Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a program sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) to aid in the professional development of mathematicians, statisticians, and mathematics educators after they receive their PhDs. It involves workshops and lectures on teaching, academic research, academic scholarship, and professional activities. The participants in the program are called Project NExT Fellows or sometimes Dots, and the program also provides ample networking opportunities for them. Each fellow is also provided with a consultant, who serves as a mentor for them.
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History
Project NExT was founded by James (Jim) Leitzel (Ohio State University) and Chris Stevens (Saint Louis University). The first fellows were selected in 1994. Jim Leitzel died in 1998, and Aparna Higgins (University of Dayton) and Joe Gallian (University of Minnesota Duluth) became co-directors of Project NExT. Chris Stevens stepped down as director in 2010, and was succeeded by Aparna Higgins. Judith Covington (Louisiana State University, Shreveport) and Gavin LaRose (University of Michigan) first served as Associate Co-Directors and later became Co-Directors. In 2007, the total number of fellows surpassed 1000. By 2012 the total number of fellows reached 1400.
Selection of fellows
The program is aimed at faculty who are in their first or second year of a full-time teaching position after receiving their Ph.D. Fellows are selected based on an application, including a short curriculum vitae, a research statement, and a teaching statement expressing interest in the program. The application also requires a letter from the applicant's department chair guaranteeing funding to attend several conferences. The number of selected fellows depends on funding. Currently, about 100 are selected each year.
The program
Project NExT is a professional development program for college-level faculty interested in teaching. The program provides workshops and an electronic mailing list for its members. Fellows participate in MathFest during the year of their selection and the year after, and in the Joint Mathematics Meeting in the January after their selection as fellows. Each fellow is also assigned a consultant outside of their own institution. NExT fellows organize several sessions at the Joint Meeting and MathFest, on topics of their choosing.
Affiliation with other professional development organizations
The national Project NExT program is strongly affiliated with Section NExT programs, which are run by local sections of the MAA, and involve many of the same activities. Section NExT fellows can also participate in the national workshops.
Project NExT is also strongly associated with the Young Mathematicians Network.
Dot colors
Every year a group of fellows is selected, the cohort is assigned a color, and thereafter wears a sticker (or dot) of that color to national mathematics meetings of the MAA. There are seven colors for the stickers, so cohort seven years apart have the same color sticker, although they are assigned a different name. Colors are frequently chosen according to the location of MathFest in the year of selection (for example, the peach dots first meeting was in Georgia, and the Brown dots first meeting was at Brown University). The colors since inception of the program are listed in the following table:
The color yellow is reserved for Section NExT fellows.