William P. Berlinghoff, Ph.D.

Professional Career

Bill Berlinghoff was educated at Holy Cross, Boston College, and Wesleyan University, where he received his Ph.D. in mathematics.  He began his teaching career at The College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, and then spent 20 years on the faculty of Southern Connecticut State University, rising to the rank of Full Professor.  Now retired, he was a Visiting Professor at Colby College in Maine for a number of years.  There he often taught a first-year course for liberal arts students, as well as upper-level courses in linear and abstract algebra.  He is the author or co-author of four college math texts, and was also the Senior Writer of MATH Connections, an NSF-sponsored, Standards-based secondary core curriculum.  His most recent book, Math through the Ages, co-authored with Prof. Fernando Gouvêa, received the MAA’s Beckenbach Book Prize in 2007 and has been translated into four other languages.

Synopsis:

Education

Ph.D. (Mathematics)  Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT  (1976)
    (NSF Science Faculty Fellow at Wesleyan, 1970-71)
    Research area: Abstract algebra — infinite abelian groups

M.A. (Mathematics)  Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA  (1963)

B.S. Honors (Mathematics) College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (1961)

Academic Experience

Senior Writer for MATH Connections, an NSF-funded, NCTM Standards-based secondary core curriculum published by It’s About Time of Armonk, NY, 1992-99, and head of the revision team for the Second Edition, 2005–08.

Visiting Professor, Dept. of Mathematics, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 1988-91 and 1998-99; part-time 1992–98, 1999–2005.  Retired.

Associate Executive Dean (interim), Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, Spring 1992.

Professor (tenured), Dept. of Mathematics, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT.
  A full-time faculty member 1968–88, except for leaves in 1970–71 and 1978–80.

Associate Secretary, American Association of University Professors (National Office), Washington, DC, 1978-80.

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mathematics, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY, 1963-68

Published Books

Math through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others, Second Edition, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  Oxton House Publishers, 2014.  Republished by Dover Publications, 2019.

Math through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others, Expanded Second Edition, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  American Mathematical Society/ / MAA Press, 2015.

Pathways from the Past II: Using History to Teach Algebra, booklet and worksheet set, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  Oxton House Publishers, 2013.  Greek translation by Esofia Publishers, 2025.

Pathways from the Past I: Using History to Teach Numbers, Numerals, & Arithmetic, booklet and worksheet set, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  Oxton House Publishers, 2010.  Greek translation by Esofia Publishers, 2025.

Math through the Ages, Expanded Edition, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  The Mathematical Association of America and Oxton House Publishers (co-published), 2004.  (This book won the MAA’s Beckenbach Book Prize in 2007.)

Math through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others, with Fernando Q. Gouvêa.  Oxton House Publishers, 2002.

MATH Connections, a 6-book secondary text series (for grades 9–11) with 6 accompanying teacher books, written with three other Senior Writers and a supporting team.  It’s About Time, Inc., 1997.

A Mathematics Sampler: Topics for the Liberal Arts, 5th Ed., with Kerry E. Grant and Dale Skrien,  Ardsley House Publishers, 2001.

The Mathematics of the Elementary Grades, with Robert M. Washburn.  Ardsley House Publishers, 1990.

A Mathematical Panorama: Topics for the Liberal Arts, with Bodh R. Gulati and Kerry E. Grant.  D. C. Heath & Co., 1980.

Mathematics: The Art of Reason.  D. C. Heath & Co., 1968.

Other Publications

“Imbedded subgroups of abelian groups,'' with J. D. Moore and J. D. Reid.  Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Series A, 1990.

“Locally Original Mathematics Through Writing,”  Chapter 7 of Writing to Learn Mathematics and Science, Paul Connolly and Teresa Vilardi, eds.  New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1989.

“The Student Problem Solver as Pioneer: Expeditions into Number Theory.” New York State Mathematics Teachers' Journal, 38:3 (Fall 1988).

“Mathematics and the Validation of Truth: Two Questions.”  Connecticut Review, 10:2 (Spring 1988):16-22.

“Academic Freedom and Tenure: Seton Hall University (New Jersey),”  (investigative report), with Prof. Rodger van Allen and the national  AAUP staff.  Academe, 71:3 (May-June 1985):28-36.

“Quasi-pure projective and injective torsion groups,” with J. D. Reid.  Proceedings AMS, 65:2 (Aug. 1977):189-193.

“An Apparently Algebraic Property of the Integers” Mathematics Magazine, 46:4 (Sept.-Oct. 1973):211-213.

“Numeration Bases and Infinity”  Math. Teacher, 66:1 (Jan. 1973):  67-70.

Other Relevant Experience

Member of the  Steering Advisory Team for Mathematics Illuminated, a 13-week multimedia series on modern mathematics funded by the Annenberg Foundation and produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting, 2006–08.

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