| This year's T³ Leadership Awardees are Babs Merkert, retired teacher from Oconomowoc, WI and Dr. Gregory Foley, Director, Liberal Arts and Science Academy of Austin, Austin, TX.
Dr. Greg Foley
Dr. Greg Foley is a magnet school administrator, mathematics educator, textbook author, and consultant, who promotes the appropriate uses of technology for mathematics teaching and learning at all levels but especially in Grades 6-14. Dr. Foley has been principal or co-principal investigator on over 30 funded projects totaling over $2,000,000. He was a co-principal investigator on the Calculator and Computer Precalculus (C²PC) Project-an internationally acclaimed curriculum development and teacher enhancement effort. This project developed the first graphing calculator-based high school and college textbooks, which Foley coauthors. The books are now in their sixth and fifth editions, respectively, with new editions in press. In another ongoing aspect of this project, Foley is Lead Instructor and Editor of the Teachers Teaching with Technology Precalculus institutes offered throughout the United States.
Dr. Foley has presented some 200 papers, talks, lecture-demonstrations, workshops, and institutes throughout North America and in Europe, many of these focusing on effective instructional uses of handheld technology. His research interests are in incorporating technology into mathematics curriculum and instruction for enhanced student understanding of algebra, geometry, functions, calculus, and discrete mathematics and in using inquiry-based methods in conjunction with representational tools and models in order to enhance student understanding of mathematical concepts and relationships. This includes the use of graphing calculator investigations to help students establish cognitive connections among algebraic, graphic, and numeric representations of functions and the use of interactive, dynamic geometry software and computer algebra software to allow students access to structural explorations of geometry and algebra.
In 1981, Foley married Jolinda Franklin of Houston. Their daughter, Megan Kathleen, was born in 1982, and their sons, John David and Andrew Gregory, were born in 1985 and 1987, respectively. Dr. Foley reads, writes, and speaks Spanish and has traveled to 45 states as well as Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
Babs Merkert
After teaching for 27 years, Babs Merkert retired from the mathematics classroom a year ago. However, she returned this fall to replace a high school teacher on medical leave, and she admits that getting that graphing calculator in her hands is still a great feeling!
Babs received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Purdue University and a Master's Degree in Computer Science Education from Cardinal Stritch College. She was a teacher in the Waukesha Public School System for 27 years, teaching everything from Applied Mathematics to PASCAL and AP Calculus. She has received several awards including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching (1991), and the Tandy Technology Scholar's Award (1997). Babs was also one of 80 teachers originally piloting the Demana-Waits Precalculus book as well as one of the original 12 teachers writing Precalculus materials - editor for Precalculus and then Algebra 2 materials. As a member of many revision teams for T3, she's written many institute materials.
Married to Tom (for 40 years!) with 2 children and 3 grandchildren, Babs and her husband, a retired engineer, recently moved near a small lake outside of Milwaukee. They are hoping that their daughter, an art teacher, their three grandchildren, and their son, a doctor in Denver, will visit often.
Congratulations Greg and Babs!
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