Our major goal is to develop logical reasoning and problem-solving skills among our students, to make them independent learners, to demonstrate the power and beauty of mathematics, and to show them the relationship of mathematics to other disciplines.
This five-year program leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Whittier College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from a university.
The interdisciplinary program involving mathematics and business administration provides a strong background of concepts and techniques in the field of "quantitative management." It prepares the student for a variety of positions in banking, insurance, manufacturing, transportation, and other industries.
The interdisciplinary minor is designed to help prepare students majoring in one of the sciences for advanced computing work in their own fields and for work in the computer industry.
Most students in the College take at least one course in the department to satisfy COM1 (Quantitative Reasoning) requirement of their Liberal Education Program. Students from many other disciplines such as business administration and the sciences take additional mathematics courses. The department also participates in the teaching of college-wide courses such as Freshman Writing and Science & Society courses as much as possible.
Department members generally rotate the teaching of various courses. This allows the students in the department to be exposed to different teaching techniques. Due to the small number of math majors, most upper-division courses are taught in alternate years.
Faculty of the department strongly encourage its math majors to take advantage of opportunities offered during the school year and summer, such as:
Graduates with a mathematics degree choose a variety of careers in teaching, banking, high-tech industries, or work as programmers, system analysts, actuaries, or engineers. About 15 percent of our graduates attend graduate school, medical school, or law school.
