2003 Metcalf Award Winners

Robert L. Devaney

“Rarely does the enthusiasm of any one person reach into so many spheres with such a high level of success,” a former student said of the impact Professor Robert L. Devaney has had on the world of mathematics education over three decades. Classroom lectures at Boston University, more than 1,100 lectures to audiences in all 50 states and six continents, workshops, textbooks, films, and Web sites have been his chosen vehicles to drive home understanding of complex dynamical systems.

Renowned for his pioneering use of technology in teaching, Professor Devaney has directed the National Science Foundation’s Dynamical Systems and Technology Project since 1989, which helps high school and college educators use technology to more effectively teach modern mathematics such as chaos, fractals, and dynamics. In 2002 he was the first mathematician to win the NSF Director’s Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars, for contributions to enhancing undergraduate education. He was named teacher of the year by the Mathematical Association of America in 1995.

“Teachers all over the country look to his ideas and innovative use of technology in the classroom to improve their own teaching,” a former student now a college professor said of the teaching software Professor Devaney created and shares with the educational world via his Web site.

On the Boston University faculty since 1980, Professor Devaney earlier taught at Northwestern University, Tufts University and the University of Maryland. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He now lives in Boston.

Ann Howard Jones

“She possesses not only the tools to craft a precise and moving sound, but the wit and intelligence to move a choir to a single purpose, a single sense of a piece,” a student said of Ann Howard Jones. “Her eloquence provides the necessary frame of mind, emotion and concept to produce a brilliant choral sound.”

That sound has been the hallmark of Professor Jones since she joined the Boston University faculty in 1993. A protégée and colleague of the late Robert Shaw, she helped found all four choirs of the College of Fine Arts and conducts the University’s Symphonic Chorus, its Chamber Chorus, and the Tanglewood Institute’s chorus.

Her recognized expertise in conducting technique, rehearsal procedures and performance practices keeps her in high demand globally as a lecturer and clinician, and as a guest conductor of festival choruses, all-state choruses and honor choruses.

“My hope is that my teaching, both in the classroom and in the concert hall, will transmit my respect for the musical gift of the composer, the musical talents of the performers, and the experience of the audience,” Professor Jones said of her musical mission. “My goal is to make my energy and my enthusiasm for excellent musical performance transparent and contagious.”

Over a career launched after earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Iowa, Professor Jones has taught at universities in seven states, served as a musical emissary to Germany and France, been a Fulbright Fellow to Brazil, held master classes across the country, and led more than 20 all-state choruses. She now lives in Brookline, Mass.