In September 1953 Chairman of the Department of Mathematics, Stanley J. Bezuszka, SJ together with some members of the faculty of the department, conducted an experimental program with students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education. The purpose of the study was to develop an integrated two year precalculus-calculus course in mathematics, emphasizing structure and using an approach that would provide a solid foundation for the upper division course in advanced calculus. During the four year period of experimentation it became apparent that incoming freshmen had a background that was seriously lacking in fundamental concepts of contemporary mathematics. Most students were unaware of the structure of mathematics. They also had very little knowledge of the history of the subject. This observation led to an investigation of secondary mathematics programs. There was general consensus that the course of study needed revision but the move toward curriculum change at school level was not taken seriously until the Sputnik event that focused national attention on the problems in the schools and served as a catalyst for action.
In June 1957, just prior to the launching of Sputnik in October, the Mathematics Institute was officially established. Since then the Institute has conducted professional development programs for teachers at Boston College, in area school districts, and at other locations nationally and internationally. Commencing in the 1960s and continuing to the present, Institute Staff have written materials for teachers to use in courses with students at various grade levels in the middle-secondary range. The student experimental texts that were produced at the Institute in the 60s placed emphasis on the historical development of mathematics and the content emphasized problem solving.
The inaugural summer program for area teachers in July 1957 featured presentations by educators working under a national focus. They included Albert Meder, Executive Director of the Commission on Mathematics, Frank Verzuh, Assistant Director, MIT Computer Center, John Kemeny, Mathematics Chair, Dartmouth College and Max Beberman, Director of the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics. The goal of this initial workshop was to convince the teachers that significant changes in mathematics instruction were not only being seriously contemplated on the national level, they were already in development. It was especially through the liaison with Professors Kemeny and Beberman that the Mathematics Institute developed a strong master's degree program for teachers that focused on mathematics courses that would expand and enrich their knowledge of mathematics and enable them to better serve their students and society.
The Boston College Mathematics Institute through its Academic Year Institutes and combinations of Summer and Inservice Institutes offered veteran teachers the opportunity to both renew and update and to earn the nonresearch Master of Arts Degree in Mathematics. In addition, to accommodate the many teachers across the country who were remote from our campus and other campuses offering programs similar to ours, the Institute with support from the National Science Foundation initiated a distance learning program - entitled the Cooperative Unit Study Program, Courses 1 and 2 - which enabled teacher participants to study mathematics on their own, complete problem-solving assignments, and mail them to Boston College to get immediate feedback on the results. The content they worked on addressed elements of the history of mathematics, fundamental mathematical concepts, and topics anticipated for school level reform texts. The Institute continued to offer professional development programs as mathematics education on the national scene processed through periods of reform from the 'New Math' of the 1960s to the 'Back to Basics' movement of the 1970s to "Standards-based Curricula' of the 1990s.
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