2008 Woodie Awards
Faculty members win international award
By: Mallory Yaroch
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
For two years, a group of CMU professors and administrators worked to figure out a way to help freshmen succeed in math courses.
Last month, their efforts were applauded at the International Quality Educational Improvement conference St. Louis, Mo.
"We truly do care about students and don't want (them) to waste their money," said Linda Smoke, team member, course coordinator and supervisor for teaching assistants for the math department. "The math department wants to help students be in the right class."
Smoke, along with some of her colleagues and Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, took first place at the conference for their successful integration of the Six Sigma program at CMU.
Carl Lee, mathematics professor, was the team leader for the project.
"Six Sigma is a problem-solving strategy that usually consists of DMAC," said Lee, who represented the team at the conference, along with mathematics professor James Angelos.
DMAC stands for defining the problem, measuring the response and finding why the problem exists, analyzing all of the possible causes, and controlling the situation.
University President Michael Rao decided to start Six Sigma on campus in 2005. The program is executed by the College of Business Administration with partnership from Dow Chemical.
For more than a year, a team of members from the math department and orientation office worked together on the Six Sigma project.
The goal was to find a way to help incoming freshmen with placement into appropriate math classes. There are several Six Sigma research projects on campus.
"It took us from summer of 2005 to April 2007 to complete the entire project and have it validated and implemented," Lee said.
The team's two objectives for the project were to reduce the percentage of students taking math classes higher than recommended and to reduce the failure rate of freshman math students.
The project has already added two components for recommending math classes to incoming freshmen. In addition to looking at the ACT math scores and the overall high school grade-point average of each student, CMU now looks at the highest level of high school math taken by the individual as well as the student's self-reported GPA in high school math courses.
"We know colleges and universities nationwide are challenged to come up with proper math placement and, with Carl Lee's leadership, CMU has the opportunities to help others," said Michelle Howard, assistant dean and director of academic advising and assistance and Six Sigma team member.
The rest of the team included Tom Miles, Associate Professor of Mathematics and faculty adviser, James Nesbitt of Dow Chemical, Tim Snellenberger, Coordinator of Technical Services at the Registrar's Office, and Peter Vermeire, faculty adviser and assistant chairman of the math department.
news@cm-life.com.
Last month, their efforts were applauded at the International Quality Educational Improvement conference St. Louis, Mo.
"We truly do care about students and don't want (them) to waste their money," said Linda Smoke, team member, course coordinator and supervisor for teaching assistants for the math department. "The math department wants to help students be in the right class."
Smoke, along with some of her colleagues and Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, took first place at the conference for their successful integration of the Six Sigma program at CMU.
Carl Lee, mathematics professor, was the team leader for the project.
"Six Sigma is a problem-solving strategy that usually consists of DMAC," said Lee, who represented the team at the conference, along with mathematics professor James Angelos.
DMAC stands for defining the problem, measuring the response and finding why the problem exists, analyzing all of the possible causes, and controlling the situation.
University President Michael Rao decided to start Six Sigma on campus in 2005. The program is executed by the College of Business Administration with partnership from Dow Chemical.
For more than a year, a team of members from the math department and orientation office worked together on the Six Sigma project.
The goal was to find a way to help incoming freshmen with placement into appropriate math classes. There are several Six Sigma research projects on campus.
"It took us from summer of 2005 to April 2007 to complete the entire project and have it validated and implemented," Lee said.
The team's two objectives for the project were to reduce the percentage of students taking math classes higher than recommended and to reduce the failure rate of freshman math students.
The project has already added two components for recommending math classes to incoming freshmen. In addition to looking at the ACT math scores and the overall high school grade-point average of each student, CMU now looks at the highest level of high school math taken by the individual as well as the student's self-reported GPA in high school math courses.
"We know colleges and universities nationwide are challenged to come up with proper math placement and, with Carl Lee's leadership, CMU has the opportunities to help others," said Michelle Howard, assistant dean and director of academic advising and assistance and Six Sigma team member.
The rest of the team included Tom Miles, Associate Professor of Mathematics and faculty adviser, James Nesbitt of Dow Chemical, Tim Snellenberger, Coordinator of Technical Services at the Registrar's Office, and Peter Vermeire, faculty adviser and assistant chairman of the math department.
news@cm-life.com.
