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News Release

Contact: Tom Parisi, NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-3635

April 21, 2003

Alan Zollman elected director
of international mathematics association

DeKalb, Ill.- Alan Zollman, professor and chair of teacher education in the NIU Department of Mathematical Sciences, has been elected as a director of the School Science and Mathematics Association (SSMA).

The international association is one of the oldest mathematics or science organizations in the United States. Chartered in 1901, SSMA is dedicated to improving instruction in and between science and mathematics. Its primary work and publications address the needs of all those involved in science and mathematics teaching and learning.

SSMA's mission focuses on three areas: teacher education and in-service; research in science and mathematics education; and teaching ideas and activities for grades K-12.

SSMA's main activities include conducting national conferences; funding innovative classroom projects through its Endowment Grant Program; and publication of its journal, School Science and Mathematics, and its newsletter, Mathematics-Science Connector. The journal, published continuously since 1901, is printed eight times a year.

Zollman's term will begin at the 102nd Annual SSMA Conference to be held in Columbus, Ohio, in October.

A professor in the Mathematical Sciences Department since 1993, Zollman has given more than 40 national presentations and published 50 articles on mathematics education. Additionally, he has served on the Illinois Teacher Certification Standards Committee and on the Illinois Prairie State Achievement Examination Standards Committee.

Since being at NIU, Zollman has given more than 70 national workshops on methods of teaching mathematics in 30 states for about 15,000 middle school teachers and administrators as a national speaker for Staff Development Resources of Torrance, CA.

Zollman, of DeKalb, also just was elected to the office of vice president of publications for the Research Council of Mathematics Learning (RCML) and serves on the board of directors for the Illinois Mathematics Teacher Educators.

The NIU Department of Mathematical Sciences consistently is one of the country's largest programs for certification of secondary mathematics teachers. The department ranks as one of the three largest middle school mathematics endorsement programs in the nation.

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