CRAIG RUSSELL

URBANA — International Math Olympian Alex Zhai might be heading off to college, but there's another recent winner of a prestigious math honor still walking the halls of Uni.

That would be Craig Russell, one of just 23 teachers in the U.S. and Canada to win this year's Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching. The Sliffe Awards are the top honors given to high school and middle school teachers by the Mathematical Association of America.

Russell, who has served as head of the Uni math department since 1998, was nominated for the award by Zhai and fellow 2008 graduates Geoffrey Beck and Ethan Berl.

"We cannot imagine a teacher more deserving of this award, due to his diligent leadership, sacrificial time outside the classroom, and consistent excellence inside the classroom," wrote the trio in their nomination statement.

"His leadership as the head of the math department has been both reliable and comforting. Math has continued to be a big priority at our high school because of Mr. Russell’s leadership. In addition to his administrative duties, Mr. Russell also spends many, many hours outside the classroom encouraging students and inspiring them to love mathematics, especially in our extracurricular math events." (For the complete nomination, click here.)

Zhai recently competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Madrid, Spain, where he earned a perfect score, tying for No. 1 in the world and helping the U.S. team finish third overall. He will attend Harvard, while Beck is heading to Caltech. Berl will attend Princeton after taking a year off.

"To me, math is a way of thinking about the world, and it's a logical way of thinking about the world," said Russell, discussing his philosophy of math education. "It's a way of making organization out of chaos. The students that come into Uni already have demonstrated strengths academically, even if they're not the best math students and some of them might feel intimidated to come into a math class with a kid like Alex. But they all come in with strengths and reasoning skills.

"So what we want to do is challenge those kids to think about organization and patterns, maybe in ways they haven't thought about them before — help them to push themselves a little bit further. So the challenge for us as a math department [and] for me as a teacher is to figure out how to help these already bright students enhance their brightness and move further down the track toward maturity."

Under Russell's guidance, Uni won second place in Division 3AA at this year's Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics state finals.

"Mr. Russell is a very well-qualified, excellent, and organized classroom teacher," the nominating trio wrote. "At our high school, he usually teaches Algebra II/Trig and Statistics, and sometimes Calculus as needed. … He always explains concepts very clearly, and he is very clear about his expectations for homework and exams as well.

"Students always know where they stand with their grades, so parents are also more aware of their child’s progress and can help encourage success in mathematics. As a laboratory high school, Uni High seeks to try new curriculum and teaching methods, and Mr. Russell is always helping with this mission, whether it is trying new textbooks or writing materials of his own."

Russell, a former U.S. Army officer who earned degrees from MIT and Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the third Uni teacher to receive a Sliffe Award. Winners must be nominated by their students, who in turn must rank among the top in the country on MAA-sponsored competitions.

"I really appreciate the fact that Uni students appreciate their teachers," Russell said. "I taught [Beck and Berl] a couple of times; I taught Alex only once. But the other [math] teachers at Uni have also taught them, and it was a crapshoot as to which name they [put up for nomination]. So I really am flattered that they chose me to nominate, and I appreciate that the MAA does the award process."

Russell was preceded in the high school category two years ago by Elizabeth Jockusch. Jockusch, who retired at the end of the 2005-06 school year, was nominated by Zhai and 2006 graduates Mo Kudeki and Yuzi Nakamura.

In 2002, Gene Bild won the Sliffe Award for middle school teaching in recognition of his work with Uni subfreshman students.

The Sliffe Awards for high school teaching have been given since 1989; middle school teachers have been honored since 1995.

As a Sliffe winner, Russell receives a cash award, a letter of recognition, a pin and certificate from the MAA, a one-year institutional membership in the MAA, 20 subscriptions to Math Horizons for students, and a one-year membership in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.