Background

The seed funding for this endowment is provided by Elias Toubassi, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at The University of Arizona.

Elias Toubassi earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Lehigh University in 1970 and became a mathematics professor at the University, where he served for 37 years. Throughout his career at the University, Elias Toubassi pioneered and supported a number of innovative initiatives aimed at improving the conditions for students to embrace and succeed in mathematics. He received a number of grants including two multi-year awards from the National Science Foundation and a FIPSE grant from the Department of Education. The grants were aimed at training programs for K-12 teachers and students in the Tucson area.

One of Elias Toubassi’s most notable legacies was the highly valued and critically impactful Teaching Co-Op Program—an exchange of college instructors and high school teachers effectively designed to demystify and streamline the high school to university transition in the Tucson area. During his 30-year tenure as Associate Head for Entry-Level courses, Elias Toubassi also led other grant-funded and University-sponsored efforts, including the Teaching Postdoctoral Fellows Program launched in the 1990’s. Both the Co-Op Program and the Teaching Post-Doc Program served as national models for similar efforts. After retiring—through two endowed scholarships—Elias Toubassi has continued to recognize the value of mathematics teaching and learning for students in general, and mathematics undergraduate majors in particular, including prospective high school teachers.