Deborah L. Ball Receives AWM's 2009 Louise Hay Award

February 4, 2009

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has awarded the 2009 Louise Hay Award to Deborah Loewenberg Ball for her contributions to mathematics education. The prize was given in early January during the Joint Mathematics Meetings, in Washington, D.C.

The annual award honors Louise S. Hay (1935-1989), who headed the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, in Chicago. Louise Hay made significant contributions to mathematical logic, provided strong mathematical leadership, and was committed to nurturing the mathematical talent of young women and men.

Deborah Ball is dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. The award recognized Ball for her research into the mathematics needed by elementary school teachers, her ability to communicate mathematics to children and others, and her effective national and international leadership.

"Over the last decade, Deborah has been extraordinarily effective in promoting real collaboration and communication," Deborah Hughes Hallett of the University of Arizona noted. "In countless presentations, videotapes, and live demonstrations, she has displayed the insight a mathematics educator brings to an elementary school classroom." Hallett received the 1998 Louise Hay Award.

One of Ball's primary research interests is the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching (MKT). Her investigation into what MKT is, how it may be measured, and how teachers' knowledge of it impacts the learning of children are providing a foundation for reforms of the mathematics education and development, according to the AWM. Among her many endeavors, Ball headed the subgroup on teaching of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, and she chaired the ICMI Study 15 on the Professional Education and Development of Teachers of Mathematics.

Source: Association for Women in Mathematics, Jan. 21, 2009.