About the Calculus Consortium

The Calculus Consortium was formed in 1988 in response to the call for change at the "Lean and Lively Calculus" and "Calculus for a New Century" conferences. These conferences urged mathematicians to redesign the content and pedagogy used in calculus. The Consortium brought together mathematics faculty from Harvard, Stanford, the University of Arizona, Southern Mississippi, Colgate, Haverford, Suffolk Community College and Chelmsford High School to address the issue. The Consortium was awarded funding from the National Science Foundation to design a new calculus course. A subsequent NSF grant supported the development of a precalculus and multivariable calculus curriculum.

By playing a major role in shaping the national debate, the Consortium′s philosophy has had widespread influence on the teaching of mathematics throughout the US and around the world. The Consortium′s work has produced innovative course materials — the first edition of Calculus was the most widely used of any first edition calculus text ever.

During the 1990s, the Consortium gave more than 100 workshops for college and high school faculty, in addition to numerous talks. These workshops drew a large number of mathematicians into the discussion on the teaching of mathematics. Such discussions are now part of the everyday discourse of almost every university mathematics department.