Marc Mangel– Teaching Statement 2002-03
Professor, Applied Mathematics & Statistics

This is my 23rd year as a faculty member at the University of California. I spent 16 years at Davis and have been at UCSC since 1996. My time at Davis was split between the Department of Mathematics (1980-1989) and the Department of Zoology, which became the Section of Evolution and Ecology (1989-1996). I came to UCSC in the Department of Environmental Studies (1996) and moved, on 1 July 2003, to Applied Mathematics and Statistics. During my time at UC, I have taught lower division mathematics (calculus, differential equations, linear algebra) and ecology, upper division mathematics (differential equations, optimization, mathematical modeling), ecology, statistics, and fishery management, and graduate courses in applied mathematics (differential equations, methods, operations research) and mathematical biology. At Davis, I chaired the Department of Mathematics, with 35 regular and 15 temporary faculty. As Chair, I reviewed all the teaching evaluations each year.

I developed my philosophy of teaching through experience, observation of master teachers, and reading. It is summarized in a statement that I present to the students on the first day of class. The one for ENVS 24 (General ecology) at UCSC is typical: The main goal of this course (and my approach to learning in general) is self-actualization through the empowerment of claiming your education. This is achieved as follows: 1. Passion for the environment is most effective when it is grounded in serious scientific work. Hence, I insist that you learn key skills in quantitative ecology and writing. 2. I have organized and carefully selected material for you to learn; I value your time as much as my own. 3. You are expected to conduct focused hard work, since there is no success without work. 4. Hard work and serious scholarship can be fun. Adlai Stevenson said that the purpose of an education was to open a mind, not fill it up. The need to open a mind is even more true in the information age. Perhaps the most important thing that we can teach our students is how to learn and why to learn so that they can indeed be lifelong learners; hence my focus on empowering them. Abraham Joshua Heschel said it is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read; the text that they never forget.

One can demand much of students if they can clearly sense that you care about their learning, hence a focus on organization and careful selection of material. Both Clark Kerr and Bob Dylan have noted that lost time is not found again and this is very true in the classroom, especially with a quarter system. Throughout all of this, we must emphasize the joy of discovery, because it is that joy which will make students into the lifelong learners we hope them to be. All of my courses, including lower division ecology, involve quantitative analyses, computer skills and writing assignments. These are the tools of analysis and communication that will set our students apart as they move forward in life.

I take the Narrative Evaluations seriously and do them with depth and in a timely fashion. The notion of written narratives as performance evaluations and a learning tool for the student comes from the report of the Millennium Committee, which I cochaired. I also chaired the Undergraduate Sub-Committee of the Millennium Committee and developed the concept of NES as a real evaluation of performance rather than a mini-letter of recommendation.

A research university conducts both formal and informal instruction. They are equally important at all levels. Research supervision from senior theses to postdoctoral mentoring is as important and strenuous as classroom instruction. Students who work with me on research problems are, from the very outset, my colleagues in exploration. Over the years, I have supervised more than 50 undergraduate research projects, 4 MS and 12 PhD theses (with service on more than 30 other graduate thesis committees), and 20 post-doctoral colleagues. I design senior and master theses to match the interests of the students but I expect PhD students to find their own problems and establish their own lines of inquiry. Although everything that leaves my research group has had my input, I am only co-author if I have done a considerable amount of the work that goes into the manuscript. This tradition, which is common both in applied mathematics and ecology, promotes the work of young scientists. Furthermore, I encourage my post-docs to develop their own lines of inquiry, as a means of establishing their own research program.

This year, I have taken an active role in the Center for Informal Learning in Schools (CILS), a NSF funded partnership between the Exploratorium, Kings College London and UCSC, with the purpose of understanding how the successful learning of science and mathematics in public display facilities can contribute to improving the educational process in the schools. I am a core faculty member in CILS and have helped conceive and design the CILS Science Fellows Program. Through this program, PhD students in the natural sciences or engineering will spend spring quarter for each of three academic years learning about the process of learning, taking seminars with Exploratorium colleagues, and developing and assessing their own exhibition for public display. Our goal is to create the next wave of educated scientists and science educators.

For me, the true awards for excellence in teaching have come long after the completion of instruction through the lives I have influenced: undergraduates who return after 5, 10 or 15 years to report that their interaction with me was the most important in their academic life; graduate students who themselves go on to become excellent teachers and mentors, their students winning awards for research; postdocs who teach their first course under my mentorship, and then take that course to their new academic home where it receives rave reviews; and faculty who take time to sit through my courses so that their abilities for research and mentorship are enhanced. These are indeed the riches that come from excellent teaching. That said, collegial recognition is both appreciated and provides a sense of shared community values.