The mathematics project, "Who Counts? Math across the Curriculum for Global Mission," will have three phases, said Christine Krueger, associate professor of English and director of core curriculum.,”The U.S. Department of Education granted more than $600,000 to Marquette over a three-year period to fund a project aimed at improving students' mathematical skills and using them to address global issues, according to university officials.

The mathematics project, "Who Counts? Math across the Curriculum for Global Mission," will have three phases, said Christine Krueger, associate professor of English and director of core curriculum.

The first phase includes workshops and curriculum development grants offered to faculty members who don't normally teach quantitative reasoning in their curriculum.

This is intended to encourage faculty to incorporate mathematics into classes such as Spanish or philosophy that wouldn't normally do so, Krueger said.

Second, the grant will be used to create a handbook that describes Marquette's mission and will be given to all incoming students in the fall.

It will help students plan how to acquire the leadership and faith needed to be responsible global citizens, Krueger said.

Third, there will be an annual event for students to present their work on social justice problems using quantitative reasoning and other disciplinary techniques, Krueger said.

Krueger said she wrote the project proposal to the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education in August because research over the past two years indicated that Marquette students have two interconnected needs.

"Students need more opportunities to examine interdependence of all humans across the globe and need more practice of quantitative reasoning skills in the context of disciplines other than math," Krueger said.

According to a 2007 Senior survey, about a third of students surveyed were not confident in their ability to use mathematical reasoning to communicate with others, said Margaret Bloom, vice provost for undergraduate programs and teaching.

The survey asked students to rate their confidence in core abilities. All other skills were rated highly, Bloom said.

Bloom said the assessment of students shows there needs to be more emphasis on math skills.

"We're not talking about math in the way a lot of people sit in class and work," Bloom said. "We're talking about using mathematical reasoning as part of the discussion on important global issues."

These skills include understanding statistics and graphs and interpreting numbers, Krueger said.

"These are necessary skills to be an effective social advocate," Krueger said.

Krueger said issues such as global warming, genocide and health care all require a basic mathematical knowledge.

But Kathleen Stracthota, a College of Business Administration junior, said she doesn't think mathematics need to be incorporated outside of math and business classes.

"Personally, I'm not much of a math person," Stracthota said.

She said it's important that people have general math skills, but that they aren't necessary to understand global issues.

According to the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education Web site, the grant program is the fund's main activity each year. The program is meant to support innovative secondary-educational reform projects.

Krueger said it was anticipated that only 3 percent of proposals would be funded this year.

"The odds of us being successful were very small, so we're extremely thrilled about receiving the grant," Krueger said.

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