Indiana Section of the Mathematical Association of America
Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics

Citation to

Mic Jackson

The Indiana Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics annually recognizes the accomplishments and contributions of Section members who have been identified as extraordinarily successful teachers in the mathematical sciences and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions.

This year's recipient has distinguished himself as a mathematics educator who cares deeply about his students, as an environmental educator who sees and teaches about the relevance of mathematics in addressing issues of pressing human concern, and as a collaborative member of a national project to reform mathematics teaching.

As a teacher, this year's recipient has worked tirelessly to refine his methods, adapt his explanations to the place where students find themselves with the material, find cogent examples, and explain concepts by exhibiting their genesis and their application.  His students make glowing references to his effectiveness, to his support of them, and to his modeling a life of integrity and personal commitment.

Over the years our recipient has become increasingly engaged in the application of geostatistics and computational geometry to the solution of environmental questions and the formulation of wise environmental policy.  He has done environmental consulting and now heads the Environmental Science program at his institution, in addition to his continuing position in mathematics.

As a participant in the national Calculus Reform project, the recipient has contributed to making the power and beauty of calculus accessible to students everywhere.

Among the students who say the recipient is "accessible," "caring," "enthusiastic," "wonderful", one commented, "(In the statistics course) he made me never want to gamble; and that's a good thing!"

I'm delighted to present this award to Mic Jackson, of Earlham College.
 
 

Krystina Leganza
Indiana Section of the Mathematical Association of America
March 22, 2002