This is an exciting time to study math at Kenyon. We are initiating innovative programs (like the scientific computing concentration), we're expanding our expertise in mathematical biology, we're continuing to provide research opportunities for students, and we're working in new facilities.
The new Rutherford B. Hayes Hall offers a computer-equipped classroom, a library to house the Finkbeiner Collection of mathematics books, research space for both students and faculty, and plenty of student study areas.
Teaching is our top priority. We make a conscious effort to use hands-on, interactive teaching methods. All of our introductory courses are taught in a computer-equipped classroom where each student has a workstation. Computer simulations, animations, visualizations, and investigations are common in all levels of our mathematics courses. We have also built our mathematics curriculum around the fact that communication—speaking, listening, reading, and writing about mathematics—is essential.
Class sizes are very small. The upper limit in all of our introductory courses is 25 students. The enrollments in intermediate courses vary from 10 to 15. At the upper level, you may be in courses with fewer than eight students.
Faculty members are engaged in their fields—and it shows in the classroom. They're curious, respected scholars working in intriguing areas, from probability and statistics to number theory to coding theory. More about our faculty...
Our students have been successful here at Kenyon and beyond. Amy Wagaman, Class of 2003, co-authored a paper titled "On the classification Periodic Turtle Sequences" with Associate Professor of Mathematics Judy Holdener, which appeared in The International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences in June of 2003. This paper was the result of a summer research project funded through Kenyon's Summer Science Scholar program. Amy also presented her statistical work "Extending Rank-Based Test Procedures for Interaction to a General Two-Way Layout" at CUR's Undergraduate Research Poster session on the Hill in April of 2003, and many of our students have given research presentations at regional and national meetings for the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society.
FOUR recent math majors have won Barry M. Goldwater Fellowships (Lindsey Bleem in 2003, Amy Wagaman and Lisa Maurer in 2002, and Matthew Buckley in 2001), and we are proud of our students' performances in the regional Five Colleges Contest, a national modeling contest, and the William Lowell Putnam Exam. Each year, our students win fellowships and assistantships to attend graduate programs in mathematics and statistics. Some go on to medical, law, and business schools, and many students go to jobs with prestigious firms, such as McKinsey and J.P. Morgan, immediately after graduation. More about life after Kenyon...
The department is a close-knit, welcoming group. Faculty are happy to support independent projects—we've seen students research mathematical models for tree growth and spider webs, decision theory, visualization, dynamical systems, Gödel's theorems, number theory, random walks, and other areas of mathematics. At the social level, students and faculty enjoy eating lunch together every Thursday, and we periodically plan picnics, pot-lucks, and movie-nights together. Other joint activities have included: singing in the choir, juggling, running, golfing, painting, cooking, star-gazing, and playing cards.