Texas A&M University Professor Emerita of Mathematics Sue Geller has been selected to the 2023 class of Association for Women in Mathematics Fellows in recognition of her lifetime dedication to creating more equitable opportunities for women as well as an inclusive, supportive environment for all within the mathematical sciences.
Geller is one of 13 nationwide members of the organization’s sixth overall class of fellows, celebrated Friday (Jan. 6) at the AWM Reception and Awards Presentation in conjunction with the 2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings, held Jan. 4-7 in Boston. Each was presented with a certificate.
Geller was nominated for the prestigious honor by Sarah J. Greenwald, a professor of mathematics at Appalachian State University and a 2020 AWM Fellow. Individually and collectively, each of the six AWM Fellows classes is lauded as extraordinary researchers, mentors and educators whose commitment to supporting and growing women across the mathematical sciences is praised by their students and colleagues alike, according to the AWM website.
“I am very happy to announce the 2023 list of new AWM Fellows,” said AWM President Kathryn Leonard. “We recognize these individuals for their exceptional dedication to increasing the success and visibility of women in mathematics.”
The AWM Fellows Program was established in 2017 by the AWM Executive Committee to recognize individuals who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to the support and advancement of women in the mathematical sciences. The Fellows epitomize the mission of the AWM, which is to create a community in which women and girls can thrive in their mathematical endeavors, and to promote equitable opportunity and treatment of women and others of marginalized genders and gender identities across the mathematical sciences.
Geller was cited “for her extensive and effective support of women in mathematics through research, publications, teaching, outreach and mentoring; for addressing microaggressions via both public awareness and private mentoring; and for her long record of leadership and service related to women in mathematics in professional societies.”
“I was amazed at how many people, mostly but not all women, came up to me [in Boston] to tell me how much my mentoring had helped them and to update me on their career,” Geller said. “A lot of these comments included something akin to or literally, ‘I would not be where I am today without your help/advice.’ I feel that, not only is my career outside of research validated, but also that I am validated as a kind and helpful person. I'm still floating.”
Geller, who holds both a master’s and a doctorate from Cornell University, joined the Texas A&M Department of Mathematics faculty in 1981 as its first female associate professor and also has held a joint appointment in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences for nearly 30 years. In addition, she served as the longtime director of the Honors Program in Mathematics, which she established in 2004 as the first such department-level program across the campus.
“I convinced then-Director Ed Funkhouser and University Honors to add departmental honors and allow all colleges to have honors programs,” Geller said. “Thus, Math was the first departmental honors program in the university. I ran it for 13 years while mentoring many of the undergraduates in the program and lots out of the program. Since I worked New Student Conferences every summer from 2004 to 2017, I gained many mentees and advisees through them.”
Known to students as Dr. Sue, Geller has supervised more than 100 master's students and has mentored an uncountable (although finite) number of undergraduates. Her extensive mentoring career started with students at Purdue University as an assistant professor, continued at Harvard University while on a research professorship, and hit its stride at Texas A&M, where she has mentored both undergraduate and graduate students as well as many faculty members. In recognition of her pioneering efforts, the Mathematics Undergraduate Research Lecture was renamed in 2018 in her honor as the Geller Undergraduate Lecture Series, which provides an avenue for undergraduates to interact with leading researchers from outside Texas A&M who have also demonstrated a deep interest in and capacity for student mentoring.
As the first and only female full professor in Texas A&M Mathematics for many years, Geller has mentored all of the female assistant and associate professors in the department along with many of the lecturers and even those in other departments and colleges across the campus.
“I mentored women and men,” Geller added. “I mentored all the tenure-track and many of the academic professional track women in the Texas A&M Math department, until I turned the job over to those I had mentored when I was close to retirement. I also mentored female faculty across campus through the Women's Faculty Network.”
Beyond a published research record that features material on both abstract algebra and biostatistics, Geller’s legacy includes a transformative effect on both the people and the pedagogical mission of the Department of Mathematics. In addition to founding the honors program, she helped put into place a specialized track of the master’s degree program in mathematics intended for prospective teachers, writing several of the courses as well as an open-source book with fellow Texas A&M mathematician Harold Boas that still is in use today.
Geller’s exemplary record of innovative teaching and effective mentoring — student and faculty — has been recognized with numerous awards, including the University Honors Program’s Director's Award (2012), the Texas A&M Women’s Faculty Network’s Outstanding Mentoring Award (2013), the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America’s Ron Barnes Distinguished Service to Students Award (2014) and the Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Student Relations (2015). She is an active member of the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society and the Association for Women in Mathematics, where she has served in a variety of officer and committee capacities, from career development and employment opportunities to science policy and strategy. Geller also is a member of the American Statistical Association and the International Society for Computational Biology and a popular invited speaker on myriad topics, including curriculum development, communication in mathematics and women and minority mentoring.
“I wrote and co-directed skits that were performed at the Joint Mathematics Meetings from 1990 to 1994 — new skits each year,” Geller said. “They were done to raise awareness of the way women were mistreated, often unintentionally. We called them microinequities, but now, they would be called microaggressions. I like microinequities better because there isn't the implication of intentional harm. Every skit was based on a true event.”
When it comes to her takeaways from Boston and imparting wisdom gleaned in sum throughout her more than 50-year career in academia, Geller continues to advise as follows:
- “Something that may be a small kindness/helpfulness from you may make a huge difference to the person you help. They add up over a long time and can make the world a better place, one person at a time.”
- “Kindness/helpfulness given often returns a hundredfold, possibly years later.”
- “People I helped have helped others, proving that kindness/helpfulness has a way of multiplying as people pass it on.”
Well said and done, Dr. Sue.