Deirdre Smeltzer

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Deirdre Longacher Smeltzer (born 1964) [1] is an American mathematician, mathematics educator, textbook author, and academic administrator. A former professor, dean, and vice president at Eastern Mennonite University, she is Senior Director for Programs at the Mathematical Association of America. [2]

Contents

Education and career

Smeltzer was a mathematics major at Eastern Mennonite University, graduating in 1987 with a minor in Bible study. At Eastern Mennonite, mathematicians Millard Showalter and Del Snyder became faculty mentors, encouraging her to continue in advanced mathematics. [3] She went on to graduate study in mathematics at the University of Virginia, earning a master's degree [3] and completing her Ph.D. in 1994, with the dissertation Topics in Difference Sets in 2-Groups on difference sets in group theory, supervised by Harold Ward. [4]

She became a faculty member at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, [3] [5] before returning to Eastern Mennonite University as a faculty member in 1998. [5] She chaired the mathematical sciences department from 2005 to 2012. [3] As an undergraduate at Eastern Mennonite, she had participated in a cross-cultural visit to China, [5] and as a faculty member, she led another such visit in 2013, [5] [6] and became director of cross-cultural programs for the university. In 2013, she was named the university's vice president and undergraduate dean. [3] In that position, she led the university's creation of new programs in political science and global studies, [7] among others. [5]

She stepped down from her administrative positions at Eastern Mennonite in 2019, [5] and joined the Mathematical Association of America as Senior Director for Programs in 2020. [2]

Textbooks

Smeltzer is the coauthor of two undergraduate textbooks in mathematics: Methods for Euclidean Geometry (with Owen Byer and Felix Lazebnik, Mathematical Association of America, 2010) [8] and Journey into Discrete Mathematics (with Owen Byer and Kenneth Wantz, MAA Press, 2018). [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Birth date from Library of Congress catalog entry, retrieved 2022-03-10
  2. 1 2 "Deirdre Longacher Smeltzer", Staff directory, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2022-03-10
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lofton, Bonnie Price (8 April 2013), "Deirdre Smeltzer Named V-P and Undergrad Dean", EMU News, Eastern Mennonite University, retrieved 2022-03-10
  4. ↑ Deirdre Smeltzer at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kurtz, Christopher Clymer (16 May 2019), "Mutual impact: 'Wonderful and wise' Deirdre Longacher Smeltzer was changed by – and changed – EMU", EMU News, Eastern Mennonite University, retrieved 2022-03-10
  6. ↑ China cross-cultural takes students out of comfort zones, Augusta Free Press, 30 October 2012, retrieved 2022-03-10
  7. ↑ Kline, Jared (1 April 2019), "EMU to launch new programs of study", WHSV News, retrieved 2022-03-10
  8. ↑ Reviews of Methods for Euclidean Geometry:
  9. ↑ Kurtz, Christopher Clymer (6 December 2018), "The story of an 'exquisite' new discrete math textbook by EMU's Owen Byer and Deirdre L. Smeltzer", EMU News, Eastern Mennonite University, retrieved 2022-03-10
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