses. Central to all of these issues is ongoing communication with colleagues in and out of the department.

Keywords:

• Mathematics leadership
• department chair
• service courses

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Ackerman

Mike Ackerman is a Professor of Mathematics and actuarial program coordinator. He is a Project NExT Fellow who received his PhD from the University of Memphis. His primary research areas are graph theory and voting theory. He served as Department Chair from 2009 to 2014.

William E. Fenton

Bill Fenton is a Professor of Mathematics and a graduate of Purdue University. He has been at Bellarmine University since 1983, as Department Chair 1993–2009 and as Dean of Arts & Sciences 2009–2018. He recently returned to the Mathematics Department. He is a co-author of textbooks on discrete mathematics and on college geometry that feature computer-based explorations.

Anne M. Raymond

Anne Raymond is a Professor of Mathematics at Bellarmine University. Her research focuses on mathematics beliefs and preservice mathematics teachers. She has co-authored a book, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers via Problem Solving (Prentice Hall), and is an ongoing consultant for two textbook series aimed at developing standards-based curricula for K-12 mathematics students. She has served as Department Chair since 2014.