Maciej Piwowarczyk
Doctoral Student in Mathematics @ UNL
As An Educator
Associate Convener @ UNL
First-year math courses at UNL are directly overseen by a faculty convener and graduate student associate convener. The purpose of these positions is to provide support for instructors, especially those teaching for the first time, and to provide a uniform experience across sections of the same course. The support for instructors includes...
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Technical support on managing their Canvas pages.
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Teaching advice for situations that come up in class.
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Weekly group meetings highlighting common issues and upcoming tasks.
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Classroom observations and a follow-up discussion.
Me at the Haymarket Memorial
Chicago Quarter Mentor @ DePaul
All students that come through DePaul University take a "Chicago Quarter" course in their first quarter. Each course is run by teaching team consisting of a faculty instrutor, staff professional, and a Chicago Quarter Mentor (me!). These courses were intended to acquaint first-year students with urban life, DePaul's Vincentian mission, and a Chicago-related topic of the faculty's choosing. As part of my role as a CQM, I
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Served as a general resource for students in the course, including providing regular check-ins.
- Led the classroom during the Common Hour sections, which focused on exploring identity, transitioning to college life, and connecting to DePaul.
- Worked with the same faculty instructor that led my own Chicago Quarter course (shout-out to Dr. Colleen Doody!)
As A Student
Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB) Member @ UNL
GSAB fulfills a few different purposes, including being a connection between the graduate students and faculty and staff of the UNL Math Department. We organize department events, bring student concerns to the department leadership or support students who are doing so themselves, and assist the department with recruitment events for both faculty and students. Some projects that I have been involved with include...
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The yearly Housing Survey, which provides incoming or prospective students with up-to-date and relevant info on what living in Lincoln looks like.
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The creation of a GSAB Handbook to aid future boards with timing, priorities, and reminders as well as to maintain a record of GSAB's efforts.
UNL Discrete Seminar (DisCo) Organizer
The UNL Discrete Seminar is a professional space where graduate students and faculty from several universities can present on their current research, topics relevant to their research interests. My role as co-organizer included finding speakers, providing speakers with support before and during their talks, and moderating talks. Perhaps most importantly, my co-organizer Kirsten Morris and I were the ones to dub the seminar as "DisCo." Though "Dis" certainly stands for "Discrete," there is much discussion about what "Co" stands for (my money is on "Coding Theory" :) ).
Honors Student Government President @ DePaul
DePaul's Honors Student Government provides a sense of community at an urban university with a largely commuter population. Over the course of two years I served in the roles of Social Event Organizer, Vice President, and eventually President. I was elected to each position by the Honors student body and most importantly ran for President on a platform focused on servant leadership. Some of my accomplishments in that role include...
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Passing several revisions to the organization's constitution, providing clearer definitions of each member's role on the board.
- Redefining the first-year positions, allowing for more direct involvement on their part and more support for senior positions.
Outside Academia
MathPath Senior Staff Assistant
After four summers of being a counselor, I spent my fifth summer at MathPath in a parallel position: Senior Staff Assistant. Though this role was primarily meant to support the various directors of MathPath, I had a lot of freedom to work on my tasks and support the camp in whatever ways I could. This allowed me to take advantage of my four summers of being a counselor and support the counselors directly as well. This was strictly not a managerial role, but there were moments when part of my duties involved assigning tasks to counselors, such as when tackling the massive task of packing up after camp.
MathPath Counselor
For four incredible summers I got to work as a counselor at MathPath, a summer math enrichment camp for students aged 11-14. Two of these years were online, during which I had my own group of kids to check in with, build a group identity with, and support as they attended classes and plenaries. The other two summers, I was a floating counselor, which meant that I didn't have a fixed group, but rather I supported other counselors by taking care of their groups on days off or being on call to help with emergencies. During these four summers I also taught breakouts on Graph Theory and contributed several Problems of the Day!
Panels I've Been On
UNL Inclusive Teaching Practices (Postponed, TBD)
Focus: Experiences in a self-study on inclusive teaching practices
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DePaul Alumni Panel (Nov. 2024)
Focus: Experiences in a math PhD program
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UNL Experienced GTA's Panel (Aug. 2024)
Focus: Teaching as a graduate teaching assistant during your first year in a math PhD program
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DePaul Alumni Panel (Apr. 2023)
Focus: Post-graduation experiences with a math degree