Hortensia Soto is a Mexican–American mathematics educator, and a professor of mathematics at Colorado State University. In May 2018, she was appointed Associate Secretary of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Early life and education

Soto was born in a sod house in Belén del Refugio, part of the municipality of Teocaltiche in Jalisco, Mexico.[1] Her family moved to a farm near Morrill, Nebraska when she was one year old, and she grew up in Nebraska.[1][2][3][4] Her talent for mathematics was encouraged in elementary school and recognized in high school; already at that age she was called on to act as a substitute mathematics teacher.[3]

She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in mathematics education from Chadron State College in Nebraska, earned in 1988 and 1989 respectively. She earned a second master's degree in mathematics at the University of Arizona in 1994, and completed Ph.D. in educational mathematics at the University of Northern Colorado in 1996.[5]

Career

Soto worked at the University of Southern Colorado from 1989 to 1992 as director of the Mathematics Learning Center. In 1995, she became an assistant professor of mathematics at the university, earning tenure there as an associate professor in 2001; the university became known as Colorado State University–Pueblo in 2003. In 2005 she moved to the University of Northern Colorado, taking a step down to become an assistant professor again. She was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and to full professor in 2014,[5] before moving to Colorado State University as a professor of mathematics.[6]

At the University of Northern Colorado, Soto founded and directed a summer program for high school girls, Las Chicas de Matemáticas: UNC Math Camp for Young Women, from 2008 to 2014,[2][3][7] and returned to rural Nebraska to participate in a teacher education program there, Math in the Middle.[3] She is a fellow of Project NExT, and has been governor of the Rocky Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America.[2] She is also a principal investigator of the Embodied Mathematical Imagination & Cognition project.[8]

She has a long association with the MAA and has been increasingly involved with its governance.[9] In May 2018, she took over from Gerald Venama as its Associate Secretary.[10]

Recognition

In 2001, Chadron State College gave Soto their Distinguished Young Alumni Award.[4]

In 2012, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) gave Soto their Meritorious Service Award.[2][5] She was the 2016 winner of the Burton W. Jones Distinguished Teaching Award of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA,[11] and one of the 2018 winners of the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.[1]

She is included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the Association of Women in Mathematics.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "2018 MAA Awards" (PDF), Mathematics People, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 65 (5): 605–606, May 2018
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Hortensia Soto", Board of governors, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2021-01-08
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Hortensia Soto", Latinxs and Hispanics in the Mathematical Sciences, 2019, retrieved 2021-01-08
  4. 1 2 Chadron State to honor four alumni, Chadron State College, September 25, 2001, retrieved 2021-01-08
  5. 1 2 3 Curriculum vitae (PDF), University of Northern Colorado, retrieved 2021-01-08
  6. ↑ "Faculty", Department of Mathematics, Colorado State University, retrieved 2021-01-08
  7. ↑ Silvy, Tyler (June 10, 2015), "University of Northern Colorado math camp for local Latinas called off due to lack of funds", Greeley Tribune
  8. ↑ "The EMIC Team", Embodied Mathematical Imagination & Cognition, retrieved 2021-01-08
  9. ↑ "Hortensia Soto". Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  10. ↑ "MAA Thanks Outgoing Associate Secretary, Welcomes New Officer to Role". Mathematical Association of America. August 22, 2018. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  11. ↑ The Burton W. Jones Distinguished Teaching Award, MAA Rocky Mountain Section, retrieved 2021-01-08
  12. ↑ "Mathematicians of EvenQuads Deck 1". awm-math.org. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
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