Steady Pace
With her third book out in as many years this summer, AU alumna Alison Pace
(BA Art History ’93) has become a force in the “chick lit”
world. Through Thick and Thin (Penguin Group, 2007) follows two sisters in
their respective quests to better themselves by losing weight and finding companionship.
“The inspiration for the current book,” says Pace, “was thinking
about how friendships and relationships can and must change so much as people
get older.”
 Pace likes to change style, play with point of view, and reinvent conflict
from one book to the next—and even within a book. “I do sometimes
find myself disenchanted with a topic or with my ability to say anything new
about it,” she says, “but as long as I commit to staying the course,
I’ve been able to recapture the initial enthusiasm for a project.”
Certainly, others express enthusiasm for her work. Critics have praised her
singular writing style and readers and reviewers hail her talent for creating
endearing and realistic characters. Despite what anyone says about her, however,
Pace remains true to her original goals as a writer: “I really just want
to be able to keep writing novels. I hope that I’m telling some interesting
stories that people might connect with; I hope I’m making readers laugh
or smile and think about some things a bit, too.”
—Brendan Steidle
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If code breaking, comedy writing, and 3-D glasses are not things frequently
associated with math courses, AU’s Department
of Mathematics and Statistics is looking to change that with one of their new offerings. Tentatively titled
Great Ideas in Mathematics, the class is being piloted under the Math 154
course heading, with an application for its own course designation currently
pending.
“In a standard algebra class, most of the focus ends up on the
specifics of manipulating equations,” says Michael Keynes, director
of undergraduate studies in the math department and a course instructor.
As a result, students rarely develop a deeper understanding of and appreciation
for math. “It’s like taking a writing class that focuses on
grammar and spelling.”
Great Ideas in Mathematics is different. Instead of focusing on mechanics
and equation solving, the course emphasizes the key concepts underpinning
mathematics. Keynes explains, “The class is for students who have
taken math but want to see more; instead of studying grammar and spelling,
they want to read poetry.”
It’s also for students who have struggled in traditional math classes,
either because those classes focused strictly on calculations or failed
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provide a deeper context. “This course really tries to teach students
to
think analytically—which doesn’t sound like much, but it is,” says
Jeff
Hakim, professor and math department chair. “In the past, we knew
our finite math students did not have a deep understanding of the
material because, when we tweaked the problems ever so slightly, they
couldn’t do them.”
While the fact that the course textbook was cowritten by a Tonight Show
contributor doesn’t hurt, the effectiveness of Great Ideas mainly has
to
do with its experiential approach to mathematical concepts. Instructors
invite students to explore these concepts through experiments involving
such activities as code breaking, puzzle solving, and examining platonic
solids through 3-D glasses. Students then apply their findings to a
variety of mathematical problems.
“The course helps critical thinking like no other,” asserts Vladimir
Skoric ’08. Skoric, who took the class last spring, says its hands-on
approach and text that “reads like a real book” increase students’
understanding of essential concepts and show them how to apply these
concepts to diverse mathematical situations. “We did exercises that
literally made us think outside the box.”
—Jessica Tabak
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