Calculus Allies

Supporting the transition of diverse learners to calculus in community colleges

We celebrated two TLC3 Calculus Allies at the 2018 AMATYC conference in Orlando, Florida:  Wake Technical College¹ in Durham, North Carolina, and Howard Community College² in Columbia, Maryland.

Calculus Allies is a partnership between TLC3 and AMATYC that identifies mathematics programs that:

1. Demonstrate equity-minded practices in the STEM math pathway through curriculum, instruction, and institutional practices identified in the TLC3 National Survey of Community College Mathematics Chairs
2. Demonstrate commitment and service to their profession through participation in AMATYC
3. Demonstrate commitment to the principles and practices in AMATYC’s IMPACT standards

Wake Technical College¹ was selected for their outstanding work around the design and coordination of their precalculus course. Precalculus at Wake Technical College takes a spiral approach that begins with examining graphical representations of functions (linear, quadratic, rational, exponential, logarithmic). The graphical approach serves as a foundation to support students as they revisit functions through algebraic representations, advanced analysis of functions, and applications. A leadership team coordinates instruction across 30 sections of precalculus by providing a course syllabus, calendar, and common assessments, all available through a Blackboard shell for easy access and sharing. There is a required student lab manual for the course that includes projects, activities (including Desmos activities), and worksheets. Outcomes assessment data is collected through Google Sheets. The” Wake Tech way” ensures quality across sections while providing instructors with flexibility and professional autonomy. As an added bonus, the lab manual fee is used to fund faculty professional development. For additional information about the precalculus curriculum at Wake Technical College, please contact Dean Sharon Welker at sfwelker@waketech.edu

Howard Community College² was selected for their outstanding work in developing a Companion Seminars for upper-level courses, Honors Calculus, a history-of-math honors seminar for precalculus, a STEM learning community, and a STEM scholars program. In the Honors Calculus and Companion Seminars, student engage in writing and refining papers. This plants the seeds for undergraduate research and has led to the inclusion of mathematics papers in a new research journal on their campus. The STEM learning community serves precalculus-ready students who can enroll for one credit for up to four years. The learning community includes a bonding field trip, interdisciplinary courses with project-based learning, and training in applying and interviewing for internships. The STEM scholars program provides students with scholarships, and students earn a designation at graduation. The STEM learning community and scholars program is highlighted in the college’s strategic plan, and enrollment in these programs reflects the demographics of the student body. For additional information about these programs at Howard Community College, please contact Dean Michael Long at MLong@howardcc.edu.

¹ Wake Technical College, located in Durham, North Carolina, serves over 20,000 students across 10 campuses, with over 40 full-time and 24 part-time mathematics faculty. Their student body is diverse and includes 24% African American, 49% European American, and 10% Latinx students. The college has had an AMATYC institutional membership for four of the past five years, an average of 16 conference attendees, and 64% of their full-time mathematics faculty are AMATYC members.

² Howard Community College serves over 30,000 students, with 25 full-time and 100 part-time faculty. The student body includes 31% African American, 34% European American, and 12% Latinx students. The college has had an AMATYC institutional membership for four of the past five years, an average of 3 conference attendees, and 41% of their full-time mathematics faculty are AMATYC members.