Welcome to the 2025 Mackinac Gazette. We hope that you enjoy these stories about our students, alumni, and faculty from the past year. Please note that past newsletters are available through the links at the left. If you have a suggestion for a story for a future newsletter, we would love to hear from you; please feel free to contact any of the editors.
Editors:
David Austin (austind at gvsu dot edu)
Matt Boelkins (boelkinm at gvsu dot edu)
Alaina Hogan to receive this year's Excellence in the Discipline Award
A double major in math and dance from Indiana, Alaina's curiosity has led to a wide variety of opportuninties from participating in an REU program to investigating the differences between dancers and non-dancers using linear algebra. Read more about Alaina...
Lora Bailey receives the Pew Teaching Excellence Award
During her five years at Grand Valley, Lora Bailey has made a profound impact through her excellent teaching, supervision of compelling undergraduate research projects, and design of a new honors course. She is a most deserving recipient of a Pew Teaching Excellence Award. Read more about Lora...
Grand Valley faculty bring mathematics to incarcerated students
David Austin and Lauren Keough have recently been teaching mathematics to students inside local correctional facilities. In spite of some logistical challenges, they describe the remarkable growth they see in their students and how mathematical exploration develops curiosity, persistence, and community. Read more about prison education...
The Mackinac Gazette grows into its twenties
This newsletter, our annual chronicle of the life of the Grand Valley math department, recently turned 20 years old. In this retrospective, we look back over some notable milestones in the lives of our students and faculty. Read our retrospective...
Grand Valley hosts screening of the new film Counted Out
Addressing America's ``math crisis,'' the film Counted Out describes how mathematical literacy is increasingly important to participate in our technological society and how math education has historically failed to adequately prepare our citizens. It also offers an optimistic way forward to bring everyone into the mathematical community. Read more about the movie...
Meet some of our 2025 Outstanding Students
The mathematics department gathered on April 10 to honor our graduates and to celebrate the accomplishments of many of our students. Read more about our students...