Financial Aid Will Go to Mathematics Education Students

Sixty years ago, Eugene W. Hellmich got a college teaching job on the recommendation of William D. Reeve, his mentor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Now a bequest from Dr. Hellmich's estate--totalling, to date, almost $265,000--has established a Teachers College scholarship fund honoring the memory of Professor Reeve.

The Eugene W. Hellmich Scholarships in Honor of William D. Reeve will go to meritorious students who are preparing for careers in the teaching of mathematics in elementary or secondary schools.

Hellmich earned his doctorate in mathematics education in 1936.

A few months before he finished his doctorate, Hellmich was hired at Northern Illinois State Teachers College (later Northern Illinois State University). He taught at the Dekalb institution until his retirement in 1970.

He died on January 2, 1995, at the age of 92.

EUGENE W. HELLMICH

Hellmich, who was the first mathematics department member at Northern Illinois to hold a doctorate, introduced the first course in mathematics education at that institution--"Teaching Practices in High School Mathematics." He later added a similar course dealing with junior high school mathematics.

He was the head of the Department of Mathematics at Northern Illinois from 1951 until 1964. He was also a charter member of the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics and chairman of the Mathematical Association of America.

A native of Schnectady, New York, Hellmich earned his bachelor's degree at Union College and his master's degree at New York State College for Teachers in Albany.

Before coming to Teachers College, he taught mathematics in Montclair, New Jersey, Kingston, New York and Northport, New York (where he was also principal of the high school).

WILLIAM D. REEVE

William David Reeve taught at Teachers College from 1923 until his retirement in 1949. He was also editor of The Mathematics Teacher, official journal of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, from 1928 to 1950.

He was author or coauthor of 16 textbooks, including Mathematics for the Secondary School--Its Content and Methods of Teaching and Learning, published in 1954 and considered a classic in the field of mathematics education.

A graduate of Indiana State Normal School, he began his career as a rural school teacher in Indiana. He earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1924.

Professor Reeve died in 1961.

Teachers College, a graduate school devoted to education across the lifespan and in and out of the classroom, is an affiliate of Columbia University but retains its legal and financial independence.

Published Thursday, Jun. 27, 2002