Shirley M. Frye

Shirley M. Frye (née Urban)[1] is an American mathematics educator. She is the former president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics[2] and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.[3]

"Shirley Frye" redirects here. Not to be confused with the wife of Henry Frye.

Education and career

Frye has a bachelor's degree from Thiel College (1951) and a master's degree from Arizona State University.[4] At Thiel College, one of her mentors was mathematics professor Nathan Harter.[1]

She worked for 40 years as a mathematics teacher, retiring in 1991.[5] In 1965 she hosted an educational television series on mathematics, on the Arizona State University channel KAET.[6]

Service

She first joined the board of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1973,[3] while working for the Scottsdale Unified School District in Arizona,[7] and she served as president from 1988 to 1990.[3] Under her presidency, the NCTM issued a report calling for more emphasis on reasoning over rote learning in primary and secondary school mathematics education,[8] for the incorporation of calculators into classroom work,[9] and for greater connections to everyday practical problems.[10] She was quoted in Reader's Digest as dismissive of innate mathematical ability in mathematics, saying "anyone can achieve confidence in math if properly instructed".[11]

Frye was president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics from 1981 to 1983.[2] She also served on the Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Research Council, and as part of that service helped author a series of primary-school mathematics textbooks.[3]

Recognition

Thiel College named Frye as their distinguished alumnus of the year in 1976.[12] The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics gave Frye their Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award in 1986.[2] Frye was the inaugural recipient of the Louise Hay Award of the Association for Women in Mathematics, in 1991.[13][14] She won the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.[5][14]

References
  1. Tributes, The Thiel Fund, retrieved 2018-11-23
  2. Gallery of Ross Taylor / Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Awardees, National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, retrieved 2018-11-23
  3. Shirley M. Frye Biography, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, retrieved 2018-11-23
  4. "MAA Prizes Awarded in San Francisco", Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 38: 198, 1991
  5. 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Shirley M. Frye, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, retrieved 2018-11-23
  6. "Modern math explained on new series", Phoenix Gazette, p. 47, March 20, 1965
  7. "Scottsdale teacher runs for math post", Arizona Republic, p. 4, February 10, 1973
  8. Kolata, Gina (April 2, 1989), "Math is only new when the teacher doesn't get it", Ideas & Trends, The New York Times
  9. Vobejda, Barbara (March 22, 1989), "New formula offered for teaching math", Washington Post
  10. Curry, George E. (March 22, 1989), "Educators: Make math practical", Chicago Tribune
  11. Appelbaum, Peter Michael (1995), Popular Culture, Educational Discourse, and Mathematics, SUNY Press, p. 92, ISBN 9780791422694
  12. "Thiel Homecoming Events", Greenville Record Argus, October 14, 1976. See also "Alumni Awards", Physics Today, Thiel College, 14 (1): 54, 1961, Bibcode:1961PhT....14a..54., doi:10.1063/1.3057336, retrieved 2018-11-23.
  13. Hay Award: Past Recipients, Association for Women in Mathematics, retrieved 2018-11-23
  14. Case, Bettye Anne; Leggett, Anne M., eds. (2005), Complexities: Women in Mathematics, Princeton University Press, p. 151, ISBN 9780691114620
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