Dr. Sam Huckaba named Distinguished Alumnus in Mathematics
03-30-2018
We are proud to announce that Dr. Sam Huckaba, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University, has been named the Mathematics Distinguished Alumnus of 2018.
Dr. Huckaba was raised in Columbia, Mo, and graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics after initially majoring in physics then engineering. He began graduate studies in Mathematics at Purdue University in 1981 and received his PhD in mathematics from Purdue University in 1986. While at Purdue he worked as a teaching assistant in the department.
He spent the 1986-87 academic year on the faculty at the University of Kentucky before joining the Department of Mathematics at FSU as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 1987. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1992 and Professor in 1998. Huckaba received University Teaching Awards in 1991 and 2002, a Teaching Incentive Award in 1994, and FSU’ s Developing Scholar A ward in 1994. His research accomplishments include published work in the area of Commutative Algebra with connections to Algebraic Geometry. He maintains interests in these areas and also in applications of algebra to statistics, cryptography, and coding theory. Prior to joining the dean’s office he participated widely in departmental administration for his home department, including four years leading the Mathematics graduate program through a time of rapid growth and change.
Dr. Huckaba was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University in October 2012 after serving for 15 months as interim Dean. Prior to that he served as Associate Dean (2004-2007) and then Senior Associate Dean (2007-2011). Arts and Sciences, the oldest and largest college at FSU, is home to 18 departments, 15 programs and institutes, 550 faculty members, 250 staff members, and approximately 11,000 students.
Along with the other College of Science Distinguished Alumni, Dr. Huckaba will be honored at a reception on Friday, April 13, 2018