Section NexT
Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is an MAA professional development program which provides support to those in the beginning stages of an academic career in the mathematical sciences. Participants are given access to resources to help them adjust to institutional expectations with regard to teaching, scholarship, and service. One of the primary strengths of the program is the establishment of a peer support group providing important contacts for beginning faculty.
The Allegheny Mountain Section NExT was established in Spring 2000. Its goals are similar to those of the national program, supporting new faculty in the Section in their teaching, and in integrating into the profession. Other objectives include establishing links between the different types of institutions in the Allegheny Mountain Section. Topics of interest include effective teaching, reform, pedagogy, and professional development, especially achieving tenure, balancing work and life, and securing grants.
Allegheny Mountain Section NExT workshops occur twice annually: at the Spring Section Meeting of the Allegheny Mountain Section of the MAA, and in a special fall workshop (typically in September).
To join the mailing list, please email one of the two current co-coordinators: Dr. Kristen Pueschel - Penn State New Kensington (klp65@psu.edu) or Dr. Kuei-Nuan Lin - Penn State Greater Allegheny (linkn@psu.edu).
The Fall 2024 Section NExT workshop happened on Saturday, September 28th at Seton Hill University. Information about 2025 Section NExT workshops will be posted here once it is available.
Spring 2025 SECTION NEXT workshop
Registration: See the Spring 2025 Meeting page
Date and time: Saturday, March 29, 1:00-3:30
Location: Saint Vincent College
Speaker: Rick Cleary, Babson College
Title: Creative Assessments and Surprising Sports Analytics
Abstract: This two hour workshop will consist of two distinct but related sections. In the first hour, we look at some of the key suggestions on assessment from the MAA Instructional Practices Guide (https://maa.org/resource/instructional-practices-guide/ ) With some hands-on activities, we will see how to turn these evidence based practices from theory to application in creative ways that can be used in almost any course. In the second hour, we will discuss ways to connect many mathematics topics to applications in sports. People often assume a sports course in a math department will be all about “big data” but we will see how lots of math topics (linear algebra, optimization, voting/ranking methods, probability … even a little topology!) are useful. We will also discuss creative ways to assess these topics, utilizing the ideas from the first hour.