Robert F. Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama, has received the fourth annual Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award, given jointly by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
Olin was recognized for his "long-term career commitment to broad-based strategies to improve mathematics education and the use of technology in its instruction," said Austin Doherty, chairman of the award steering committee.
Olin was a faculty member at Virginia Tech for 25 years before moving to the University of Alabama in 2000. There he founded the Math Technology Learning Center, where a combination of self-paced computer programs and individual tutoring help to eliminate traditional obstacles to undergraduate learning of mathematics.
The award is named for Virginia B. Smith, president emerita of Vassar College and founding director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.
( more about the Virginia B. Smith Award )
