Mathematics Faculty Member "Graduating" With the Class of 2006 Set to Speak at Commencement

Mathematics faculty member Glen Van Brummelen will address the graduating class of 2006 during the commencement dinner on Friday, June 2, 2006. Van Brummelen, a historian of ancient and medieval mathematics and astronomy who has taught math at the College since 1999, will be leaving Bennington to be part of founding a new institution in his native Canada: Quest University, the first private secular liberal arts college in that country.

“How often does one get the chance to take the greatest gift one has received, Bennington’s powerful educational vision, and pass it on to a whole new organization, possibly a whole new nation?” said Van Brummelen of his decision to return to Canada. “What I hope to take with me is the students’ freedom to shape their own curriculum, the small classes that make true dialogue possible, and the faculty’s freedom to design inspiring course offerings.”

“I’ll always think of myself as an ’06 grad. This is a wonderful chance to share with each other again, before we all go out into that world and sink or swim,” says Van Brummelen. “This will give us a chance to share our fears, dreams, and friendships one last time as a group. The word honor seems to pale in comparison to what I’m feeling about being chosen Bennington’s commencement speaker.”

This year, during a sabbatical, Van Brummelen has been working on a new history of trigonometry the first of its kind to be published in over 100 years through a fellowship with the prestigious Dibner Institute at MIT. Van Brumnmelen’s research has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as Historia Mathematica, Journal for the History of Astronomy, and Journal of the American Statistical Association. He is past president of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics and is currently involved in the History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Society of America. Van Brummelen earned his BS, with first class honors, from the University of Alberta; and his MS and PhD from Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada).