Department of Mathematics

The Department of Mathematics offers a BA degree in mathematics and a BS degree in mathematics. By choosing from available electives, students can specialize in specific branches of mathematics or pursue a concentration in a related field such as financial mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, or applied and computational mathematics. In all degree programs, students receive a sound preparation for graduate study.

The Department of Mathematics offers the master of arts degree with options in mathematics and mathematics education, the master of science degree in applied statistics, a certificate in applied statistics, and the master of science in mathematics applied and computational concentration.

The Department offers four accelerated, 3+2 undergraduate/graduate programs for capable and motivated students. These programs allow students to complete their baccalaureate and Master’s degree in five years comprised of three years of undergraduate study followed by two years of graduate study.

Links to pages with further information about all the programs offered by the Department of Mathematics, both undergraduate and graduate, may be found on the programs page.

Feel free to visit the Mathematics Learning Center (link to the web page under the picture of the Mathematics Department building) located in UNA 124, for mathematics resources and tutoring.

News and Updates

  • The mathematics department is offering two shadow days on 10/17 and 11/6 for prospective students to attend classes, meet with faculty, and learn more about our programs. Please use the to sign up.
  • Actuarial Interview Day 2024 Success - The 7th Actuarial Career Fair, held from August 26 to September 25, was a great success. Ten companies participated, and 18 Math/Stat students applied. Nine students secured interview opportunities, with those who had passed at least one SOA/CAS exam receiving multiple offers.
  • As a complement to the Actuarial Interview Day, Dr. Xu hosted an engaging actuarial recruiting event on September 25, 2024, the
    AmeriHealth Caritas Recruiting Event
     at WCU
  • Eliza Zimmerman Receives
    Actuarial Science Award
  • Dr. Jeremy Brazas and Dr. Rosemary Sullivan represented the Mathematics Department at the on Monday 9/23/2024.
  • The Department of Mathematics
    14th annual integration bee
    was held on April 17, 2024. Thanks once again to Professor Mike Fisher for organizing this event. Thanks also to Professor Lin Tan for being event photographer.
  • The West Chester University Department of Mathematics
    37th Annual Awards Ceremony

    Press Enter to add more content

    was held at in Penn Oaks on November 19th, 2023.
  • Professor Brian Bowen has been awarded a Provost’s Enrollment Planning Investment grant (PEPI) to develop his project, the Establishment of the Mathematics Learning Center.
  • Professor Kim Johnson appeared on an ODLI podcast on May 3rd 2023, where she discussed "Using H5P to Support Inclusive and Equity-Minded Course Design". Listen to the podcast here.
  • Dr. Michael J. Hirsch (West Chester University of Pennsylvania alumnus with a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science, '96) received the West Chester University Distinguished Alumni Award on
    April 29th 2023. Here is a video of Dr. Hirsch's acceptance speech (best watched full screen).
  • The Department of Mathematics
    13th annual integration bee
    was held on March 29, 2023. Thanks once again to Professor Mike Fisher for organizing this event. Thanks also to Professor Lin Tan for all the great pictures that he took, can be viewed on this Shutterfly page.
  • Professor Kim Johnson of the Mathematics Department was The People’s Award Winner at the recent technology showcase held by The Office of Digital Learning and Innovation at West Chester University. Professor Johnson received the award for her presentation Creating Equity with h5p Activities , and here is a short video of Professor Johnson discussing the content of the presentation.
  • The West Chester University Department of Mathematics
    36th Annual Awards Ceremony
    was held at in Penn Oaks on November 13th, 2022.
  • There have been several recent updates to the Student Research Page, including details of recent student publications and student presentations at the CSM Research Poster Session in May 2022 and Research and Creative Activity Day at the end of April 2022.
  • Professor Laura Pyott received the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award at the meeting of the WCU Council of Trustees on May 19th 2022. A big thank you to Scott McClintock for putting that nomination together. Congratulations Laura!
  • Dr. Viorel Nitica (deceased) was granted emeritus status at the meeting of the WCU Council of Trustees on May 19th 2022. Thanks to retired professors Frank Grosshans, John Kerrigan, and Paul Wolfson for putting the nomination together.
  • The Department of Mathematics
    12th annual integration bee
    (delayed by two years due to covid) was held on April 14, 2022. For the third year running, there a separate category for BC Calculus students from local schools.
  • Long-delayed due to disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the second issue of the math. dept.'s Math Times has finally seen the light of day (March 27th 2022).
  • If you are an incoming freshman (starting at West Chester University in academic year 2022-2023), intending to major in Mathematics or another STEM field, follow the link for information an NSF S-STEM Scholarship opportunity.
  • The West Chester University Department of Mathematics 35th Annual Awards Ceremony was held at in Penn Oaks on November 14th, 2021.
  • Professor Kim Johnson is co-chairing the 43rd Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA 43). West Chester University is an official sponsor of the conference, which will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 14-17, 2021. This will be the first time it will be held in Northeastern United States since 1989. Here is the conference flyer. UPDATE: Professor Johnson was also one of the editors of the conference proceedings.
  • Professor Lisa Marano was recently appointed as the College of the Sciences and Mathematics
    Associate Dean
    beginning August 2021.
  • Professor James Mc Laughlin has been selected to receive the 2021
    Trustees Achievement Award
    .
  • Eric Boerman (graduate student, Applied and Computational Concentration (A&C) Program, working with Professor Chuan Li) won 1st place for his oral presentation in the Research and Creative Activity Day held on Thursday 4/29/2021 (see the Promotional Flyer). Mathematics graduate students Mick Bauer and Henry Brown, also working with Professor Li, presented in this Research and Creative Activity Day also. Congratulations to everyone for their excellent work.
  • Some students of Professor Chuan Li presented posters at the CSM Research Poster Session, on Tuesday 4/27/2021. Rex Llewellyn (graduate student, Applied and Computational Concentration (A&C) Program) presented a poster and Khanh Pham (graduate, A&C program) and Katherine Peltier (undergraduate, A&C BS), presented another poster. Congratulations to all of them for their excellent work.
  • Congratulations to our May 2020 graduates who had their Commencement Day on Sunday April 25th 2021 (delayed due to covid 19). Special congratulations to 
    Angela Bussanich
    who was chosen as Commencement Speaker for the Undergraduate College of Science and Mathematics May 2020 Ceremony.
  • Students interested in a scholarship opportunity should visit the WCU S-STEM Scholarship Program page for more information and to submit an application.
  • Professor Emily K. Miller of the Mathematics Department is co-PI on a recently awarded NSF grant of nearly $1 million to provide scholarships for low-income, STEM-intending students.
  • The 34th Annual Awards ceremony was not held in person due to the pandemic. However awards were still given - here is the list of recipients and the program.
  • Mathematics major 
    Elias Nebiyou
    (double majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics) has been elected President of the Student Government Association for the 2021-22 academic year.
  • The 2020 Tournier Ethics Research Award has been won by mathematics major Julia Edwards.
  • On March 4, graduate students in Applied Statistics participated in STEAM night at Hillsdale Elementary School in West Chester.
  • West Chester University Department of Mathematics 33rd Annual Awards Ceremony was held on November 17, 2019.
  • On October 19th, West Chester University hosted a Preservice Teacher day of Mathematics. This event was co-organized by Dr. Brian Bowen, Dr. Kim Johnson and Dr. Emily K. Miller, with sponsorship from PCTM and PAMTE.
  • On Friday, September 20, WCU and Arcadia University hosted the
    3rd Joint Actuarial Science Career Fair
    .
  • Dr. Lisa Marano of the Mathematics Department (along with Drs. Rodney Mader and Shannon Mrkich, English, and Dr. Josh Auld, Biology) was named one of WCU’s First Mission Makers for the work they have done in developing and implementing the First Year Experience program at WCU.
  • Are you interested in participating in the Beta Alpha Psi & Wipfli Ethics Case Competition? Follow the link for more information and to register.
  • Dr Andreas Aristotelous has been awarded additional funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Mathematical Science (DMS), programs in Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Biology. These funds are in support of the third year of his grant, awarded after successful evaluation of his annual progress report. His grant award now totals 100,115.00 dollars.
  • View some pictures of Mathematics Department students who graduated in Spring 2019, and who attended West Chester University's 146th Commencement Ceremony.
  • The Department of Mathematics
    11th annual integration bee

    was held on April 10, 2019. For the second year running, there a separate category for BC Calculus students from local schools.

  • Updated information about the Masters of Arts Program in Mathematics, including upcoming course offerings.
  • Upcoming in Summer 2019 - Graphing Technology Institutes for mathematics and science high and middle school teachers.
  • West Chester University Department of Mathematics 32nd Annual Awards Ceremony was held on November 4, 2018.
  • EPaDel's Fall 2018 meeting was held November 3, 2018 at West Chester University.
  • The inaugural edition of the Mathematics Department's newsletter, Math Times, has just been published.
  • WCU hosted a
    Math and Actuarial Science Career Fair

    on Friday, September 21, 2018.

  • Two students of Dr. Allison Kolpas, graduate student 
    Lane D’Alessandro
    and undergraduate student 
    Jeremy Budgeon
    , presented posters at the Evolution in Philadelphia Conference (EPiC) on Saturday, September 8th at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
  • Dr Andreas Aristotelous gave an invited 
    talk
    Mini Symposium Title: Recent Advances of Phase Field Models in Life Science
    Talk Title: Unconditionally energy stable DG-FE schemes for diffuse interface models
    Recorded Talk/slides: https://www.pathlms.com/siam/courses/8687/sections/12382/video presentations/115285
    (follow the link to access the slides and recording of the talk) at the SIAM Life Sciences 2018 Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aug 6-9, 2018.
  • WCU is hosting a Math and Actuarial Science Career Fair on Friday, September 21. Students must register by September 6. Visit Actuarial Career Day for more details and registration information.
  • Dr. Allison Kolpas, mathematics, recently co-authored a 
    paper
    “Optimal Mating Strategies for Preferentially Outcrossing Simultaneous Hermaphrodites in the Presence of Predators” in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
    with
    Corin Stratton
    Corin Stratton was an undergraduate researcher in mathematics at the time the paper was written and is currently in the MA in Mathematics program at WCU.
    and Dr. Josh Auld, biology; see https://rdcu.be/4ikr. Corin was supported by an NSF RUI Grant that Dr. Auld and Dr. Kolpas share.
  • Professors Chuan Li and Lisa Marano are local organizers for the upcoming MAA EPaDel meeting which will.be held at West Chester University on November 3, 2018.
  • Professors Gail Gallitano and Shiv Gupta have published a book, Topics in Number Theory.
  • Undergraduate student Kelli Johnson won 2nd place in the Social Sciences and Mathematics Division at the 2018 CSM Poster Day held on Friday April 27, 2018. Here is Kelli's poster.
  • Professor Mark McKibben is ;the 2018 recipient of West Chester University's Distinguished Sponsored Research Award.
  • Professor Laura Pyott has been awarded a development grant of $2000 from The Committee for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) to fund her project “Taking the Political Pulse of WCU Students.”
  • Benjamin Plumridge
    , a graduate student of Dr Andreas Aristotelous, won 3rd prize at the Spring 2018 CSM Poster Session held on April 27 2018. Here is Ben's poster.
  • West Chester University Department of Mathematics professor Dr. Lisa Marano joins the Board of Directors of the Mathematical Association of America as Chair of MAA Committee on Sections. Dr. Marano began her term on February 1, 2018, and will serve in this capacity until 2021. Here is a brief 

    biography of Dr. Marano

    issued by the MAA at the time of the announcement of her appointment. A big congratulations to Lisa.

  • The Department of Mathematics 2018
    integration bee

    was held on April 11, 2018. This year there a separate category for BC Calculus students from local schools.

  • The 2018 Pi Mu Epsilon induction ceremony was held on April 5th, 2018.
  • There is a new summer program in the Cayman Islands for West Chester University students.
  •  
    Benjamin Plumridge
    , a graduate student of Dr Andreas Aristotelous, won first prize at the All Science Research Poster Session held on December 8th, 2017.
  • The second Conference for Pre-service and First year teachers,
    Promoting Excellence in Mathematics Education
    , will take place on April 21, 2018.
  • Professor Jimmy Mc Laughlin has published a book, Topics and Methods in q-Series.
  • The Department of Mathematics 31st Annual Awards Ceremony was held on September 24, 2017.
  • Professor Andreas Aristotelous was awarded an
    NSF grant 

    on July 1 2017.

  • Benjamin Plumridge , a graduate student of Dr Andreas Aristotelous, has been accepted to the Industrial Math/Stat Modeling Workshop for Graduate Students – July 16-26, 2017.
    This is a prestigious and selective program, with only 30-40 graduate students from the USA (sometimes from outside the USA) accepted each year.
  • The Department of Mathematics 2017
    Integration Bee
    was held on April 12, 2017. Pizza and fun were had by all.
  • The 30th
    Mathematics Scholarship Awards Banquet
    was held on Saturday, 5 November, at the Foundation.
  • The Department now offers a Master of Science Degree in Mathematics - Applied and Computational Concentration.
  • Graduate Course Schedule going forward from Fall 2015.
  • Mathematicians have the best jobs - read the article in the Wall Street Journal