Maura Mast
Maura B. Mast | |
|---|---|
| 23rd President of Seattle University | |
| Assuming office September 1, 2026 | |
| Succeeding | Eduardo Peñalver |
| Personal details | |
| Alma mater | |
| Scientific career | |
| Known for | Differential geometry; quantitative reasoning; Common Sense Mathematics |
| Awards | AWM Service Award (2017); AWM Fellow (2020) |
| Fields | Mathematics; differential geometry; quantitative reasoning |
| Institutions | University of Northern Iowa; Northeastern University; Wellesley College; University of Massachusetts Boston; Fordham University, Seattle University |
| Thesis | Closed Geodesics in 2-step Nilmanifolds (1992) |
| Pat Eberlein | |
Maura B. Mast is an Irish-American mathematician, mathematics educator, and academic administrator who is the president-elect of Seattle University. She will assume office as the school's 23rd president, and first woman president, on September 1, 2026. Her research specialties are in differential geometry and quantitative reasoning.[1][2] With Ethan D. Bolker, she is the author of the textbook Common Sense Mathematics.
Early life and education
[edit]Mast is the daughter of Cecil B. Mast (1927–2008), a mathematics professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Her mother was Irish, and Mast has dual Irish and American citizenship. She grew up in South Bend and did her undergraduate studies at Notre Dame, with a double major in mathematics and anthropology.[3]
She completed her doctorate in mathematics in 1992 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation, Closed Geodesics in 2-step Nilmanifolds, concerned the differential geometry of geodesics on curved surfaces, and was supervised by Pat Eberlein.[4][1]
Career
[edit]Mast became a faculty member at the University of Northern Iowa in 1992. After visiting professorships at Northeastern University and Wellesley College, she moved to the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1998. There, in 2009, she became associate vice provost for undergraduate studies. In 2015, she came to Fordham University as the first female dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.[3] In 2022, she was promoted to the rank of full professor at Fordham University. In June 2026, she was named the 23rd president of Seattle University, becoming the first woman to serve in the role.[5]
Activism
[edit]Mast has been an active member of the Clavius Group, a group of Jesuit and lay mathematicians,[3] and is a strong supporter of the Jesuit vision of Catholic spirituality.[2]
She has also been a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in mathematics and science, which she writes is "crucial for the future of the country and for women".[3] She has participated in the governance of the Association for Women in Mathematics as Clerk and Executive Committee member of the association.[1]
Mast was chair of the Special Interest Group on Quantitative Literacy of the Mathematical Association of America for 2006–2007.[6]
Books
[edit]- Common Sense Mathematics (with Ethan D. Bolker, Mathematical Association of America, 2016)[7]
- Women in Mathematics: Celebrating the Centennial of the Mathematical Association of America (edited with Janet Beery, Sarah J. Greenwald, and Jacqueline Jensen-Vallin, Springer, 2017)[8]
Recognition
[edit]In 2017 Mast was given the Association for Women in Mathematics Service Award.[9] The Association for Women in Mathematics has included Mast in the 2020 class of AWM Fellows for "her sustained and deep contributions to promoting and encouraging the participation of women in the mathematical sciences through AWM, the Joint Committee on Women, the MAA, and through leadership in academia".[10]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Verel, Patrick (27 April 2015), "UMass Professor Named Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill", Fordham News
- 1 2 Gosier, Chris (16 September 2015), "Mathematics, Liberal Arts Come Together in New Dean's Approach", Fordham News
- 1 2 3 4 Shanahan, Erin (8 September 2015), "Fordham Welcomes First Female Dean", The Fordham Ram
- ↑ Maura Mast at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ↑ Bazzaz, Dahlia (25 June 2026). "Maura Mast to be Seattle U's first mathematician — and woman — president". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
- ↑ SIGMAAQL Officers, SIGMAA on Quantitative Literacy, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 18 May 2019
- ↑ Reviews of Common Sense Mathematics:
- Kennedy, Stephen (August–September 2016), "MAA Books Beat" (PDF), MAA FOCUS: 34–35
- Madison, Bernard (2019), "An uncommon textbook", Numeracy, 12 (1), Article 16, doi:10.5038/1936-4660.12.1.16
- Moysis, Lazaros (March–May 2018), "Book review" (PDF), The Prime Magazine (in Greek), 8, Mathematics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: 163, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2023, retrieved 19 May 2019
- Olszewski, Peter (June 2021), "Review", MAA Reviews
- ↑ Reviews of Women in Mathematics:
- Gouvêa, Fernando Q. (July 2018), "Review", MAA Reviews
- Quertermous, Katie Spurrier (March 2019), "Review" (PDF), Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 66 (3): 395–398
- ↑ Association for Women in Mathematics Service Award 2017, Association for Women in Mathematics, retrieved 18 May 2019
- ↑ 2020 Class of AWM Fellows, Association for Women in Mathematics, retrieved 8 November 2019
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
- Living people
- 20th-century American mathematicians
- 21st-century American mathematicians
- Irish mathematicians
- People from South Bend, Indiana
- University of Notre Dame alumni
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
- University of Northern Iowa faculty
- Wellesley College faculty
- University of Massachusetts Boston faculty
- Fordham University faculty
- Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics
- 20th-century American women mathematicians
- 21st-century American women mathematicians
- Presidents of Seattle University