Welcome to Women in Mathematics (online course)!

Katherine Johnson at NASA, in 1966

[Public domain images of Hypatia and Emilie du Chatelet, Wikipedia Commons]

By completing this online course, you'll examine the lives and work of several women mathematicians, as well as, taking a look at gender issues related to the participation of women in the discipline of mathematics.

The course components can be found under the Modules link in the left sidebar. The place to start is by reading this page and then the syllabus. Information about assignments can be found in the syllabus. There is other useful information in the Course Information module. You can access the various assignments through the Modules.

Although there are no required textbooks for this course, there are two optional books you may wish to purchase for this course. Links to Amazon are provided for descriptions of the books. The first one has gone out of print and is getting harder to find.

1. Math Equals by Teri Perl http://www.amazon.com/Math-Equals-Biographies-Mathematicians-Addison-Wesley/dp/0201057093/ref=pd_vtp_b_4

2. Women in Mathematics by Lynn Osen http://www.amazon.com/Women-Mathematics-Lynn-M-Osen/dp/0262650096/ref=pd_vtp_b_1

USEFUL INFORMATION

For a guide to proper etiquette for an online class, visit http://www.brighthub.com/education/online-learning/articles/26946.aspx.
Helpful information and advice about taking an online class can be found at http://www.brighthub.com/education/online-learning/articles/124999.aspx.
There are no prerequisites for this course - just a desire to learn about women in mathematics.
This course requires quite a bit of reading and writing. Some of the readings require access to JSTOR (check to see if your school has a subscription).
Minimal technical skills required for this course include navigating Canvas (e.g. taking quizzes, participating in discussion boards, and uploading files), creating Word documents or pdfs, and scanning or taking pictures of written work to save as a jpg or pdf file.
http://www.instructure.com/canvas_vpat contains information about Canvas' conformance with the accessibility standards under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Course Creator Intro

Let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Cynthia Huffman, a university professor in the Department of Mathematics at Pittsburg State University. My research area is computational commutative algebra, and the last 5 years or so, I've started doing research in the history of mathematics. It has been rewarding to watch over the years as the number of women in mathematics has grown. Hopefully this course will serve as inspiration for you to continue your studies and contributions to mathematics.

Some trivia about me: I lettered in volleyball in college, I have jumped out of an airplane (twice), I am a handbell soloist, and I have a black belt in Chinese Kenpo.