PSU Magazine Winter 1992

• aste hen Mildred Bennett first heard about the "I Have A Dream" Foundation's promise of college tuition for the entire 1989 Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School fifth-grade cla s, her response was typical fo r this veteran PSU mathematics professor. "What good is a promise like that," she asked, "if the kids don't graduate from high school?" Knowing that math deficiencies are frequent stumbling blocks for children from under– privileged neighborhoods, Bennett, with an army of tutors pulled from the ranks of Portland State math classes, joined an after-school tutoring program for the "I Have A Dream" children. The following year, when an addi– tional fifth-grade class at the elemen– tary school was given the same promise, Bennett and her student tutors were there again, eventually following both classes on to Tubman Middle School. It was not the first time that Bennett, 70, has taken the mysteries of math into the Portland community. A one-person volunteer outreach team, the specialist in teaching statistic for non-math majors and math for elemen– tary school teachers has responded to education needs of street children, translated the intricacies of elementary math skills into board games that 16 PSU parents can play with their children, and taken cour es that were crucial for teacher's aide certification into poverty– level neighborhood . She als has set up an innovative "math lab" at Portland State University to serve as a resource for elementary, secondary, and middle school instructors throughout Oregon. Bennett is probab ly better known by students outside the mathematics department than by math majors. Her statistics classes for bu ine , p ychol– ogy, and soc ial work major and se– quence courses for elementary chool teachers are filled to overflowing with students who have learned that Bennett goes out of her way to make math easy to under tand. Bruce Jensen, chair of PSU's Mathe– matical Sciences Department, say that Bennett can always be counted on to advocate for tudent concerns. And the popularity of Bennett's classes has caused problems at times. One term, Jensen says, she had so many students packed into her classroom that the Fire Marshall issued a safety citation. The ticket, much to Jensen's chagrin , was made out to him. Bennett will retire in June 1992. But her service in the field of mathematics has not gone unnoticed. In August 1991, Bennett became the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Council of For 37 years, Professor Mildred Bennett has been taking the mystery out of math for students at PSU and in the community. By Eva Hunter Professor Mildred Bennett Teachers of Mathematics. The or– ganization has since named the award for h r, and it will be given each year to an out tanding mathematics educator. In 1986, Bennett was honored by Soroptimist International of Portland fo r her community work with min rities, and in 1966 she received a Mosser Award for excellence in the teaching field. A native of Portland, Bennett ays that he doesn't remember when she began to understand that she was good at mathematics-it wa something that always seemed to be there for her. After high chool in Portland, she graduated from Oregon State Univer– sity in 1942, just as World War II was