On Nov. 13, Mississippi State professor Michael M. Neumann became one of 45 to be honored by the prestigious Council for Advancement and Support of Education professor of the year award. Selected out of 380 nominees, Neumann received the award based on some of the innovative and cooperative approaches to teaching that he has introduced into his calculus and honors calculus classes. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education presented the award to Neumann. CFAT is located in California, while CASE is located in Washington, D.C.
According to Neumann, one of the innovations that he is most proud of is introducing computers into his curriculum and classroom. Using a specialized software package, students may use the computers to do graphing and computations that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, by hand.
Students in Neumann’s classes work with the computers on a series of projects that forces them to utilize the skills and knowledge that Neumann teaches in the classroom.
“In traditional math courses, students are assigned homework that doesn’t take very long to perform and is not very challenging to the students,” Neumann said. “It was important to me that my students be challenged, and that is one of the reasons that I introduced these projects as well as the exit interview process into my classroom.”
According to Neumann, the exit interviews, which take place after the completion of each project, were initially designed to evaluate each student’s understanding of the material and project as well as their contribution to it. However, Neumann said that this is no longer the case.
“As time went by, it occurred to me that the students really wanted to talk about the project, their problems, what they thought about it and so on,” Neumann said. “It is my belief that the students get much more from these projects as well as the exit interview process than they could from any 50 minute exercise that could take place in the classroom environment.”
Travis Jones, a sophomore currently enrolled in one of Neumann’s calculus classes said, “Dr. Neumann is a really great teacher; he definitely knows his stuff. Although his class is one of my most difficult, I feel that he is better preparing me for what’s ahead as far as my major is concerned.”
Neumann, who is the fourth professor within Mississippi State’s department of arts and sciences to have received this award within the last six years, came to the university in 1989.
Prior to teaching at Mississippi State, he taught at the University of Saarbrucken where he received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. He also taught for a time at the University of Essen as well as the California Institute of Technology and the University of California at Los Angeles before coming to State.
However, the CASE award, although definitely being among the most prestigious, is not the first award given to Neumann in recognition of his excellence as a teacher. In the past, Neumann has received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the University Honors Program, Outstanding Lower-Level Teaching Award from the University’s Alumni Association, and a Faculty Research Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Furthermore, in addition to teaching, Neumann has also penned over 70 different papers for several national and international journals. Moreover, last year he co-authored “An Introduction to Local Spectral Theory,” which was published by Oxford University Press.
“I think that it is excellent that an MSU professor won this award,” says senior Jackie Bost. “This shows that we have a highly trained and excellent faculty here at State.”<</p>