Candidate for
Trustee; West Valley-Mission Community College District; Trustee Area 1

Biography and Academic Vita for Wade Ellis

Before retiring after 30 years as a community college mathematics instructor, I taught over 6000 students at West Valley. I have devoted my life to teaching and to student growth and development.

I am an internationally known authority on the use of technology in learning and teaching mathematics. I have taught in a variety of educational environments including, a high school, the University of California at Santa Barbara, The Ohio State University, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. I possess a broad perspective on the nature of education and methods for improving student learning.

My expertise in mathematics instruction is validated by the many invited speeches and keynote addresses I have been asked to give at the local, regional, national, and international level for both two-year colleges and universities including at Harvard, the University of Michigan, the United States Military Academy at West Point, at small black colleges and at many California community colleges.

As a current Trustee I continue to have a passion for and dedication to education and improving student performance.

As a long-time member of the district faculty, I served as District Academic Senate President, College Academic Senator, member of architectural and technology committees, advisor to student clubs, and chair or member of master planning and chancellor search committees. In these various committees, I worked with the district community in the 1970s to address the budget issues arising from Proposition 13 and, early in this decade, to address the fiscal difficulties that almost led to massive faculty, staff and administrative layoffs.

I am the co-owner of a small, 25-year old publishing firm where I have managed the development of multi-million dollar textbook projects from concept to published book in conjunction with billion dollar publishing firms. I was the Treasurer of the International Olympiad, 2001 an organization that put on a $3 million mathematics competition for 80 countries. In that capacity, I was instrumental in acquiring a $700,000 donation from the Akamai Company.

Because of these experiences, I understand the budgeting process, especially educational budgets, and will be able to make the difficult decisions that will keep our district fiscally sound while maintaining the quality of education at our two colleges.

I enjoy the challenge of serving the District as a Trustee.

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Academic Vita

Wade Ellis, Jr., Trustee, West Valley-Mission Community College District

Education

• The Ohio State University---Columbus, Ohio, M.S. in mathematics, 1968.
• University of Michigan---Ann Arbor, Michigan, Graduate work in Education 1964-65.
• University of Oregon---Eugene, Oregon, Graduate work in mathematics and history 1963-64.
• Oberlin College---Oberlin, Ohio, A.B. in mathematics 1963.
• Phillips Academy---Andover, Massachusetts, Graduated with high honors in math and physics 1959.

• West Valley College: Mathematics Instructor 1975-2007; Mathematics Department Chair 1979, 1984; Director of Mathematics/Science Computer Lab., 1981-82; District Faculty Senate President, 1979-80.
• United States Military Academy, Visiting Professor, Fall 1994.
• University of California, Santa Barbara: Visiting Lecturer, Winter 1983.
• The Ohio State University: Graduate Teaching Assistant 1966-75; Visiting Lecturer, 1982.
• Collinwood High School: Mathematics Teacher, 1965-66.

• California Section of the MAA Distinguished College or University Mathematics Teaching Award, 2001.
• Mathematics Excellence Award, American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, 1996.
• Second Vice President, Mathematical Association of America, 1996-98.
• The Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, United States Army, 1995.
• Principal Investigator, NSF Graphing Calculator Faculty Training Grant, 1992-93.
• Hayward Award for Excellence in Education, Gov. Bd. of the Calif. Community College System, 1990.
• Invited Major Speaker, MAA 75 Year Celebration, Summer 1990.
• Member, Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Research Council, 1988-1991.
• Mathematics/Science Division Distinguished Teaching Award, 1980.

• Calculus: Mathematics and Modeling, AWL, 1999. Ellis, Bauldry, Fiedler, Giordano, Judson, Lodi, Vitray, West.
• ODE Architect, Wiley, Coauthor, 1999. Coleman, Borrelli, Campbell, Ellis, et al.
• Maple V Flight Manual, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1992. Ellis, Lodi, Johnson and Schwalbe.
• "Can Community College Instructors Contribute to the Calculus Reform Movement?", in UME Trends, September, 1990.
• HRW Math Program, A Three Book Series: Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry, James Schultz, Wade Ellis, Jr., Kathleen Hollowell, and Paul Kennedy, 1997, 2004.
• University of Chicago School Mathematics Project PreCalculus and Discrete Mathematics, 1988, Zalman Usiskin, Sharon Shenk, Susan Brown, Wade Ellis, Jr., Kathleen Hollowell, John McConnell, and Tony Perissini.
• PreCalculus Using the TI Graphing Calculator, PWS, 1995, Burzynski, Ellis, and Lodi.
• Hands-on BASIC Series, McGraw-Hill, 1982-84. A series of six machine-specific BASIC language tutorial books coauthored with Ed Lodi and Herbert D. Peckham for the IBM PC, Atari, Apple II and IIe, TRS-80 Color Computer, TI 99/4A, Commodore 64, and DEC Professional computers.

• Principal Investigator on PacTEC NSF funded project. PacTEC was a $300,000 project that investigated ways to encourage women and underrepresented minorities to take and succeed in science, mathematics, engineering and technology courses.
• Principal Investigator on the $50,000 NSF funded Graphing Calculator Faculty Training Grant.
• Second Vice-President, Mathematical Association of America.
• Treasurer, International Mathematics Olympiad 2001, Inc., 1998-2001. Responsible for a $3,000,000 budget and seeking corporate donations of that amount.
• Senior Mathematics Advisor, Education Technology Division, Texas Instruments.
• Faculty Fellow, Center for Learning and Teaching West, Colorado State University.
• Member, Mathematics Board, American Institute of Mathematics 2000-present.
• Project Coordinator, Basic Skills Initiative of the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges 2007-present.

• A Computer Algebra Approach to Understanding Collegiate Mathematics, 2008. Technology and its Integration into Mathematics. Education Conference.
• Using Learning Objects with TI-Nspire CAS, 2008. Technology and its Integration into Math. Education Conference.
• Building Technology Microworlds as Levers for Inquiry, 2008. National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics.
• Using TI-Nspire Documents to Improve Student Understanding, 2008. International Conference of Teachers of Collegiate Mathematics.
• Student Learning Outcomes and the Basic Skills Initiative, 2007. California Mathematics Council Community Colleges.
• Improving Learning with TI-Nspire, 2007. International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics.
• If You Want Change, Here's Two Dimes and a Nickel, 2006. AMATYC Keynote Address.
• Mathematics Education, Anecdotes from the Past and Future, 2006. National Association of Mathematicians, MAA Annual Meeting.
• Professional Enhancement Programs of the MAA, 2005. Technology in Secondary Schools, Texas Southern University.
• Skill or Understanding? Do We Have to Choose?, 2004. An invited address for the NCTM Annual Meeting.
• Fractions, Keynote Address, California Math Council Far North, 2002.
• Mathematics and Modeling, Invited Speech, MAA Winter Meeting, 2000.
• Keynote Address, AMATYC Annual Conference, 1996. MAA Minicourse on Using the TI-92 in Teaching Calculus (co-presenter), 1996.
• NSF Calculus Reform Workshop (5 days) (presenter), 1995.
• If This is Calculus, What is Precalculus? (Harvard Calculus Conference), 1992.
• Mathematics and Computation: Proliferation and Fragmentation, 1990. An invited address for the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the MAA.
• NSF CASs Five-day Workshop with Derive (Mississippi State), 1990.
• NSF CASs Workshop with Maple (Portland State), 1990.
• NSF CASs Two-day Workshop with Derive (Mississippi State), 1989.
• Pew Foundation Workshop on CAS using Derive, 1989.

• Member, MAA Membership Committee, 2009-2011.
• Member, MAA Nominating Committee, 2006.
• Member, NSF National Visiting Committee of the National Science Digital Library 2002-present.
• Member, United States National Committee on Mathematics Instruction of the NRC, 1999--2003.
• Treasurer, IMO 2001, Inc., 1998-2001.
• Second Vice-President, MAA, 1996-98.
• Member NRC Committee on Science Education K-12, 1996-1998.
• Member, College Entrance Examination Board AP Calculus Examination Committee, 1993-1995.
• Member, NRC-MSEB Scenario Writing Panel Workshop for the MSEB Framework for the Future of the K-12 Mathematics Curriculum, 1987.
• Member, Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project, CSU and UC sponsored placement testing preparation group, 1987-2008.
• Member, Committee on the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers, 1988-1990.
• President and Past-President of the Northern California Community College Computer Consortium, 1979-81.