Introduction

Beginning in 2001, the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematicians and Education Reform (MER) Forum began a three-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to help mathematics/mathematical science departments strengthen their undergraduate programs. Entitled Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics: Confronting Diverse Student Interests, the project focuses on the different groups of students in mathematics and their particular mathematical needs. The goal is to develop curricula and instruction that is valuable to these different student populations. The project seeks to build a network of departments that are committed to (1) reviewing and assessing how well their undergraduate program is working for their students, and (2) revising existing courses and developing or adapting new courses to afford all their students a meaningful experience in learning mathematics.

The heart of the project is six integrated 4-day workshops, two in each academic year, each of which will bring together faculty teams of 2 to 4 members from some 20 or more colleges and universities to discuss curricular, instructional and implementation issues relating to the mathematics offerings for different groups of students. The first workshop, Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics: Mathematics for the “Rest of Us,” was held on December 6–9, 2001 at Arizona State University. It focused on students who fulfill their mathematics requirement with a course or courses below the calculus level. This student population, which accounts for the majority of instruction in most mathematics/mathematics sciences departments, represents a variety of academic interests.