Dr. Carolyn A. Maher Receives NCTM Lifetime Achievement Award

The Rutgers Graduate School of Education (GSE) is pleased to announce that Dr. Carolyn Alexander Maher, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning, is the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). This award honors Members of NCTM who have exhibited over 25 years of achievement in mathematics education at the national level.  

Dr. Maher’s research agenda has focused on longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of student’s mathematical reasoning and argumentation. She was inspired to attend to the needs of learners, to uncover their untapped potential, and to examine how students learn to reason and develop intellectual curiosity.

As a prior high-school teacher and college math professor, she was fascinated by how learners build strong understandings—and ways of reasoning—mathematical ideas. Over three decades, this exploration and study led to more than $16M in research grant awards from the National Science Foundation and other sources.

“I am honored to be recognized by the NCTM with this Lifetime Achievement Award and am grateful for the collaborators who have been with me throughout my professional journey. I am deeply appreciative of the New Jersey schools, teachers, and families who invited us over decades to study students’ learning mathematics. I have been privileged to work with an outstanding group of graduate students from the beginning of our research program. I also owe a debt of gratitude to colleagues throughout the United States and abroad with whom I’ve collaborated extensively to produce original research and make available a valuable video collection that is helping us translate research into effective practice,” says Dr. Maher.

As this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Dr. Maher will be recognized during the Opening Session of the NCTM’s 2022 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Los Angeles, California. Following the Opening Session, Mathematics Education Trust will be hosting a Celebration Reception to honor and celebrate Dr. Maher.

Congratulations Dr. Maher on this extraordinary achievement. On behalf of the entire GSE faculty and staff, thank you for all of your contributions to the field of Mathematics Education!