Joan M. Zoellner, M.A.

Dana Center Role

Joan leads the Launch Years Initiative, which seeks to usher in a new paradigm to support students with math pathways that are aligned to their goals. This work is currently taking place in 23 states, focusing on the last two years of high school and the first two years of postsecondary education. Joan’s leadership enables the member states to learn with and from one another so they can each develop and implement solutions that make sense within their unique contexts.

Joan also supports the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of innovative professional learning offerings in both virtual and face-to-face settings. She presents findings at national and regional conferences of professional mathematics organizations to inform the mathematics community about best practices in teaching gateway mathematics students.

Previously, Joan served as the project lead for the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative, a national initiative designed to dramatically increase the number of minoritized, low-income students enrolled in and completing corequisite supports based on sound, research-informed design principles. She also developed curricula for the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP), a transformative redesign to modernize entry-level college mathematics programs through working with states, systems, universities, and colleges. She has worked extensively with the development and revision of the DCMP’s courses: Quantitative Reasoning, Reasoning With Functions 1, and Reasoning With Functions 2.

Before Joining the Dana Center

Joan taught mathematics at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington for eight years. During her time at Clark College, she taught a range of pre-college math courses: College Algebra, College Trigonometry, Math in Society (Quantitative Reasoning), Finite Math, and Calculus I, II, and III. Joan created and facilitated several professional learning workshops, including a 10-week professional development course on how to incorporate active learning in community college classes. She also served on several campuswide committees and helped launch the math department’s pre-college math redesign process.

Education

• M.A., Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington
• B.A., Mathematics, Humboldt State University

Professional Activities

• Member, Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Subcommittee on Placement and Articulation, 2020–present
• Member, American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Developmental Math Anet and Pathways ANet, 2019–present
• Lead, Pathways Team, AMATYC Improving Mathematical Prowess and College Teaching (IMPACT) Standards Revision, 2022
• Member, Leadership Team, AMATYC IMPACT Standards Revision, 2022
• Member, Standards for Content, Standards for Pedagogy, Standards for Implementation, and Standards for Intellectual Development Teams, AMATYC IMPACT Standards Revision, 2022
• Co-chair, High-Quality Mathematics Education for Nurses Task Force, 2020–2023

Codeveloped and Cofacilitated Professional Learning

• Active Learning Classroom Demonstration (Workshop)
• Aligning Math Pathways to Programs of Study (Online or face-to-face collaborative webinar series)
• Continuous Improvement of Corequisite Supports (Online or face-to-face 1-day workshop)
• Creating Effective Corequisite Mathematics Classes (Online or face-to-face workshop)
• Deepening Student Understanding: Promoting Effective Student Discourse Through Active and Collaborative Learning (Focused Online Collaborative Interactions series)
• Redesigning the Pathway to Calculus (Online or face-to-face workshop)
• Strengthening the Classroom Experience: Creating Mathematical Tasks That Are Worthy of Collaborative Effort (Focused Online Collaborative Interactions series)
• What’s All This Fuss About Growth Mindset and Other Psychological Factors? (Online webinar)

Presentations

• Launch Years Initiative: State Progress Highlights in High School Math Pathways. Presented at the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics Annual Conference, Chicago, IL (September 2024).
• 50-State Scan of Mathematics Policy and Practice in Higher Education. Presented at the AMATYC Annual Conference, Omaha, NE (November 2023).
• Questing for and Questioning Calculus. Panelist at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference, Washington, D.C. (October 2023).
• Leading “Affective” Organizational Change: Lessons From Corequisite Math Implementation. Presented at the League for Innovation in the Community College Annual Conference, Tempe, AZ (March 2023).
• Recommendations Into Actions: Improving Math Education for Nurses. Presented at the AMATYC Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada (November 2022).
• Corequisite Math: Strategies to Address the Math Completion Equity Gap. Presented at the Washington State Guided Pathway Summer Cohort Retreat, Vancouver, WA (August 2019).
• Active Learning Tools That You Can Use on Monday. Presented at the National Association for Developmental Education Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA (March 2016).
• Guided Inquiry in Mathematics. Presented at the AMATYC 40th Annual Conference, Nashville, TN (November 2014).

Publications

• Zoellner, J., & Henderson, F. (2023). Emerging solutions: Calculus 1 corequisite support. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Ozimek, D., Kelch, B., & Zoellner, J. (2021). Convening recommendations: Math and statistics education for nurses. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Hughes, K. L., & Zoellner, J. (2019). Emerging solutions in mathematics education for nursing. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Hughes, K. L., & Zoellner, J. (2019). Mathematics for criminal justice: Recommendations from professional organizations and sample requirements from institutions of higher education. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Hughes, K. L., & Zoellner, J. (2019). Mathematics for social work: Recommendations from professional organizations and sample requirements from U.S. institutions of higher education. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Monse, D. J., & Zoellner, J. (2019). Mathematics for communications: Recommendations from professional organizations and requirements from the higher education sector. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.