BYU Math Education Faculty stood out at the recent Service, Teaching and Research Institute event in Park City, Utah, held June 24-29, 2017.
Professors Dan Siebert, PhD and Steve Williams, PhD volunteered extensive time to review manuscripts, provide feedback and facilitate two ninety minute feedback sessions with STaR fellows. Keith Leatham, PhD also attended the conference as a full time staff member for the second year in a row, after being involved with the program since 2014.
“We really could not have provided fellows with detailed feedback and guidance without assistance from Dan and Steve,” wrote Karen Hollebrands and Jeff Shih, co-directors of the STaR program. “We appreciate the dedication of BYU’s faculty to the mentorship of early career faculty in mathematics education.”
The event, sponsored by the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, was part of the ongoing STaR Fellows program, which provides training and mentorship opportunities for early career mathematics teacher educators. The program also includes a year of online training courses and a follow-up session held in conjunction with the annual AMTE conference in February of each year.
BYU faculty members participating in this year’s summer institute spent the majority of their time working with younger teacher educators. “I feel energized being around new scholars,” Siebert said. “They have fresh ideas and are focused on developing their careers.”
For Leatham, the STaR program is more about giving back to his discipline. “ Mentoring these faculty who are in their first or second years of being professors lets me share some of what I have learned throughout my time in the field,” Leatham noted.
Leatham, Siebert and Williams all plan to work with the STaR program in the future. Leatham is anticipated to take over as one of the co-directors of the program, effective January 2018.