Department History
C.H. Gladman, Carl E. Hall, Joe Guthrie, Maria Cristina Mariani, et al.
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INTRODUCTION
Origin
The UTEP Mathematics Department began with early instruction in Texas in 1914 as Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgic, it became part of the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas in 1919, and was officially established as the Department of Mathematics in 1965, when the school was named Texas Western College of the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas, and then changed to UTEP in 1967.
Curriculum and Technology
Since 1965, the department has expanded its curriculum to include computer programming, numerical analysis, and statistics. It managed to integrate technology into its instruction to enhance education and reduce attrition rates.
Data Science
The department recently expanded its focus on Statistics and Data Science through the inauguration of programs at different levels, beginning with an undergraduate concentration, minor, Master’s, graduate certificates in various data science and analytics fields and ultimately a Ph.D in Data Science.
Current Structure and Impact
As of 2021, the department comprises 27 tenure/tenure-track faculty, 20 Faculty of Instruction, and 10 part-time faculty, who significantly contribute to interdisciplinary programs including the College designated CPS and Bioinformatics programs. Its research efforts produce annual expenditures of $1.5 million.
Early History
During the early days of the institution mathematics instruction in the State School of Mines and Metallurgy was provided by a Professor of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics (most notable was Captain Kidd for whom Kidd field was named). In 1919 the institution became a branch of the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas and was renamed The Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy. Prior to 1932 a Normal School operated in the El Paso High School Building with a 37 hour program for elementary teacher certification and a 60 hour program for secondary teachers. In 1932, the Normal School was absorbed by the College of Mines and Metallurgy. A Department of Mathematics and Physics was also established in 1932.
The first mathematics instructor was Beulah Liles (MA-Chicago) who moved from the Normal School. There were also two Mathematics and Physics professors hired in 1932 one of which was E. J. Knapp, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Physics, who chaired the newly created department.
In 1940, the Mathematics and Physics Department became part of the School of Arts and Sciences of the College of Mines and Metallurgy.
1965-2011 Since its beginning and for 46 years, the department was served by a senior secretary from the same family. Mrs. Anna Lane (1965-69), Mrs. Bonita Henry (1969-79), and Mrs. Lanna Tallmon (1979-2011). Mrs. Henry is the mother of Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Tallmon.
1965 The Department of Mathematics came into being as a separate department, in the School of Arts and Sciences, in 1965. At that time E. J. Knapp stepped down from his administrative position as Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Physics and was named Professor Emeritus of Physics. Max Bolen became Chair of Physics and C.H. Gladman became Acting Chair of Mathematics. The department was housed primarily in Old Main with additional offices in Holiday Hall.
Several people who had earned the Bachelor's Degree in the combined department have returned to the campus in various capacities over the years. The ones whose names come to mind in association with the mathematics program are:
H.N. Ballard - Mathematics and Physics faculty and later White Sands Missile Range
Clarence Cooper - Mathematics and Physics faculty and later Physics faculty
E. Alan Dean - Mathematics and Physics faculty and later Physics faculty
Norma Hernandez - College of Education faculty and later Dean of Education
Nancy Marcus - Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics Department, and later Professor
R.G. Omundson - Mathematics faculty
J.R. Provencio - Mathematics and Physics faculty and later Mathematics faculty and the innovating force in the institution of the InterAmerican Science Program
Louise Resley - Mathematics faculty and Dean of Women
Robert Schumaker - Mathematics and Physics faculty and later Director of Admissions
At the time of the institution of the separate Department of Mathematics, the following people became the designated faculty for the new department:
Professors: Dr. Delmar Boyer (Abelian Groups);
Associate Professors: Dr. Eugene Allgower, Dr. Ralph Bentz, Mr. C.H. Gladman;
Assistant Professors: Mr. O.C. Kruschwitz, Mr. V.A. Miculka, Mr. R.G. Omundson, Mrs. Beulah Liles Patterson, Mrs. Louise Resley;
Instructors: Mr. Homer Bailey, Mr. Stanley Ball, Mr. William Burgett, Mr. Philip Duran, Mr. Rex Fox, Miss Jule Hansen, Mr. Donald Horner, Mr. Lawrence Huntley, Mr. Ralph Liguori, Mr. Robert McDonald, Mr. Frank Miter, Mr. Ralph Pryor, and Mrs. Edythe Threadgill.
There were also a few part time instructors and teaching assistants. One of the teaching assistants at that time was Nancy Marcus.
Of this original faculty; Dr. Allgower (Complex Analysis) left after one year to join the faculty at Colorado State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é; Mr. Kruschwitz and Mr. Omundson quit teaching for other careers; Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. Resley, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Burgett, Mr. McDonald, Mr. Miter, Mr. Pryor, and Mrs. Threadgill retired.
It is worthy of note that Mrs. Patterson had over forty years of service to this institution at her retirement. The Bulah Liles Patterson Memorial Presidential Scholarship Fund was established in 1987 by her will when she died in 1986 at the age of 90.
Mrs. Louise Resley Wiggins married Dr. Dossie Wiggins, President of Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy from 1935-48. He went to Texas Tech as President and she moved to Lubbock before 1965. She returned to El Paso on his death and lived at the MonteVista Coronado Retirement Community.
Mr. Phillip Duran and Mr. Donald Horner left to pursue further degrees and did not return. Mr. Stanley Ball and Mr. Ralph Liguori took leaves of absence to earn doctoral degrees. Dr. Ball returned to the College of Education and Dr. Liguori returned to the Department of Mathematics.
The year 1965 also saw the introduction of the first course in computer programming and in numerical analysis. This was a direct result of the presence of Dr. Mac Adams during the previous year. He left to head the Computer Science program at New Mexico State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é. There was one course in statistics in the catalog at this time. Preparation was begun on a program to lead to the Master's Degree in Mathematics. The undergraduate program was expanded and graduate level courses first appeared in the 1966-67 catalog and by the Fall of 1969, the M.S. degree program had been approved.
1966 Mr. Joe Fitzpatrick joined the Mathematics Department faculty. He retired in 1989.
1967 The School of Arts and Sciences was divided to form the Schools of Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts, and Science. The Mathematics Department became a part of the School of Science and moved to the Physical Science Building. Dr. James Nymann (Number Theory) and Mr. Bernard Martin-Williams joined the faculty in the fall of this year. Dr. Nymann was chair of the department from January 1974 - August 1975. He was a Fullbright Professor at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Liberia during 1972-73 and at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Malawi during 1977-79. Dr. Nymann was primarily responsible for the development of the Master of Arts in Teaching Degree (1981). Dr. Nymann also served on the Board of Governors for the Mathematical Association of America for the period 1976-78.
Also in 1967, the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é initiated the Inter-American Science Program for U.S. citizens and others who had completed high school in a Spanish speaking country. The program was housed in Mathematics with J.R. Provencio as Director. From the original 30 students the program grew to 400, one half of which were freshmen. One of these, Dr. Javier Rojo, later received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of California at Berkley and joined the UTEP faculty in 1984. The first program graduate, Dr. Norma Nunez, graduated from UTEP after three years and continues in administration at El Paso Community College in 1992.
1968 Drs. William J. Leahey (Algebra), Kennith Lopp (Analysis), and Frederick Strauss (Applied Algebra) joined the faculty. Dr. Leahey was named Department Chairman, replacing C. H. Gladman who had been acting in that capacity since the inception of the department. Dr. Leahey was chairman from Fall 68 to Fall 71 and again for Fall 73.
1969 Drs. Carl Hall (Topological Algebra), Neal Wagner (Topology), Mr. Chip Neville (Functional Analysis), and Mr. William Dodge (Algebra) joined the faculty. Dr. Hall was Department Chairman from Fall 71 to Fall 73. He served as Chairman of the Faculty Senate 1975-77 and again for 1990-92, and was a charter member of the U.T. System Faculty Advisory Council formed in 1990. Dr. Wagner was on leave 1974-76 and again 1979-80. He left in 1982 for Philadelphia and moved to San Antonio in 1987. Mr. Dodge became Director of the Mathematics Program in Tutorial Services, left the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é in 1977, and taught high school mathematics in El Paso.
1970 Drs. Michael Gray (Analysis) , Clinton Kennel (Complex Analysis), John Narvarte (Topology), Eugene Schuster (Statistics), and V.K. Srinivasan (Analysis) joined the faculty. Dr. Narvarte served as Department Chairman from Fall 75 - Fall 79. Dr. Schuster served as Department Chairman from Fall 79 - Fall 81 and again from Fall 83 - Fall 86. Dr. Srinivasan served as Department Chairman in Fall 86. It was under the leadership of Dr. Schuster that the statistics program began to grow. He also added support to the program in Computer Science. The years 1971-73 saw the introduction of one additional course in computer programming and, by the fall of 1973, enough additional undergraduate courses in statistics so that a student could minor in statistics. By 1973 there were also graduate courses in statistics in the program. Dr. Schuster was on leave as a visiting professor at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Arizona 1974-75. Dr. Kennel left in 1975 to teach high school mathematics in El Paso. Also, the annual meeting of the Southwestern Section of the Mathematical Association of America was held at UTEP with Dr. Nymann as Chairman. The keynote speaker was Dr. Basil Gordon of UCLA. During the summer, the National Science Foundation sponsored a summer institute for high school mathematics teachers. Dr. Nymann was Director and Dr. Strauss was Associate Director.
1971 The department had 28 regular positions. No new faculty were added this year. The NSF summer institute of 1970 was continued during this summer also.
1972 Dr. Andreas Philippou (Statistics) joined the faculty and Dr. Tom Head (Algebra) served as a Visiting Professor. Chip Neville left the university and received his Ph.D. from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
1973 Dr. Philippou left for Greece and Dr. Head returned to the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Alaska.
1974 Drs. Joe Guthrie (Topology) and William Kaigh (Statistics) joined the faculty. Dr. Satish Chandra (Statistics) served as a Visiting Professor, 1974-75. Dr. Guthrie was Department Chairman Fall 1981 - Fall 83. Dr. Kaigh was on leave during 1978-79 to do some work on Biostatistics. Mr. Bernard Martin-Williams died in a tragic accident.
1975 The department experienced a 30% enrollment increase and began using part-time instructors for the first time. The department sponsored a symposium on History of American Mathematics (Algebra). Dr. Hall was symposium director. Principal speakers were: Walter Feit (Yale), Laszlo Fuchs (Tulane), I.N. Herstein (Chicago), Saunders MacLane (Chicago), John Tate (Harvard), and Olga Taussky Todd (California Institute of Technology). The department became an institutional member of the Rocky Mountain Mathematics Consortium with Dr. Nymann as the first institutional representative.
1976 Drs. Gavin Gregory (Statistics) and John Starner (Applied Mathematics) joined the faculty. Dr. Starner became Computer Center Director in 1982.
1977 Dr. Clay Burch (Computer Science and Analysis) joined the faculty. He left the department in 1982.
1978 Visiting Professors Cheng-Meng Yeh (Statistics), Dilip Gajendragadkar (Finite Groups and Representations), and Gary Makowski (Statistics) worked in the department.
1979 Drs. Leslie Foged (Topology) and Vladimir Lifschitz (Computer Science and Logic) joined the faculty and K.M. Rangaswany (Abelian Groups) came as a visitor for the years 1979-81. Mr. McDonald retired at the end of the year. Dr. Foged was Department Chairman from Fall 1987 to Fall 1988. By this time, several members of the faculty had become interested in computers and computing, to the extent that a few owned microcomputers of their own and the department had one in its statistics laboratory. During the years of 1977-79, an interdisciplinary program in Computer Science was developed within the framework of Business, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering. Several of the mathematics faculty taught computer science courses. The program first appeared in the 1979-80 catalog with administration of the program housed in Electrical Engineering. Also in 1979 the annual meeting of the Southwestern Section of the Mathematics Association of America was held at UTEP with Dr. Hall as Chairman. The keynote speaker was Dr. John Selfridge, Executive Director of Mathematical Reviews. The name of the Department of Mathematics was changed to the Department of Mathematical Sciences to reflect the departments interest and involvement in both computer science and statistics. The department had 26 regular positions.
1980 Dr. Michael Gelfond (Logic and Computer Science) came as a visitor and remained in 1981 as a tenure track faculty member. Dr. Ralph Bentz retired.
1981 Dr. Robert Maltz (Algebraic Geometry) came as a Visiting Professor for the period 1981-82. The Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree was approved.
1982 Dr. Dan Patterson (Statistics) came as a Visiting Associate Professor on a one semester appointment. Later, he received a tenure track appointment with Computer Science. Also, Drs. Piotr Antosik (Functional Analysis) and Ellis White (Analysis and Set Theoretic Topology) came as visitors for one year. Dr. Burch left the campus this year and Drs. Gelfond and Lifschitz were transferred to the new Department of Computer Science. The Department of Mathematical Sciences moved its offices to Bell Hall.
1983 Drs. Granville Sewell (Applied Mathematics) and Teodor Przymusinski (Topology and Computer Science) joined the department faculty. Dr. Sewell was on leave to the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas System Center for High Performance Computing from Summer 1990 to Fall 1991. Professor Gladman retired and was named Associate Professor Emeritus.
1984 Drs. Enio Jelihovochi (Statistics), Eugene Ng (Number Theory), and Javier Rojo (Statistics) joined the department faculty. Dr. Hitoshi Ombe (Analysis) came as a visitor for one year. Mr. Miculka retired.
1985 Maria Barraza-Rios came as a graduate student to work on the M.S. degree in statistics. She became the first Director of the Mathematical Sciences Learning Center in 1987.
1986 Drs. Adam Kravczyk (Set Theory), A. R. Varadarajan (Chemical Engineering), and Rastislav Telgarsky (General Topology) came as Visiting Professors. The first two for one year and Dr. Telgarsky for two years. This year, Drs. Guthrie, Hall, Leahey, and Nymann went to Malaysia as part of the charter faculty for the Texas Program directed by the Texas International Education Consortium, Inc. Dr. Hall served as mathematics coordinator for the Texas Program and was succeeded by Dr. Nymann in Spring 87. The C. H. Gladman Scholarship Fund was established to provide undergraduate student scholarships for students in mathematics in honor of Professor Emeritus and first Department Chairman Hermann Gladman.
The department received the first of two consecutive three year Department of Education Minority Science Improvement Program (MSIP) Grants with Dr. Schuster as the Principal Investigator. The basic strategy was the development of a Mathematical Sciences Learning Center using modern technology to enhance the quality of mathematical education and significantly reduce attrition rates in key mathematics courses for majors in science and engineering.
1987 Dr. Ferenc Szidarovszky (Numerical Computing) came for one year as a Visiting Professor. Dr. Strauss went to Malaysia as part of the TIEC Texas Program. The microcomputer lab for Precalculus I opened in the fall semester.
1988 Dr. Simon Bernau (Analysis/Ordered Algebraic Structures) joined the department faculty as Department Chairman. Dr. Jelihovschi left the department for Brazil. The microcomputer lab for Precalculus II opened in the fall semester. Bell Hall was closed for most of August and September while asbestos was removed.
1989 Drs. Mohamed Amine Khamsi (Functional Analysis) and Panagis Moschopoulos (Statistics) joined the department faculty. Dr. Anna Wasko (Topology) was here as a Visiting Professor. Mr. Fox and Mr. Fitzpatrick retired. Ms. Hansen died.
The second MSIP grant was obtained with Dr. Bernau and Dr. Schuster as joint Principal Investigators. This enabled the department to complete development of the Mathematics Learning Center and our extensive computer network linking faculty offices, the classroom lab, and through the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é's fiber optic network, the rest of the world.
1990 Drs. Denny Leung (Banach Space Theory) and Joan Staniswalis (Statistics) joined the department faculty. Dr. Andrezj Kozek (Statistics) came as a visitor for one and one-half years. Mr. Larry Huntley retired.
1991 Drs. Arthur Duval (Algebraic Combinatorics), Helmut Knaust (Functional Analysis), Loki Natarajan (Lie Groups and Representation Theory), and Piotr Wojciechowski (Ordered Algebraic Structures) joined the department faculty. Dr. Lucas Venter (Functional Analysis/Riez Spaces and Algebras) came as a visitor for a portion of the year. Drs. Denny Leung (to Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Singapore), Eugene Ng, and Teodor Przymusinski (to Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of California at Riverside) left the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é. The Actuarial Science option for the Bachelors degree was approved. The department has 26 regular tenure track positions.
1992 Club Zero was founded. The mathematics and statistics club was (and still is) open to all UTEP students, faculty and staff.
The Biostatistical Consulting Laboratory was proposed by Drs. Javier Rojo, Eugene Schuster and William Kaigh as part of a larger five year proposal. The proposal was funded by the NIH, and Dr. Javier Rojo organized and became the laboratory's director.
Dr. Mike Gray returned TeXPrep to UTEP. TeXPrep was a summer intervention program for grades seventh through twelve. The department continued hosting TeXPrep until 2003.
1993
1994 Drs. William Leahey and Loki Natarajan were on leave this year. Drs. Kazik Alster, Fouad Chaatit, Phil Schafer and Steve Gunhouse joined the department as visiting faculty.
Dr. Nancy Marcus began a pilot to teach precalculus in modules, where students were required to successfully complete one segment of the course before continuing with the next segment. Eventually, this format was adopted to teach precalculus and calculus.
Dr. Fred Strauss and Mr. J.R. Provencio retired.
1995 Dr. Fred Strauss passed away in May.
Dr. Joe Guthrie was elected Department Chairman. He served the department in this capacity until 2003.
Dr. Michael O'Neil joined the department faculty.
1996 SOS Math went online. The internet site was created by Drs. Amine Khamsi, Helmut Knaust and Nancy Marcus to provide review material to faculty and students. The project was supported by "A Model Institution for Excellence", a university-wide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation.
1997 Dr. Nhu Nguyen joined the department as visiting faculty.
1999 Drs. Delmar Boyer and William Leahey retired and were awarded the rank of Professor Emeritus.
2000 Drs. Leticia Velázquez (Applied Mathematics), Maria Cristina Villalobos (Applied Mathematics) and Osvaldo Méndez (Analysis) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professors. Visiting faculty were Drs. Miguel Argáez, Jingjing Ma, Mohammed Meshkani, Zhenyuan Wang and Mohammed Yahdi.
The Department lost a combined 123 years of experience this year, as Drs. Michael Gray, Carl Hall, Kennith Lopp, and Eugene Schuster retired. Drs. Gray and Hall were awarded the rank of Associate Professor Emeritus, while Dr. Schuster was named Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Javier Rojo left the university after accepting a position at Rice Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
2001 Drs. Hamide Dogan-Dunlap (Mathematics Education) and Daniel Emil Schwab (Arithmetic Functions, Inverse Semigroups, Möbius Inversion) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professors.
With the help of a NSF grant, the department began to offer a Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics graduate program to middle and high school teachers in the El Paso region in a cohort format.
Mrs. María Salayandía joined the department as Administrative Assistant.
2002 Dr. James Nymann retired and was awarded the rank of Professor Emeritus.
2003 Dr. Helmut Knaust became Department Chairman.
The Bioinformatics Program, established by the College of Science in 2001, was (and still is) housed in the Math department, under the new leadership of Dr. Ming Ying Leung (Probabilistic Modeling and Statistical Bioinformatics), who joined the department faculty as Professor.
Dr. Nancy Marcus received a 2003 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor award.
Dr. Matthew Winsor (Mathematics Education) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professor.
2004 Dr. V.K. Srinivasan retired from the Department in a phased retirement system.
Drs. Larry Lesser (Mathematics and Statistics Education) and Pavel Solin (Adaptive Finite Element Methods) joined the department faculty as Associate Professors.
2005 Several esteemed faculty died this year: Dr. Gavin Gregory in April, Mr. Lawrence Huntley in May, and Dr. C.H. Gladman (the department's first chairman) in December.
Dr. John Narvarte retired and was awarded the rank of Associate Professor Emeritus.
UTEP hosted the MAA Southwest Regional Conference in April; the lead organizer was Dr. Hamide Dogan-Dunlap.
Dr. Behzad Djafari-Rouhani (Analysis) joined the department as visiting faculty in January, and was subsequently hired as Associate Professor in the fall.
2006 Drs. Kien Lim (Mathematics Education) and Andrzej Pownuk (Applied Mathematics) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professors.
UTEP became the first Hispanic Serving Institution ever to host StatFest, an annual conference aimed at encouraging undergraduate minority students to pursue careers and graduate studies in the statistical sciences.StatFest 2006 was sponsored by CMS and the UTEP Statistical Consulting Lab and was chaired by assistant professor Naijun Sha and by Spelman College professor Nagambal Shah.
The first in a series of international conferences dedicated to advances in Finite Element Methods and their applications in engineering and science was organized by Dr. Pavel Solín. FEMTEC 2006 took place in December, with more than 50 attendees all over the US, Europe and Japan.
2007 This year brought many honors to the department:
Dr. Mohamed A. Khamsi received the College of Science Distinguished Achievement Award for Research. Drs. Miguel Argáez and Leticia Velázquez received ORSP's 2006-2007 Outstanding Performance Award.
Two of the three Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are department graduates: Robert O'Rear (BA, Mathematical Sciences, 1964) and Harriet May (BS, Mathematical Sciences, 1971)
Mrs. Lanna Tallmon received the College of Science's Award for Distinguished Service to Students by Classified Staff.
2008 Dr. Helmut Knaust stepped down as chair, and Dr. Steve Aley (College of Science Associate Dean) became Interim Chair. Statistician Dr. Amy Wagler (Simultaneous Inference and Categorical Data Analysis) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professor.
Dr. Art Duval co-chaired the ninth annual CombinaTexas (Combinatorics in the South Central US). The conference was hosted at UTEP for the first time ever and attracted attendees from across the country and even as far as Kuwait.
As the result of a multi-year effort by Dr. Ramón Ravelo (Physics), Dr. Granville Sewell, and Dr. Pavel Solin, the Computational Science program was approved and the first cohort of students was admitted. Dr. Leticia Velázquez was appointed program director. The program's graduate faculty included strong representation from the math department: Drs. Miguel Argáez, Ming-Ying Leung, Andrzej Pownuk, Granville Sewell, Naijun Sha, Pavel Solín, Joan Staniswalis, and Leticia Velázquez.
Dr. Pavel Solín left the university for the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Nevada at Reno
2009 Dr. Maria Christina Mariani joined the department faculty as Department Chair and Professor. Dr. Son-Young Yi joined the department faculty as Assistant Professor.
Dr. Art Duval received a UT Regents Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Dr. Matthew Winsor left the university for Illinois State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
2010 Dr. Indranil Sen Gupta joined the department as a postdoctoral fellow, mentored by Dr. Maria Christina Mariani.
UTEP hosted the Southwestern Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference (SUnMaRC) in March, welcoming 70 students and 17 faculty from several states. Dr. Art Duval was the lead organizer, with Club Zero members led by Angel Davalos and Melissa Pugh enthusiastically stepping into the role of first-time host.
Department alumn Matthew "Matt" Diethelm was named one of the three 2010 Gold Nugget Award recipients for the College of Science.
Dr. Mourat Tchoshanov (who was teaching for the Teacher Education Department as well as the Department) received a 2010 UT System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. Larry Lesser won the Southwestern Section of the Mathematical Association of America's 2010 Award for Distinguished College or Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Teaching of Mathematics.
2011 Mrs. Lanna Tallmon retired on May 31, after 34 years of service to UTEP. Her retirement marked the end of a 46-year family dinasty of senior secretaries: Mrs. Anna Lane (1965-69), Mrs. Bonita Henry (1969-79), and Mrs. Lanna Tallmon (1979-2011). Mrs. Henry was the mother of Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Tallmon.
The administration support for the department was charged to newcomer Ms. Rachel Konrardy, who joined the department as Administrative Services Coordinator, and to Mrs. Maria Salayandia.
Dr. Larry Lesser received a 2011 UT System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. Hamide Dogan-Dunlap won the Southwestern Section of the Mathematical Association of America's 2011 Award for Distinguished College or Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Teaching of Mathematics.
2012 Drs. Ghodratollah Aalipour and Svetlana Amirova joined the department as visiting research faculty.
Dr. Kanad Basu joined the Department as a postdoctoral fellow
Dr. Kien Lim received a 2012 UT System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. Maria Christina Mariani was appointed to the Shigeko K. Chan Distinguished Professorship in Mathematical Sciences.
The Computational Science program had a major milestone with Kiran Katta becoming the first student to defend a doctoral dissertation.
Dr. Leticia Velázquez left the university.
2013 Dr. Xiaogang Su (Statistics) joined the department faculty as a tenured Associate Professor. Drs. Reinaldo Sanchez (recently graduated from the CPS program) and Kanadpriya Basu joined the department as postdoctoral fellows.
Long-time faculty Mr. Jesus R. (J.R.) Provencio passed away in April.
Dr. Ming-Ying Leung became the director of the Computational Science program while continuing to direct the Bioinformatics program.
UTEP hosted the 36th annual Texas Partial Differential Equations Conference for the the first time. Organizers were Drs. Behzad Djafari-Rouhani, Maria Christina Mariani, Osvaldo Mendez, and Son-Young Yi and recent UTEP Postdoctoral Fellow Indranil SenGupta.
2014 Dr. Nathasha Sharma (Applied Mathematics) joined the department as an Assistant Professor.
Dr. Amy Wagler received a 2014 UT System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. Kien Lim won the Southwestern Section of the Mathematical Association of America's 2014 Award for Distinguished College or Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Teaching of Mathematics.
UTEP alumnus and long-time Mathematics and Physics instructor Mr. Jack Schoessler passed away in January.
Ms. Rachael Konrardy accepted a position in the Physics department, and Ms. Sylvia González joined the department as Administrative Assistant. Ms. González left in 2016.
2015 Dr. Jonghyun Yun (Bioinformatics) joined the department as an Associate professor, a Border Biomedical Research Center hire to support the Bioinformatics program.
Dr. J. Michael Gray passed away in August.
Dr. Helmut Knaust received a 2015 UT System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Knaust was the sixth awardee from the Department in 7 years.
UTEP hosted once again the Southwestern Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference (SUnMaRC) from February 27 to March 1. As the lead organizer, Dr. Behzad Djafari-Rouhani solicited the help of lecturers, staff and Club Zero to make the conference a success.
María Barraza-Ríos won UTEP's Distinguished Achievement Award for Service.
Two graduate certificates were approved: the Graduate Certificate in Applied and Computational Mathematics, directed by Dr. Son -Young Yi, and the Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics, directed by Dr. Amy Wagler.
2016 Dr. Xianyi Zeng (Applied Mathematics) joined the department faculty as Assistant Professor. Dr. Jonghyun Yun left the university.
Dr. Carl E. Hall passed away in January.
Dr. Joan Staniswalis retired and was awarded the rank of Professor Emerita.
Dr. Larry Lesser received a 2016 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor award. Dr. Lesser is the second awardee from the Department (Dr. Nancy Marcus received the award in 2003) and the 14th in UTEP's history.
Ms. Valerie Dominguez joined the department as Administrative Assistant, after Ms. Sylvia Gonzalez left the department.
2017 Dr. Michael Pokojovy (Computational Science) and Dr. Sangjin Kim (Bioinformatics) joined the department as Assistant Professors.
The Graduate Certificate in Big Data Analytics was approved, directed by Dr. Amy Wagler.
Professor Emeritus (and former department chair) Bill Leahey passed away in September.
2018 Professor Emeritus (and former department chair) Dr. James Nymann passed away in January. Professor Emerita Dr. Joan G. Staniswalis passed away in April.
2019 Dr. Julian Viera, long-time Lecturer and precalulus/calculus coordinator accepted an assistant professor position at Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky.
Dr. Suneel Chatla (Computational Science) and Dr. Youngjoo Choo (Data Science) joined the department as Assistant Professors.
2020 Dr. Les Foged retired in January after four decades of service.
Dr. Sangjin Kim left the university for South Korea.
Dr. Joe Guthrie received a UTEP Service Award celebrating 45 years of service.
A Ph.D. program in Data Science, to be housed completely in the department, was approved in July. The Ph.D. program is set to fully launch in the fall 2021 semester.
Dr. Abhijit Mandal (Data Science) joined the department as Assistant Professor.
The first American Mathematical Society (AMS) meeting to be scheduled on the UTEP campus was instead held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the program of this historic event remained the same with half of the 16 AMS special sessions co-organized by at least one faculty member from our department.
2021 Dr. Asim Dey joined the department as Assistant Professor.
Dr. Azucena Zamora joined the department as Assistant Director of Data Science.
Ms. Laura Olivas joined the department as the new Administrative Services Coordinator after Ms. Maria Salayandia retired in 2021 with 21 years of service to the Department.
Dr. Cho left the Department, after accepting a position in South Korea.
Dr. Foged passed away in July.
In 2021 the Department had 18 faculty of instruction listed below: Nada Al-Hanna (Distinguished Senior Lecturer), Dr. Francisco Avila (Associate Professor of Instruction), Walter Bales (Lecturer), Dr. Maria Pia Beccar Varela (Associate Professor of Instruction), Francis Biney (Senior Lecturer), Lorena Galvan (Lecturer), Dr. Louise Guthrie (Associate Professor of Instruction), Hamna Hannan (Lecturer), Willie Heredia (Senior Lecturer), Victor Jimenez (Lecturer), Tuesday Johnson (Distinguished Senior Lacturer), Desmond Koomson (Lecturer), Dr. Yin Lin (Associate Professor of Instruction), Christy Mielke (Lecturer), Samantha Patterson (Lecturer), Dr. Andrzej Pownuk (Associate Professor of Instruction), Dr. Eduardo Quinonez-Rico (Lecturer), Dr. Julio Urenda (Associate Professor of Instruction).
The new doctoral degree in Data Science, the first PhD program housed in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, had a “soft launch” with some initial courses and 8 students during the spring 2021 semester and a full launch in fall 2021 with 33 students and new course offerings like Data Visualization and Mathematical Applications in Data Science.
2022Drs. Ritwik Bhattacharya (Data Science and Statistics), Anass Bouchnita (Data Science and Bioinformatics) and Jonathon Mohl (Bioninformatics and Computational Science) joined the department as Assistant Professors.
Drs. Nancy Marcus and Granville Sewell retired after four decades of service.
Ms. Martha Delgado and Mr. Eduardo Urquidi became faculty of instruction.
Dr. Xianyi Zeng accepted a faculty position at Lehigh Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
Ms. Valerie Dominguez left the Department after accepting a position at Region 19 in El Paso.
The AMS (American Mathematical Society) held its first-ever meeting on the UTEP campus with the Fall Central Sectional Meeting on September 17-18, 2022.
Undergraduate concentration and minor in Data Science were approved.
MS in Statistics and Data Science was approved.
2023Ms. Martha Delgado became Program Manager and coordinator of MaRCS tutoring center.
Dr. Eduardo Quiñonez-Rico retired.
Ms. Hamna Hannan left the Department after accepting a lecturer position at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Wisconsin.
Drs. Peimeng Yin (Computational Math) and Niloptal Sanyal (Data Science and Statistics) joined the Department as Assistant Professors.
Dr. Cai Xu joined the Department as Research Assistant Professor.
Dr. Michael Pokojovy accepted a faculty position at Old Dominion Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
Ms. Martha Delgado became Program Manager and coordinator of MaRCS tutoring center.
Dr. Eduardo Quiñonez-Rico retired.
Ms. Hamna Hannan left the Department after accepting a lecturer position at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Wisconsin.
Drs. Peimeng Yin (Computational Math) and Niloptal Sanyal (Data Science and Statistics) joined the Department as Assistant Professors.
Dr. Cai Xu joined the Department as Research Assistant Professor.
Dr. Michael Pokojovy accepted a faculty position at Old Dominion Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
Mr. Jeremy Ramirez, Dr. Vahid Mohebbi and Ms. Annette Franco became faculty of instruction.
The new doctoral degree in Data Science, the first PhD program housed in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, had its first graduates in December 2023.
2024Drs. Art Duval and Miguel Argaez retired after decades of service.
Dr. Amy Wagler relocated to the College of Health Sciences.
Dr. Maria Barraza-Rios relocated to the Diana Natalicio Institute.
The El Paso Science Festival was held for the first time in El Paso with strong representation of the Department. Mr. Enrique Gomez, MS in Math, 1978, 1999 Gold Nugget recipient and member of the College of Sciences Board of Advisors was the main organizer of this event that was held on April 6-7, 2024 at the El Paso Convention Center.
Dr. Asim Dey accepted a faculty position at Texas Tech Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
Ms. Jackie Fiest joined the Department as Assistant Director of CPS, Bioinformatics, MS Stat and MS Math.
Drs. Rene Gutierrez (Data Science and Statistics) Kenneth Duru (Applied and Computational Math) and Feng Yu (Data Science and Statistics) joined the Department as Assistant Professors.
Mr. Victor Estrada joined the Department as Manager of Systems and Tech Support.