Mary O’Keeffe will give a talk Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 12:55 p.m. in
Messa House as part of the Women's Commission Winter Speaker Seminar.
Her talk, "Finding the Joy Within You and Sharing it With Those Around You: Creating Mathematical Problem Solving Communities," is free and open to the campus community. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP by Feb. 1 to Sheri Lullo (lullos@union.edu)
A public policy economist who teaches the College’s service-learning class, Eco 391: Income Tax Policy and Practice, and supervises the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, O’Keeffe has overseen IRS-certified student volunteers in preparing and filing free tax returns for low-income working families, senior citizens and disabled individuals in Schenectady.
O’Keeffe also contributes to the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) on campus and is the founding director of the Albany Area Math Circle, an effort that grew from her volunteer work in local public schools. She is co-organizer of the Math Prize for Girls at MIT, where she works with hundreds of enthusiastic young women in mathematics.
One of the goals of the Women's Commission (also known as the President's Commission on the Status of Women) is to highlight and support women's scholarly accomplishments at Union. This includes a seminar series to provide a network for the discussion of topics dealing with issues related to women and/or those research topics pursued by female faculty.