In 2002-03, the mathematics department initiated the High School Calculus Class Visitation Project. The goal of this project is to visit each high school calculus class in the city of Tucson at least once per year. Ideally, a visiting team consists of three individuals, a faculty member or postdoc, a graduate student, and an undergraduate. One of the objectives of the visit is to present an interesting piece of mathematics that uses the current ideas that the students are studying in their calculus class The faculty/postdoc or graduate student presents this. The graduate student talks about his or her experience in graduating from college and choosing to pursue an advanced degree (emphasizing some of the projects that he or she was involved in). The undergraduate student talks about the many different experiences (research, travel, and work) that he or she has been involved in as an undergraduate mathematics major.

We also want the calculus students to think about taking more mathematics when they enroll at a university and hopefully, to think about majoring in mathematics. Towards this end, we talk about the departmental employment opportunities for undergraduate mathematics majors and we show the students a schedule of classes for mathematics majors at this university. This schedule of classes is important in that it shows students that majoring in mathematics does not require more than two mathematics courses per semester. This allows students to develop a program of study that includes other areas of emphasis. In fact, students who earn college credit for calculus in high school can complete the requirements for the mathematics majors in less than four years at the university.

Each year a member of the teaching staff is selected to organize these visits. Teachers who would like to arrange a visit to their high school calculus class should send an email message to Dr. William Vélez.

Visits in 2004

• Cholla Magnet — visited by Greg Hartman, Matt Beauregard, and Rene Bernal
• Pueblo Magnet — visited by William Velez and S. Martinez
• Santa Rita — visited by H. Nagahashi, Julia Arciero, and Ajit Divakaruni
• Tucson Magnet — visited by Nicholas Ercolani, Derek Habermas, and Rene Bernal
• University High — visisted by Larry Wright
• Amphitheater — visited by Bruce Bayly, Sarah Frey, and Rene Bernal
• Ironwood Ridge — visited by H. Nagahashi, Silvia Madrid, and Rudolf Geissler
• Ironwood Ridge — visited by Bruce Bayly and Rene Bernal
• Ironwood Ridge — visited by H. Nagahashi, Erin McNicholas, and Rudolf Geissler
• Salpointe — visited by H. Nagahashi, Erin McNicholas, and Daryl Wieneke