Sloan Despeaux
Professor | Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC, UNITED STATES
Sloan Despeaux's research interests include the history of mathematics.
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Biography
Sloan Despeaux has called Cullowhee home since 2002, when she began her career at WCU.
Despeaux has taught a variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In particular, she has taught Freshman Seminars (on Fractals), Upper Level Perspectives (on the Scientific Revolution), and senior Capstone courses. She is cofounder of the North Carolina Network of Math Teachers’ Circles and is active in her local Smoky Mountain Math Teachers’ Circle.
Her research interests include the history of mathematics (especially the mathematics, mathematicians, and scientific journals in nineteenth-century Britain). Recently, she has been engaged in a research project on the early 20th-century mathematician, Oswald Veblen. This project involves around 20 scholars, including historians of mathematics, mathematicians, a philosopher of mathematics, and a historian of economics.
She is part of the PatriMaths : Patrimoines et patrimonialisations des mathématiques (XVIIIe-XXe) project sponsored by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Her role in this four-year project focuses on how encyclopedias in 18th- and 19th-century Britain described mathematics of the past.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Mathematics Education
History of Mathematics
Mathematics
Scientific Revolution
Nineteenth-century British Mathematics
Education (3)
University of Virginia: Ph.D., Mathematics
Florida State University: M.S., Mathematics
Francis Marion University: B.A., Mathematics
Links (1)
Media Appearances (2)
NSF grant totaling more than $1.4 million helps jumpstart WCU Smoky Mountain Noyce Scholars Program
WCU Stories online
2024-11-04
The past three years have been busy for Sloan Despeaux, professor in Western Carolina University’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and her colleagues. Getting a grant to fund the Smoky Mountain Noyce Scholars Program took lots of meetings, lots of data collection — and lots of waiting. Getting the thumbs up from the National Science Foundation took a bit longer than expected, but their patience was rewarded.
State math teachers group presents award to faculty members
WCU Stories online
2019-12-10
Sloan Despeaux, professor of mathematics, and Nathan Borchelt, associate professor of mathematics, were recently presented the council’s Innovator Award for their work in establishing and sustaining the N.C. Network of Math Teachers’ Circles.
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