Campus News

Peers rank UGA math education doctoral program strongest in nation

Denise Mewborn
Denise Mewborn

UGA’s doctoral program in mathematics education is ranked as the strongest in the nation in a recent survey of more than 70 of its peer institutions.

UGA’s College of Education awards more doctoral degrees in mathematics education each year than any school in the country except Columbia University’s Teacher’s College.

The survey asked respondents to identify “particularly strong” doctoral programs in mathematics education. Of the 40 institutions nominated, only three schools, including UGA, were named by a large majority. The responding institutions account for more than 80 percent of doctorates in mathematics education. The study was supported by the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum and funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Recognized as a national research leader, UGA’s mathematics education program combines the expertise of its internationally known faculty with the energy and innovation of its rising young scholars. Its faculty includes Regents Professor Jeremy Kilpatrick, Distinguished Research Professor Leslie P. Steffe, Meigs Professor Larry Hatfield and James Wilson, who received the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

The college’s graduate program in secondary education, has been ranked among the top 10 in the nation in the annual surveys by U.S. News & World Report for almost two decades.

“We are honored to have been identified by our peers as a place that they would send their own students for a doctorate in mathematics education,” said Denise S. Mewborn, professor of mathematics education and head of the department of mathematics and science education. “We take our work with doctoral students very seriously because they are the ones who will carry on the work that we have begun.”