For Professor of Mathematics Christopher Towse, who was appointed this summer to the Herron Family Endowed Chair in Mathematics, partnering with students to explore theoretical concepts is vital to his teaching and research. 鈥淎t Scripps, math makes the most sense when there鈥檚 lots of student involvement,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen I think about what I want to work on, I think of problems that are motivated by students, concepts that students are interested in, and projects I want to do with students.鈥�
The Herron Family Endowed Chair in Mathematics was established by Jeannette (Jan) Pierson Herron 鈥�45 and Joseph Herron. While at Scripps, Herron majored in mathematics and was one of the College鈥檚 earliest proponents of the inclusion of mathematics and science as part of a liberal arts education. She later served as an alumna trustee from 1968鈥�73; her son, Mark Herron, has served on the Board of Trustees since 1997, including as the chair from 2014鈥�18. The chair was endowed to enable future generations of Scripps students to pursue their interests in mathematics at Scripps.
A four-time recipient of the Mary Johnson Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching, Towse enjoys engaging with students on a variety of mathematical levels, from classwork and individual research projects to senior theses and joint authorship of a paper published in research journal Acta Arithmetica. In 2009, he received a National Science Foundation grant to run The Claremont Colleges Mathematics Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site, a summer program that connects undergraduates with faculty members for research projects and career-focused workshops. To provide his students with better tools for understanding applied mathematics, he鈥檚 currently writing a differential equations textbook.
But, Towse believes that appreciation for mathematics shouldn鈥檛 be limited to math majors. In addition to teaching more traditional subjects such as calculus, linear algebra, and number theory, he also teaches a Core III class that examines how math fits into our culture from a humanities perspective. 鈥淪ometimes I feel like mathematics should be more integrated into the humanities or the arts,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 lot of mathematics is theoretical, but it鈥檚 also a tool for understanding, and that鈥檚 what the humanities are: understanding how we understand things, as humans. When you鈥檙e doing math, you鈥檙e doing something creative. That鈥檚 been a fun idea to explore at Scripps.鈥�
To that end, Towse is applying this interdisciplinary approach beyond the mathematics field. This fall, he鈥檚 teaching an introductory data science course as part of Scripps鈥� new data science minor. 鈥淐omputer science is extremely multidisciplinary, to a point that many people don鈥檛 realize,鈥� Towse says. 鈥淚鈥檒l be coming at it from a mathematician鈥檚 point of view, and we鈥檒l embrace the fact that students will be coming at from their different disciplinary viewpoints.鈥�
As with his other classes and projects, student involvement in the process has been key: Five Scripps students have volunteered to serve as assistants for the course. Towse plans to maximize the opportunities provided by this assistantship to highlight the collaborative nature of computer science. In planning the course鈥檚 structure, Towse and his team of student tutors envision adapting some aspects of the flipped classroom, such as in-class problem-solving workshops and small-group mentoring sessions in online breakout rooms. 鈥淐omputer scientists have to work with others in a way that Scripps students already do really well,鈥� Towse says.
Towse acknowledges that, upon transitioning to online learning in March, he wanted classes to feel as 鈥渘ormal鈥� as possible for the many students whose lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic鈥攈e even sent homemade baked goods to some of his spring semester students during their final presentations. However, he also believes that the fall semester鈥檚 remote instruction will provide opportunities for the type of faculty and student growth that鈥檚 foundational to a liberal arts education. He plans to use a portion of the funds from the Herron Family Endowed Chair to purchase additional educational technology and equipment that will enhance virtual learning for his math and data science students.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e here and you鈥檙e going to really embrace the liberal arts ideal, that you鈥檙e doing this because you want to learn, be exposed to new ideas, and challenge yourself,鈥� he says, 鈥渨e鈥檙e still doing that.鈥�