Dr. Tina Straley assumed her present position as Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America in January 2000. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from Auburn University, concentrating in combinatorics and universal algebra. Prior to graduate school at Auburn, Dr. Straley taught high school mathematics for one year and taught at Spelman College, in Atlanta, for one year.
After spending two years on the mathematics faculty at Auburn University, Dr. Straley joined the mathematics department at Kennesaw Junior College (now Kennesaw State University). She rose through the ranks--from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to Full Professor to become Chair of the Department of Mathematics and then Associate Vice President for Scholarship and Graduate Studies.
During her tenure at Kennesaw, Dr. Straley spent one year Emory University as Visiting Research Associate and two years at the NSF as Program Officer for Mathematics and Coordinator of Teacher Preparation in its Division of Undergraduate Education.
Dr. Straley has authored research papers in combinatorics and graph theory; has written articles and reports on undergraduate mathematics education and the mathematical preparation of teachers; and published government reports and NSF documents. Dr. Straley has participated in proposal writing teams and has worked as PI and co-PI of major grants, including FIPSE; NSF support of Earth Algebra; and NSF support of the MAA Partnerships: Interdisciplinary Workshops for Undergraduate Faculty project.
Most of Dr. Straley’s professional activities, however, have been devoted to the MAA. These include serving as Newsletter Editor and Chair of the MAA’s Southeastern Section and chairing its committees; co-hosting the Atlanta MathFest summer meeting; working on the Editorial Board of the MAA’s Notes series and serving as its Editor; as a member of the Program Committee for the 2000 Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C.; as chair of the Program Committee for the MathFest 2000 meeting in Los Angeles; and as a member of the MAA’s Committee on Publications.