Carol Smith Schumacher (born 1960)[1] is a Bolivian-born American mathematician specializing in real analysis, a mathematics educator, and a textbook author. She is a professor of mathematics at Kenyon College, and vice president of the Mathematical Association of America.[2]

Early life and education

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Schumacher was born in La Paz, Bolivia[3] as the daughter of missionaries, and grew up in Bolivia speaking both English and Spanish.[4] She majored in mathematics at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and graduated with honors in 1982.[5] It was in freshman calculus at Hendrix that she met her husband, physicist and quantum information theorist Benjamin Schumacher.[6]

She went to the University of Texas at Austin for graduate study, and completed her Ph.D. in 1989 with a dissertation on the theory of Banach spaces, jointly supervised by Edward Odell and Haskell Rosenthal.[5][7]

Career and contributions

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Schumacher joined Kenyon College as Dana Assistant Professor in 1988, has been full professor there since 2002,[5] and has been department chair for several terms. She was elected vice president of the Mathematical Association of America for the 2018–2020 term.[8]

Schumacher is the author of two inquiry-based learning textbooks:[4] Chapter Zero: Fundamental Notions of Abstract Mathematics, on the transition to proofs (Addison-Wesley, 1996; 2nd edition, 2001)[9] and Closer and Closer: Introducing Real Analysis, on real analysis (Jones and Bartlett, 2008).[10]

Recognition

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Kenyon College gave Schumacher their Senior Trustee Teaching Excellence Award in 2005.[5][11] She was the 2017 winner of the Distinguished Teaching Award of the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Association of America.[12]

Schumacher is a 2023 recipient of one of the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Schumacher, Carol Smith 1960-", WorldCat Identities, retrieved 2020-12-20
  2. ^ "Carol Schumacher", Directory, Kenyon College, retrieved 2020-12-20
  3. ^ Author biography from Closer and Closer
  4. ^ a b "Carol Schumacher", Latinxs and Hispanics in Mathematical Sciences, 2006
  5. ^ a b c d Curriculum vitae, retrieved 2020-12-20
  6. ^ "Ben Schumacher", Odyssey Medal, Hendrix College, retrieved 2020-12-20
  7. ^ Carol Schumacher at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  8. ^ Mathematical Association of America Welcomes New Secretary, President-Elect, and Board of Directors Members, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2020-12-20
  9. ^ Fontenot, Robert A. (February 2001), "Review of Chapter Zero", The American Mathematical Monthly, 108 (2): 179–182, doi:10.2307/2695547, JSTOR 2695547
  10. ^ Cook, John D. (June 2009), "Review of Closer and Closer", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America
  11. ^ Lasker, Dan (2005), "Making the connection: This year's teaching award winners see success in terms of individual students", Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin
  12. ^ Ohio Section of the MAA Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2020-12-20
  13. ^ Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award: Carol Schumacher (PDF), Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2024-03-28}
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