Noted Civil Rights Leader

Robert P. Moses, Ph.D.

by Staff reports

A two-day summit on the importance of Math Literacy will be presented by Mission Health & Hospitals and the University of North Carolina at Asheville Wednesday and Thursday, February 27 and 28, 2008. Both the Department of Mathematics and Multicultural Student Programs at UNC Asheville are involved. Educators, community leaders, and professionals working with children of all ages are encouraged to attend.

The summit, entitled “Math: The Liberating Art,” will open with a free public lecture by noted Civil Rights leader and MacArthur Fellow Robert P. Moses, Ph.D., to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 27 in Lipinsky Auditorium at the university. Moses will discuss the Algebra Project, a successful program he founded to help inner city and rural children succeed in algebra and college preparatory mathematics.

On Thursday, February
28, a business breakfast for community leaders will be held at 7:30 am
in Highsmith Union at the university. It will be followed by a series
of workshops from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. These will focus on Math Literacy
and its connections to workforce development, social justice issues,
media literacy, and health and financial decision making.

Math Literacy, (also called numeracy), includes arithmetic skills,
mastery of basic statistical concepts, problem solving skills, and the
ability to communicate effectively in quantitative terms. It an
essential skill in today’s highly competitive, technology-driven world.

“Math affects every one of us every day,” says Samuel Kaplan, Ph.D.,
associate professor of mathematics at UNC Asheville. “Things like
pricing decisions at the grocery store, determining the right
medication dose for a child, or understanding how interest rates on
credit cards affect our personal finances — all involve math skills. We
are using this summit to focus the community’s attention on the issue
of math literacy and its importance in developing a competitive,
healthy workforce.”

Improved math literacy would directly benefit Asheville’s growing
health care industry, according to Joseph F. Damore, President and CEO
of Mission Health & Hospitals, which is sponsoring the event.

“Math literacy is a critical skill in virtually every area of the
hospital and in physician practices,” he said.

“Yet too many bright
people of all ages struggle with even basic math concepts and skills.
We hope this conference will help our community understand that basic
math literacy is just as important to the men and women who make up our
workforce as the ability to read and write. We hope that our community
will make the commitment to ensure that all students today graduate
with math literacy. It will make them better able to compete in the job
market, and it will help them manage their personal finances more
successfully.”

Dr. Kaplan and the Department of Mathematics at UNC Asheville began a
community outreach program last year called the Asheville Initiative
for Mathematics (AIM). Its goal is to improve Math literacy among
students, teachers, parents and all other residents of Asheville and
Buncombe County.

For more information on the math summit and workshop topics, contact
Dr. Kaplan at (828) 232-5192, or register at www.unca.edu/aim.