Janet Andersen's Home Page

The mathematics department is deeply saddened by death of Professor Janet Andersen in an automobile accident on November 24. Contributions in memory of Janet may be made to the First Baptist Church of Holland, or to the Hope College Mathematics Department Scholarship Fund (send checks to the Hope College Advancement Office with reference to "Mathematics Department Scholarship Fund in memory of Janet Andersen").

I have been a member of the Hope College Mathematics Department since 1991, Chair of the Mathematics Department since 2000, Director of the Pew Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium since 2002, was GEMS (General Education Mathematics & Science courses) Coordinator from 1996 to 2001, and was Director of General Education from 1998 to 2000. I taught high school in East Texas for four years before attending graduate school at the University of Minnesota. This fall, I am teaching Abstract Algebra. I am also currently the chair of the MAA Committee on the Teaching of Undergraduate Mathematics. I am interested in exploring, with my students, what messages we send that discourage them from continuing on and/or liking mathematics. Part of my thinking is this area has been shaped by the book "Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences" by Seymour and Hewitt.

I am the Principal Investigator for a NSF curriculum grant to develop a sophomore-level mathematical biology course. I co-taught this course with a biologist Spring 2002 and plan to teach it again Spring 2003. We are hoping to have half of the students from each major. Biology research papers will be the focus of the course and a wet lab will be incorporated. I am planning on submitting a follow-up NSF grant next June and am looking for schools that might be interested in piloting either the courese or materials we have developed. Please contact me at jandersen@hope.edu for more information.

I was the Principal Investigator for two previous National Science Foundation grants. The first grant, awarded in 1993, led to the publication of Projects for Precalculus and published by Saunders College Publishing and Precalculus: A Study of Functions and Their Applications (both works authored jointly with Todd Swanson, Hope College, and Robert Keeley, Calvin College). The second National Science Foundation grant, awarded in 1997, led to the development of a general education mathematics course, Mathematics in Public Discourse, which is tied to two science courses - The Atmosphere and The Environment and Populations in a Changing Environment. Some of the materials are available at Group Assignments for GEMS 100. We are currently submitting a manuscript to the Mathematical Association of America for possible publication. People who worked with me on this project are Todd Swanson (Mathematics), Ed Hansen (Geological and Environmental Science), and Kathy Winnent-Murray (Biology).

Outside of work, I enjoy being with my family, playing computer games, reading mysteries, and swimming in my pool (summer only, unfortunately).

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Hope College

Mathematics

Janet Andersen
Department of Mathematics
Hope College
Holland, MI 49422-9000
email: jandersen@hope.edu
phone: 616-395-7909
fax: 616-395-7123