Dave Kung Joins Dana Center as Director of Math Advocacy and Strategy

The Charles A. Dana Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Dave Kung has joined the team as Director of Math Advocacy and Strategy. His first official day with the Dana Center was March 25.

In his new role, Kung will partner with Center founder and executive director Uri Treisman and incoming managing director Dr. Elisha Smith Arrillaga to enact the Center’s mission of ensuring that all students—particularly those who have traditionally been underserved—have equitable access to an excellent math and science education. 

“I have profound respect for Dave's leadership in equity-minded mathematics education,” said Treisman. “We've worked together on many projects over the years, and in every case, I've benefited from his wisdom. I am thrilled that Dave will now lead our mathematics work at the Dana Center.”

Kung currently serves the higher education mathematics community in several roles. At Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics (TPSE-Math), co-founded by Treisman, Kung serves as the Director of Strategy and Implementation. For the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), Kung also directs Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching), the math community’s premiere professional development program for early-career professors – a role he will continue as part of his Dana Center work. Kung was recently awarded the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, the MAA’s highest award in college math teaching, for his work at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a public honors college outside Washington, D.C. 

“Mathematics currently serves as a barrier to success for far too many students — especially those from certain zip codes—those with more students of color or more students from low-income backgrounds. To reach our true potential as a society, we must work with math educators and at the systems level, innovating what math we teach and how we teach it,” said Kung. “The Dana Center is a leader in education innovation, and I am thrilled to be joining its already incredible team.”

Part of Kung’s new role will be to lead the Dana Center’s higher education team and to support its collaborations with state agencies and professional associations of mathematicians to ensure that the next generation of STEM professionals reflects the full diversity of our society.

About the Dana Center 

At the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin, we are passionate about ensuring all students—including those who are Black, Latinx, or Native American, or who come from low-income backgrounds—have access to an excellent math and science education. We believe every student, from kindergarten through postsecondary education, deserves the same opportunity to experience the joy of learning mathematics and science that is relevant to their futures and that sets them on a path toward upward social and economic mobility. That’s why we work at every level of the education system—from local K–12 districts and two- and four-year institutions, all the way through statewide education systems and policy. Every day our staff bring this passion to life, with innovative ideas and research-based best practices in pedagogy, curriculum, instruction, and professional learning. We do so in a spirit of collaboration, innovation, and partnership, knowing that together, we can make a difference.