Obituary of Jean A. Schmittau

Dr. Jean Schmittau, Bartle Professor of Mathematics Education in the Graduate School of Education, died suddenly in her Candor home on Thursday, March 5. Professor Schmittau came to Binghamton University as Assistant Professor in 1987, the early days of the former School of Education and Human Development. In 1993, she was promoted to Associate Professor; in 2007, to Professor in the then-named School of Education (now the Graduate School of Education). She became a Bartle Professor in 2014. Her special interests were in educational psychology, cognitive development, and mathematics. Schmittau taught in the Master of Arts in Teaching/Mathematics program and in the Graduate School of Education’s doctoral program. Her classes were known as occasions where, as a colleague put it, “you had to bring your A game.” Professor Schmittau’s teaching career took root at Berea City School District, Berea, Ohio, where she was Mathematics Chair from 1972-1984. From Berea, she became Visiting Instructor at Cleveland State University in 1984-1985; during these years she earned her Master’s degree at Marquette University, where she had also done her undergraduate work (B.S. in mathematics and chemistry). In 1987, she accepted a teaching assistantship at Cornell University, where she was a member of the Committee on Special Educational Projects. She completed her Ph.D. at Cornell in 1987. Her time at Cornell influenced her profoundly, and she referred to her experiences there often with appreciation and pride. Schmittau published extensively on such topics as concept mapping, students’ development of algebraic thinking, gender issues in mathematics learning, and Vygotskian concepts and mathematical learning. In 1989, she was appointed to SUNY-Moscow State University Faculty Exchange Program, and in 1990 she was invited by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, then in USSR, to participate in joint research projects in Moscow, Tbilisi, and Volgograd. Subsequently, she published several articles in Russian scientific journals in addition to overseeing the translation of V. V. Davydov’s Russian textbooks. Schmittau presented her research widely, both across the United States and at conferences in Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, and Italy. A devotion to improving mathematics education characterized Dr. Schmittau’s career. She often presented at state conferences for mathematics teachers and was from 2003 to 2012 the lead mathematics educator for the Teacher Leader Quality Partnership program, a Title II professional development grant issued by New York State Education Department. Her teaching was subtle, inspiring, and ahead of its time; her pedagogical influence affected hundreds of mathematics teachers in New York State alone. She was nominated for the Presidential Award for Mathematics Teaching in 1984, and she won the Award for Outstanding Service from the Research Council on Mathematics Learning in 1999 and again in 2007. Professor Schmittau also served the profession by editing the international interdisciplinary Research Council on Mathematics Learning (RCML) journal Investigations in Mathematics Learning from 2008 to 2009 as well as its predecessor, Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, from 1989 to 2008. Burial will be in her family’s plot in Ohio, where friends from her Ohio teaching experience will hold a memorial service. The Graduate School of Education will commemorate Dr. Schmittau at the Twelfth annual Teacher Leader Quality Partnership Summer Institute in late June, where her former students will celebrate her teaching influence by demonstrating their favorite “Dr. Schmittau Lessons.”