Agenda

Monday, March 9, 2026 

12:30 p.m. – 12:40 p.m. Opening Remarks

  • Katherine Newman, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, UC Office of the President  

12:40 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Session 1: Keynote – Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education 

In this keynote, Carl Wieman revisits ideas on STEM reform advanced more than two decades ago and examines their continued relevance today. Moderated by Michael Dennin, a contributor to the 2025 NASEM report Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education, the session connects longstanding research on effective instruction with current national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education, focusing on what it takes to move evidence into practice. 

Speaker:  

  • Carl Wieman, Cheriton Family Professor and Professor of Physics and of Education, Emeritus, Stanford University 

Moderator: 

  • Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education, UC Irvine 

2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Break

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Session 2: Designing for a Changing Landscape of Math Reform

Calls for math reform are not new, but they have taken on renewed urgency in the wake of the pandemic and amid rapid shifts in STEM education and careers. Panelists will discuss successful models implemented across the U.S., including Texas’ “Top Ten Percent Law,” and ask how lessons from those approaches apply today, when so much is in flux. 

Panel: 

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Moderator: 

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3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Break

3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Session 3: California’s K-16 Math Ecosystem 

California’s educational context is distinguished by its unique governance model and by the sheer size of its system and the diversity of students it serves. This session highlights UC’s deep ties to the K-12 system and the programs and structures in place to promote alignment and collaboration. 

Panel: 

  • Kyndall Brown, Executive Director of the California Mathematics Project 
  • Mayya Tokman, Faculty Director, CalTeach, and Professor, Applied Mathematics, UC Merced 

Moderator: 

  • Claudia Martinez, Associate Vice Provost, Educator Programs, Graduate, Undergraduate, and Equity Affairs, UC Office of the President  

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Session 4: From Preparation to Pathways: Designing Introductory Math at UC 

UC campuses have pursued a range of approaches to introductory math. Drawing on perspectives from across the system, this session examines how campuses are rethinking preparation, placement, and curricular structure, and how local views about the causes and consequences of current challenges shape those choices. 

Panel:

  • Alan Garfinkel, Professor of Integrative Biology, Physiology, and Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles 
  • Pedro Morales-Almazán, Associate Teaching Professor, Mathematics, UC Santa Cruz
  • Gireeja Ranade, Assistant Teaching Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, member of the UC Berkeley Task Force on Math Preparedness 

Moderator:

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10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Session 5: Breakout Sessions 

Track 1: UC Professors of Teaching: Change agents in the classroom 

UC’s Professor of Teaching series reflects a distinctive faculty model: disciplinary scholars with deep content expertise whose primary focus is undergraduate instruction. In this breakout session, panelists discuss how this role is structured and used across UC campuses—particularly in relation to STEM reform—and share evidence of how Professors of Teaching influence instructional change within their departments.

Panel: 

  • David Quarfoot, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Math, UC San Diego 
  • Bob Pelayo, Associate Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, UC Irvine 
  • Sara Lapan, Faculty Co-Director for CalTeach, UC Riverside, and Principal Investigator  of the California Science Project Statewide Office, and Associate Professor of Teaching, Mathematics, UC Riverside 
  • Mike Wilton, Associate Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education and Associate Teaching Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, UC Santa Barbara 

Moderator:  

  • Robin Dunkin, Faculty Director, Teaching and Learning Center, UC Santa Cruz 

Track 2: Math: Gatekeeper to a STEM career? 

Over the past decade, UC has significantly broadened access and increased the diversity of its graduating classes, yet introductory STEM courses—calculus in particular—remain key points of attrition, often reflecting differences in prior educational experience. This session examines how structural features of math curricula shape opportunity and how departments can design introductory pathways that support persistence, improve learning, and expand participation in STEM from the start. 

Panel: 

  • Angelica Stacy, Professor of the Graduate School, College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley  

Moderator:  

  • Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education, UC Irvine 

Track 3: Funding and Sustaining Innovation at UC 

Instructional innovation requires time, staffing, and resources: faculty need space to redesign courses, test new approaches, and pay undergraduate and graduate students involved in instruction. This session examines how UC faculty have leveraged competitive grants to launch innovations in introductory math and the challenges of sustaining and institutionalizing those efforts once initial funding ends. 

Presenters: 

Moderator: 

  • Lark Park, UC Regent, and Director, California Education Learning Lab, Governor’s Office of Research and Planning  

Track 4: Transfer Pathways 

Much of the conversation about math preparation and innovation centers on students entering directly from high school, yet mathematics plays an equally critical role in transfer pathways. Bringing together partners from across segments, this session examines how math prerequisites can both support and constrain community college students pursuing STEM, and what it takes to build clearer pathways from high school through transfer and on to UC. 

Panel: 

  • Michal Kurlaender, Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of Education Policy, UC Davis, and Co-Director, California Education Lab, and Faculty Director at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
  • Virginia May, Visiting Executive and Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

Moderator:  

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Closing Remarks