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A resolution recognizing the month of April as “Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month” in Nashville and Davidson County, and further recognizing Nashville’s female mathematicians as part of the month-long celebration.
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WHEREAS, the goal of Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, held each year in April, is to increase public understanding of and appreciation for mathematics and statistics; and
WHEREAS, Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month began in 1986 as Mathematics Awareness Week with a proclamation by President Ronald Reagan, who said, “Despite the increasing importance of mathematics to the progress of our economy and society, enrollment in mathematics programs has been declining at all levels of the American educational system. Yet the application of mathematics is indispensable in such diverse fields as medicine, computer sciences, space exploration, the skilled trades, business, defense, and government;” and
WHEREAS, mathematics and statistics play a significant role in addressing many real-world problems and are important drivers of innovation in our technological world, in which new systems and methodologies continue to become more complex; and,
WHEREAS, women have made significant gains in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce, but girls are still less likely to study STEM subjects including mathematics and statistics; and
WHEREAS, the Mathematical Mission of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools is “to provide each student with the daily opportunity to reason mathematically, communicate their ideas, and value mathematics with rigorous instruction,” and under the leadership of Dr. Jessica Slayton, Director of Mathematics, there are 260 middle and high school math teachers in Metro Public Schools, of whom 158 are women; and
WHEREAS, the 2018 Tennessee Teacher of the Year was West End Middle math teacher Cicely Woodard, Una Elementary math teacher Olivia Stastny was featured in the 2020 Corwin Press book “The 5 Practices in Practice: Successfully Orchestrating Mathematics Discussions in Your Elementary Classroom,” and all six MNPS numeracy coaches are women; and
WHEREAS, Vanderbilt University mathematician Dr. Melissa Gresalfi examines how opportunities to learn are constructed in mathematics classrooms, and how, when, and why different students take up those opportunities; and through this lens, has explored the extent to which classroom practices are equitable and examined categories such as race, gender, and previous mathematical experience as they arise in interaction; and
WHEREAS, Tennessee State University professor and Mathematical Sciences Department Chair Dr. Jeannetta Jackson has been teaching at TSU for forty years specializing in mathematics education; and
WHEREAS, Belmont University mathematician, Dr. Michelle Craddock Guinn, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi, Oxford with a specialization in functional analysis and was awarded the Davies Fellowship from the National Research Council at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD; and
WHEREAS, Fisk University Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Evelyn Boyd Granville was the second African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from an American university and mentored several other Fisk alumnae who went on to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematics. She created computer software to analyze satellite orbits for NASA space programs in the late 1950s and early 1960s; and
WHEREAS, Fisk University graduate Dr. Gloria Conyers Hewitt was the fourth African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from an American university and the first African-American woman to chair a collegiate math department in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Fisk University biostatistician and Math Department Chair Dr. Cathy R. Martin investigates health disparities and has introduced and teaches a course in biostatistics and enjoys encouraging the next generation of minority scientists.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as recognizing the month of April as “Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month” in Nashville and Davidson County, and further recognizing Nashville’s female mathematicians as part of the month-long celebration.
Section 2. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.