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About the presenters

Project Director:  Doug Ensley.  Department of Mathematics, Shippensburg University

Doug Ensley is Professor of Mathematics at Shippensburg University where he has been on the faculty since receiving his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon in 1993.  While at Shippensburg, Ensley has taught over thirty different courses in mathematics and computer science.  In addition, he has over fifteen years of experience running professional development workshops and mini-courses, particularly those that apply to discrete mathematical topics and the use of technology in teaching mathematics.  These workshops have been presented at a wide range of venues including MAA Mathfests, Joint Math Meetings, the International Conference on Technology in College Mathematics, regional meetings of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, annual meetings of the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and various local school districts.  Recently Ensley was PI on an NSF grant (DUE 0230755) to develop technology-based learning material for the student-centered teaching of mathematical proof.  Ensley is also co-author (with Winston Crawley of Shippensburg University) of the textbook Discrete Mathematics:  Mathematical Reasoning and Proof with Puzzles, Patterns and Games, published by John Wiley & Sons.

Local Organizer:  James Hamblin.  Department of Mathematics, Shippensburg University

James Hamblin has been an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Shippensburg University since 2002.  Just prior to his appointment at SU, Hamblin was a Teaching Fellow in the “K Through Infinity” Program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he earned his Ph.D.  While at Shippensburg, he has taught the discrete mathematics course (required of all math and computer science majors) and the geometry course (for future secondary level teachers) on numerous occasions.  Hamblin is active in the MAA Project NExT program and the Young Mathematician’s Network, through which he has often used his organizational skills to contribute to programs at the national mathematics meetings.

Computer Science Presenter:  David Hastings.  Department of Computer Science, Shippensburg University

Davis Hastings has been developing and teaching mathematical theory-based courses in the computer science curriculum for over 20 years. At Dickinson College he developed a second year course in theoretical computer science that was facilitated by a seamless transition from the introductory discrete course.  These courses were further refined to mathematically influence both the organization – logical design sequence as well as operating systems.  At Shippensburg University Hastings continues to teach the theoretical computer science course at the graduate level.  In addition, he has developed a course in parallel algorithms that uses both the mathematical theory of algorithms and hands-on experimentation as a basis for efficiency and performance.  Early work in this area led to a series of experimental modules for graph algorithms with Chris Nevison, et al, published by Jones and Bartlett.  During the past year, Hastings has participated online in the SIGCSE Committee on Discrete Math that has been working to develop a course that covers all the core topics described in Computing Curriculum 2001.

Mathematics Education Presenter:  Katherine McGivney.  Department of Mathematics, Shippensburg Universit

After completing her Ph.D. from Lehigh University, Kate McGivney entered a three-year teaching post-doc program at the University of Arizona, where she taught a graduate discrete math course for secondary teachers.  She has also co-organized a two-week summer institute for high school math teachers where the content included topics in discrete math, and for two years, she was a consultant for the Tucson Unified School District and presented several in-service discrete math workshops for middle and secondary math teachers.