What happens when you make a gift to the Math Department?
Our students are awarded scholarships and provided with opportunities to enhance their educational experience beyond what we can normally provide in the classroom.
Scholarships
Student scholarships provide critical financial support to outstanding students, many of whom would not be able to continue their education without them. The Math Memorial Scholarship supports our math majors. The William Wade Haggard Scholarship Fund, named after WWU’s longest serving president, supports students majoring in mathematics education.
Conferences and Travel
Our highest-achieving students have multiple opportunities to travel and present their work throughout the year. These trips would not be possible without our generous donors.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Last year, several students attended the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Regional Conference in Seattle. Students were able to attend multiple sessions, network with practicing teachers, and learn about products and services available to teachers. We were thrilled to hear that two of our students were selected to present their research!
Joint Mathematics Meeting
The Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM) is the largest mathematics meeting in the world, and we were able to support travel for two students to attend and present their research this year.
Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln annually hosts the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM). For many years, we have been able to send a group of undergraduate women majoring in math to attend and present their research at this conference, and this year we were able to send 3 of our math students. Women are underrepresented in math and sciences, so providing our women math majors the opportunity to attend this conference allows them to meet new role models, gain insider knowledge, and the opportunity for new research and collaboration.
Math student, Peach A., shares her experience attending NCUWM:
“Super packed schedule conference- I absolutely love it! Thank you so, so much! There are 250 students here from 113 schools. WWU got a shoutout for being the furthest north (from Nebraska).”
Mathematics Department General Fund
In addition to travel, the Math Department General Fund helps support many essential needs in our department:
- Fun educational and community building activities such as the screening of "Counted Out," a hard-hitting documentary that shines a light on math as the foundation of democracy and economic opportunity. 
- Computer hardware and professional specialized mathematical software necessary for research and for preparing our students for technical careers.
- Materials for our math education lab, where future teachers learn mathematics content and pedagogical practices in an active learning environment.
- Support for activities of our student ambassador. Building community and helping students feel like they belong in the math program has been high on our priority list. Our ambassador has been hosting inclusive events and engaging with students across multiple STEM programs. The positive impact of these community-building events has been encouraging to see. More information about the College of Science & Engineering’s Student Ambassador program can be found here.
- Support for activities of student clubs and the Math Center, where students can get tutoring in calculus and more advanced math classes from the Math Fellows, outstanding undergraduate students who play a critical role in the department.
- Support for research visits and guest speakers.
Please consider donating to the Math Department for WWU Give Day 2025 to show our students that you believe in them and are invested in their success.
To find out more about what the Math Department has been up to, check out our most recent Newsletter.
