Monte Boisen

Monte Boisen, who has taught mathematics at Virginia Tech for 31 years, has received four Certificates of Teaching Excellence, the Wine Award, the Arts and Sciences Diversity Award, and the Xcaliber Award, among many others. As Mathematics Departmental Coordinator for Minority Recruitment and Affairs, he founded the Association of African-American Mathematicians at Virginia Tech, which engages in a variety of efforts to recruit and retain minority students. He has taken a leadership role in transforming the Math Emporium so that, in the words of his colleague Bud Brown, "it places the student in the centernot the machines, not the material." Dr. Boisen says, "Our ability to support the success of students is greatly dependent on the degree to which we value their individual diferences. If all we mean by wanting diversity on this campus is for there to be a lot of isolated people with diverse backgrounds, then we have achieved diversity on paper, but we will never really mature as a University. If, on the other hand, we learn to value the ways people are different--to incorporate their dreams, their talents, and their goals into the fabric of the University-- then we have an opportunity to make this an exciting place, a place where all students and faculty have an opportunity to grow." As one former student says, "I continue to recommend Dr. Boisen without any reservation. He is truly a marvel among college professors."