Max Warshauer Honored As A 2010 Piper Professor

San Marcos, TX - May 4, 2010

Max Warshauer, Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Mathematics faculty member, has been named a Piper Professor for 2010 by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation.

Warshauer was named a Piper Professor on May 3 in honor of his dedication and service to teaching at the collegiate level. Piper Foundation honorees are chosen by committee members who look for well-rounded, outgoing teachers, devoted to their profession and have made a special impact on their students and the community.

"I love teaching. It's a way to give back to others and it's very satisfying to watch the students grow and develop and realize the contributions they can make," Warshauer said. "I have fun working with students, my colleagues and people in general. Teaching is a very special thing and very rewarding.

"I don't regard teaching as a job, rather, it's something I love to do. I get to spend time talking about ideas, looking at problems and working with students and colleagues," he said. "That's one of the great joys of working at a university--the freedom to teach and work on our own projects, and getting to combine the two."

Warshauer joined the Texas State faculty in 1979 and began the Math Project in the San Marcos Public Schools from 1984-1988. This program was designed to prepare young students for algebra. He founded the Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) in 1990, and has taught the Number Theory course each summer. He began the Math Camp Endowment in 1991 to permanently support this program.

In 1996 Warshauer extended the program to include younger students by founding the Junior Summer Math Camp (JSMC). He developed this into a replicable model and included teacher training in 1997, and founded the Math Institute for Talented Youth (MITY) to coordinate all the programs. In 2001, Warshauer changed MITY’s name to Mathworks, stressing the expanded mission of this institute in making math work for all students as well as teachers.

"Teaching is working with students, and helping them to develop and realize the amazing things that they can do," Warshauer said. "To me, it's a very exciting thing, because I get to watch the students develop confidence, persistence and the ability to solve problems they may not have realized they were capable of solving."

In 2008, Warshauer was honored with the Regents’ Professor Award by the Texas State University System Board of Regents exemplary performance and contributions in teaching, research and publication. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring in 2001. He was the recipient of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Texas Section Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics Award, 1999; the Everette Swinney Faculty Senate Teaching Award in 1996; and received the Texas State Mathematics Department Outstanding Teacher Award in 1995.

A native of North Carolina, Warshauer earned his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1973 and completed his Ph.D. in mathematics at Louisiana State University in 1979.

Warshauer is the 18th Texas State professor to be named a Piper Professor. Other Texas State Piper Professors have been Emmie Craddock, 1962, history; Robert Galvan, 1968, modern languages; Thomas Brasher, 1970, English; Dan Farlow, 1975, political science; Clarence Schultz, 1976, sociology; Henrietta Avent, 1979, health and physical education; Robert Walts, 1982, English; Beverly Chiodo, 1988, computer information systems and administrative sciences; Barbara Hatcher, 1993, curriculum and instruction; Michael John Hennessy, 2001, English; Nancy Fehl Chavkin, 2002, social work; Paul Nathan Cohen, 2003, English; James David Bell, 2004, business; Byron Dale Augustin, 2005, geography; Christopher Frost, 2006, psychology; James Housefield, 2007, art and design; and Brock Brown, 2008, geography.