AWM presents Hay award to Walker

Judy Walker

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) will present the 26th annual Louise Hay Award to Judy Walker at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle in January 2016.

The Hay Award is presented to Walker, Aaron Douglas Professor and Chair of the UNL Department of Mathematics, in recognition of her leadership and contributions as a mathematical scholar and educator. Creating and adapting innovative courses at all levels, Walker has made extraordinary contributions to mathematics education, guiding high school through graduate students, including freshmen and honors non-mathematics majors, as well as practicing teachers.

Established in 1991, the Hay Award recognizes outstanding achievements in any area of mathematics education. Louise Hay was widely recognized for her contributions to mathematical logic, for her strong leadership as Head of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, for her devotion to students, and for her lifelong commitment to nurturing the talent of young women and men. The annual presentation of this award is intended to highlight the importance of mathematics education and to evoke the memory of all that Hay exemplified as a teacher, scholar, administrator, and human being.

Walker has received numerous awards for her teaching excellence including the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, in 2006. She is a recognized role model committed to nurturing the talent of emerging scholars. Walker co-created the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, attended by more than 250 undergraduate women each year. This conference was recognized in 2013 with the AMS Programs that Make a Difference Award.

A Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Walker has published over 30 papers and organized 11 research conferences in algebraic coding theory, including six special sessions at AMS meetings. She is one of only four women chosen to present the George Polya Lectures for the MAA.

The 2016 Joint Mathematics Meetings will be held Jan. 6-9 in Seattle. For further information about the award, visit: www.awm-math.org.

– Jennifer Lewis, AWM