Alan Zollman
Alan Zollman, an NIU professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, has received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the international School Science and Mathematics Association (SSMA).
The award was presented earlier this month during the organization’s 110th annual convention in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Begun in 1901, the SSMA is a professional community of researchers and educators who seek to promote research, scholarship and practice for the improvement and integration of school science and mathematics.
SSMA’s primary publication is the international journal, School Science and Mathematics, emphasizing research on issues, concerns and lessons within and between the disciplines of science and mathematics in the classroom.
Zollman notes that SSMA has been doing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education for more than a century.
Throughout his years with the association, Zollman has served on various committees, was elected to the board of directors and most recently served as association president.
During his term in office, he oversaw the organization’s growth as a major research source for STEM education. He led the transformation of the journal from a paper publication to a world-wide digital resource. He also worked with Wiley-Blackwell Publishing to digitize more than 4,000 research articles from the journal’s archives into searchable web-based resources.
“I received the plaque, but many people share the credit,” Zollman says of the association award. “Many individuals supported me in my SSMA activities.”
He says they include the SSMA board members, past presidents and presidents elect; the journal’s editorial board and editor; his fellow NIU mathematics education faculty; the NIU Mathematical Sciences Department; the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and NIU graduate students who actively participated in presenting at the SSMA conventions.
Zollman is past vice-president of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning and serves on the editorial board of journal, Investigations in Mathematics Learning. He also is a recipient of the NIU Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.
He lives in DeKalb with his wife, Sharon, who is president of the NIU Women’s Club.
