Judith Roitman

Infobox_Scientist
name = Judith Roitman

---

image_width = 200px
caption = Prof. Judy Roitman during the conference "Boise Extravaganza in Set Theory BEST 17", Boise, Idaho, March 2008
birth_date =
birth_place =
residence = Lawrence, Kansas
nationality = USA
ethnicity =
field = Mathematician
work_institution = University of Kansas
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor = Robert M. Solovay
doctoral_students =
known_for = topology, set theory, Boolean algebras, mathematics education.
prizes =
footnotes =

Judith "Judy" Roitman (born November 12 1945) is a mathematician, currently a professor at the University of Kansas. She specializes in set theory, topology, Boolean algebra, and mathematics education [cite web | title = Faculty Directory | publisher = University of Kansas | url = http://www.math.ku.edu/people/faculty/judith-roitman.html | accessdate = 2008-04-28 ] .

Biography

Roitman was born in 1945 in New York City. She attended Oberlin College, followed by Sarah Lawrence College, graduating in 1966 with a degree in English literature. Next she became interested in mathematical linguistics. As she had little formal mathematical education, Roitman started taking mathematics classes at the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. She had enjoyed mathematics as a high school student, and found her interest renewed. In 1969 she started graduate studies in mathematics at Berkeley. During graduate school she spent some time teaching mathematics in elementary schools as a Community Teaching Fellow. Roitman received her Ph.D. in 1974 from UC Berkeley with a thesis in topology; her thesis advisor was Robert M. Solovay [MathGenealogy|id=22305] . She taught at Wellesley College for three years, then spent a semester at the Institute for Advanced Study. She has been at the University of Kansas since then.

She has been involved in the field of mathematics education for much of her career, running workshops for elementary school teachers and high school teachers and observing them in the classroom. She has encouraged individual mathematicians and the mathematical community at large to get involved and take mathematics education more seriously. She was in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics writing group that produced "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics". Dismayed at the politicization of U.S. mathematics education, Roitman has insisted, "There is no math war."

Roitman has been active in the Association for Women in Mathematics since its early years, and she served as President for the term 1979–1981. [cite web | title = AWM History | url = http://www.awm-math.org/about/history.html | accessdate = 2008-01-17 ] She has been a Zen Buddhist since 1976, and is currently the guiding teacher of the Kansas Zen Center, of which she and her husband Stanley Lombardo were founding members. [cite web | title = Our Teachers | work = Kansas Zen Center | url = http://kansaszencenter.org/?page_id=2 | accessdate = 2008-02-10 ]

Roitman is also a poet. Her poetry has appeared in a number of magazines and three chapbooks.cite web|accessdate=2008-01-17
url=http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/roitman.htm
title=Judith Roitman
author=Riddle, Larry
work=Biographies of Women Mathematicians
location=Decatur, GA
publisher=Agnes Scott College
date=May 22, 2007]

elected publications

* cite book
last = Roitman
first = Judith
title = Introduction to Modern Set Theory
date = January 16 1990
publisher = Wiley-Interscience
isbn = 0471635197
* cite journal
last = Roitman
first = Judith
date = Winter 1992
title = The Uses of Set Theory
journal = The Mathematical Intelligencer
volume = 14
issue = 1
pages = pp.63–69
publisher = Springer Verlag
* cite conference
last = Roitman
first = Judith
title = Beyond the Math Wars
booktitle = Contemporary Issues in Mathematics Education
id = ISBN 0521652553
pages = pp.123–134
publisher = MSRI Publications 36, Cambridge University Press
year = 1999
url = http://www.msri.org/publications/books/Book36/files/roitman.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-01-18
* cite book
last = Roitman
first = Judith
title = Slippage
year = 1999
publisher = Potes & Poets Press
isbn = 0937013978

References

External links

* [http://www.math.ku.edu/~roitman/ Roitman's home page]

Persondata
NAME = Roitman, Judith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH = November 12 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH = New York City
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =