Minnesota Council of
Teachers of Mathematics

NCTM Lifetime Achievement Award
Peggy House

At the NCTM Annual Conference, Dr. Peggy House recieved the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service to Mathematics Education. Dr. House has deep ties with mathematics education in Minnesota. The NCTM website says,

"Peggy House is nationally recognized for her dedication to improving mathematics education. She has mentored preservice teachers, edited and authored numerous books, articles, and reports and has made more than 230 mathematics presentations in the United States and abroad.

Throughout her career she has included students in her endeavors, several of whom nominated her for this award and noted that her encouragement of their participating in programs and presenting at meetings has had long-lasting, positive effects on their careers.

Peggy House has served NCTM as a member of the Board of Directors (1995-98), as an editor and contributor to a multitude of educational publications, as an active committee member, and as a planner for annual and regional conferences. Among her most notable contributions to the Council are her ongoing efforts as general editor of NCTM’s best-selling Navigations series. The series – which will include 35 books and CDs—is the largest and most ambitious in the Council’s history. House’s commitment to the Navigations Series will span more than eight years when the project is complete.

In addition to her service to NCTM, House was vice-president for mathematics education for the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1982-84). She was director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics at Northern Michigan University from 1993 to 2003, and she worked with NASA to develop the recently released series, Mission Mathematics II: Linking Aerospace and the NCTM Standards. She is currently a professor of mathematics at Northern Michigan University.”

A former colleague at the UMN wrote, “she had major responsibility for the organization and implementation of the pre-service program for second mathematics teachers. Through her leadership this program became an outstanding example of how to prepare secondary school mathematics teachers. Because of her effort and her role model image, more than half of he graduates from this program were female.”

The following are quotes from some of Peggy’s former students:
- “ To this day, Peggy is in mind every time I plan a course for future or practicing teachers of mathematics. She is my role model. I ask myself, what Peggy would do in a given situation to both teach and inspire her students, and then try to emulate her. And I am not alone; House-trained mathematics educators see Peggy as a role model for the kind of teaching and mentoring they want to do.”
- “We were forced to think about what it means to be an excellent teacher of mathematics, because in every class session we witnessed excellence. I learned to keep reading, keep studying, keep expanding my perspective. My writing improved in response to those purple pen editing notes from Peggy on my papers. Peggy kept her students focused on sound and significant mathematics accessible to all students, even before those phrases appeared in print in NCTM documents.”
- “As I reflect on my years in mathematics education, I’ve had the good fortune to be involved at a variety of levels and had the opportunity to try many new things in my career. It all started with you! I think you helped me to be a “risk taker” and as a result, I decided to tackle new and different challenges and I gained confidence in my ability to work with a wide variety of people. I’ve had many fabulous moments with students and all kinds of awards for my work. While all of the accolades are wonderful, it was the teamwork that meant the most and enabled me to accomplish the things I’ve wanted to do. I’ve had lots of support and encouragement from a variety of places, but you were the one who started it all. You were the catalyst and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

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