Mathematics and Physics
Faculty
Chair: Kelly Smalenberger
Professor: Rajive Tiwari
Associate Professors: Igor Strugar
Assistant Professor: Kelly Smalenberger, Ashley White, Chad Estabrooks
Department Mission: The Mathematics and Physics Department endeavors to help students understand those disciplines as integral parts of the liberal arts and sciences. We seek to provide all students with an understanding of mathematical language and ideas, which will enable them to better handle abstract reasoning and quantitative manipulation more effectively. We also strive to give our students an appreciation of the fundamental laws that reflect the order and beauty of the physical world. In so doing, we acquaint them with the amazingly beautiful results the language of mathematics achieves when used to express the patterns found in the natural world—which are, in Catholic thought, manifestations of divinity. By holding our students to the highest standards, we prepare them to pursue advanced studies and careers with discipline, integrity, and virtue. We recognize that the qualities we want students to emulate are best taught by our setting the example through our own conduct. Since an outlook rooted in the understanding of Mathematics and Physical Science is crucial in assessing many of the issues facing the world today, we strive to give our students the tools of critical analysis that will enable them to participate in public discourse as responsible citizens and to promote the common good.
Departmental Goals: Students who acquire a B.S. in mathematics will be well versed in the fundamentals of various branches of higher mathematics. They will be suitably poised to pursue graduate studies or to begin a professional career in the many fields that employ personnel with mathematical training. The B.A. in Mathematics offers students a more diverse program of study, consistent with the aims of liberal arts education. With a greater choice of free electives, the mathematics major appeals to a broad spectrum of students with varying interests.
The department strongly encourages mathematics majors to complete a minor in an area of interest. This exposes students to the commonalities between mathematics and other bodies of knowledge and equips Mathematics majors to pursue interdisciplinary graduate studies or careers anchored in Mathematics.
The department also offers mathematics courses for non-majors to help students achieve proficiency in both theoretical and applied mathematical thinking. The minor program introduces the basics of higher-level mathematics for students seeking an enhanced mathematical foundation. In addition to intellectual enrichment, a better grasp of mathematical reasoning helps students mature into members of society who possess the quantitative means to make sense of, function in, and act upon the world they inhabit.
The department also offers physics, and physical science courses designed to teach students the essential laws and principles that explain and/or predict a wide variety of natural phenomena. These courses impart the empirical and conceptual methodologies that define scientific epistemology. An understanding of physical laws sheds light on the building blocks of the natural world and, as such, is helpful in understanding all animate and inanimate systems encountered in other branches of science. The content and methods taught in these courses help to mold a mindset capable of using a rational framework for questioning received wisdom and formulating new ideas.