By Caleb Wheeler | Staff Writer
In an effort to recognize women in mathematics education, the Association for Women in Mathematics bestows the Louise Hay Award annually — and this year, the honor was given to Dr. Trena Wilkerson.
Wilkerson, a professor of mathematics education at Baylor, said her position has placed her in leadership roles, mentoring roles and researching roles. She spent 18 years working as a high school math teacher before returning to college to receive her Ph.D. Since working at Baylor, she has become the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics — something she said was not part of her plan.
“[The council] has about 30,000 members, and I’ve been a member in it since I started teaching,” Wilkerson said. “I had always been active in it and been a member, and then eventually served on committees and eventually served on the board, and then I was elected president.”
Wilkerson has also served in other leadership roles in various mathematics communities, and she said the Louise Hay Award recognizes those efforts.
“[The award is] more recognition of what I’ve done and am currently doing, but it is elevated to a national level,” Wilkerson said. “And one of the great things about this award is it caused me to think about all the people who have mentored me to be able to be at this point in my career.”
Wilkerson said looking at the list of past recipients was a humbling experience, but while she felt she was out of place among the other names, her colleagues thought differently.
Dr. Sandi Cooper, another professor of mathematics education, has been working with Wilkerson at Baylor for 17 years and is one of the people who recommended her for the award.
“[Wilkerson] deserves to be among those greats,” Cooper said. “I feel like that’s why she was selected for the award. … [The Association for Women in Mathematics] saw the same qualities in her as they had in the other leading math educators.”
Cooper said Wilkerson has made a global impact on mathematics education throughout her career, and the award is a way of recognizing that impact.
“I just want people to know that a wonderful Baylor colleague of ours is really making a national and global impact,” Cooper said.
