Professor James McClure inducted into Book of Great Teachers

11-20-2013

James McClure, Professor of Mathematics and Curriculum & Instruction (courtesy), was inducted into Purdue's Book of Great Teachers at a ceremony on December 2, 2013 at 3:30-6:15 p.m. in the South Ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union.

The Book of Great Teachers, a permanent wall display in the west foyer of the Purdue Memorial Union, was first unveiled in 1999. The book bears the names of past and present faculty members who have devoted their lives to excellence in teaching and scholarship. Honorees include past recipients of universitywide teaching excellence awards and those nominated by students, alumni and colleagues.

McClure, a topologist, is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS). From 2007 to 2009, he served on the AMS Committee on Education. His previous teaching recognitions include a College of Science Outstanding Teaching Award (1999) and a Mathematics Department Spira Award for undergraduate teaching (2012).

McClure has taught a wide variety of courses, including the first-semester course for elementary education majors and the supervised teaching experience for secondary education majors. He created a geometry course for mathematics education majors, which has been taught at Purdue since fall 1994 and at other institutions, and an undergraduate course on Fourier Analysis (MA 428). He designed a linear algebra course and is currently writing a linear algebra textbook. Since spring 2005, he has been in charge of Transition to Teaching, a program for those with undergraduate degrees in mathematics who would like to qualify as high school mathematics teachers.