Service and Diversity Activities
CCMS will provide services to the Claremont community such as
- a clearing-house for the flow of information, including a web site listing items such as the math colloquium and seminars, job listings, other news, etc.
- central consulting services for statistics and math software (staffed by students).
- a central location for undergraduate/graduate student forums, speakers and events.
- an archival service for colloquia and other presentations such as senior theses, project final reports, etc. Publishing math articles already exists on campus (web search for the Claremont Colleges Digital Library) and will be expanded.
- developing a Shared-Teaching-Research-Equipment User Facility by purchasing:
- software (such as Mathematica, COMSOL, Spline tool box)
- hardware (high quality color printer, high speed graphic computers etc)
- mathematics teaching tools, and a library of mathematics reference books
The pursuit of faculty members and students of diversity is a goal of all the Claremont Colleges; this goal extends to each of the math programs as well, particularly since nation-wide statistical data indicates that minority faculty and students remain underrepresented in the field of mathematics.
The CCMS will pursue funds to support minority graduate students / post-docs, and provide mentoring services to enhance their experience on campus. Current campus diversity programs include:
- The EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) program, which provides academic and ongoing mentoring support to women entering graduate programs in mathematics, was held at Pomona College in 2008 (click here). Professor Ami Radunskaya (Math, Pomona) has been a director of the program for 9 years and plans to take overall leadership of the program if funding is continued. The ongoing mentoring of the over 100 EDGE participants provides important links between Claremont and minority-serving institutions.
- Southern California Mentoring Program. This program is the result of the recognition of the power of tiered mentoring for graduate students and young faculty in the mathematical sciences. This mentoring is especially important for members of minority groups, since these young mathematicians often feel isolated. Initially funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation with additional support from USC and WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), a network of over 50 young women in mathematics in the Southern California area has been formed, including graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty.
- Harvey Mudd College’s Imagine Math program, developed for high-school math faculty and students, especially for the underrepresented.
- CGU enrolls Scholars from the McNair Program, developed to prepare underrepresented undergraduate students for graduate studies.
- CGU’s Minority Mentor Program focuses on retention of minority students and has served more than 2,000 students since it inception in 1994.