We are so excited to have revitalized a graduate chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics in our Department this year! At my undergraduate institution, both undergraduate and graduate AWM chapters existed and frequently collaborated, but it was also valuable for each group to have its own space and events tailored to their experiences and needs. After talking with other graduate students at Davis, it quickly became clear that there was a strong interest in creating a similar community here.
This is my first year as GGAM Chair and the first time I have the honor of writing this column. I took over from Javier Arsuaga last summer. Javier did an incredible job moving GGAM forward—many thanks to him—and I am grateful to be able to build on and continue that work.
It has been another busy year for our undergraduate mathematics programs, with many exciting changes on the horizon. This year, our Undergraduate Program Committee is leading teams of faculty members in a review of all four of our majors – Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Analytics and Operations Research, and Scientific Computation – with a view towards modernizing and improving what our current programs offer. The intent is to both add breadth to our current course offering, and to add support to mathematics students in the form of discussions across all of our classes.
Our undergraduate math programs are thriving! Last Winter, undergraduate programs underwent its seven-year Program Review. The external reviewers described our Department “to be dynamic, welcoming and a great place to study Mathematics” and said that our program’s strength was centered around “committed faculty, lecturers, staff and TA’s that come together to deliver a strong program to incoming students through to graduate education.”
This past academic year, the Department awarded 184 degrees!
