Professor assists education reform

By Chris Ledermuller
Daily Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach math professor Robert Mena decided to take a break from teaching in hopes of playing a role in reforming education.

Mena left Long Beach this summer for Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington D.C., to work for the National Science Foundation as a program director for its Division of Educational System Reform.

"I thought it would be interesting as a challenge, it gives me a chance to look at the whole educational system at the national level," Mena said.

Mena reviews and oversees hundreds of proposals submitted from school districts throughout the country.

The National Science Foundation awarded $90 million to school districts that could demonstrate thorough improvements in math and science curricula, he said.

"Our goal is to get school districts to do things better in science and math," Mena said. "The idea is to finance some catalytic conversion in a district. Any city that gets a reasonable proposal will get funded."

Cities that received funding include Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Oklahoma City.

"Long Beach [Unified School District] could qualify for one of these grants," he said.

Mena, who has taught at CSULB for 12 years, shares his expertise in math with the six other program managers, he said.

Although they work on proposals together, the others refer questions related to math programs to him because he was "the math guy," Mena said.

Arthur Wayman, chairman of the CSULB mathematics department, spoke of Mena's professional knowledge.

"His forte is history of mathematics, geometry and combinatorics, a study of how to count arrangements of objects," he said.

Although he enjoys his tenure at the National Science Foundation, he will return to teaching at CSULB next spring, Mena said.

"[My tenure] was for a year, but I have to cut it short," said Mena, citing the high housing costs in the Washington D.C. area as a factor in his return.

Wayman said the mathematics department is looking forward to Mena's return to teaching.

"Bob is highly respected by the students and he's a great teacher and nurturer," Wayman said. "He's one of the best instructors around."