"Ward Makes Calculus Worth Learning" The title of a Facebook webpage---designed by my students of their own accord, soon after my arrival at the University of Pennsylvania---hopefully says it all. My goal is to foster students' intellectual well-being. My love of teaching (undergraduates and graduate students) complements my love of research. When teaching undergraduates, I make math accessible even for non-math majors. I try to explain each topic in a variety of ways, knowing that everybody has a unique way of absorbing material. I not only write equations and draw graphs, but I also use auxiliary Maple presentations every day. As I discuss each topic, I consistently ask for feedback from the students throughout my lectures. By making the students feel welcome and at ease, the class atmosphere is very conducive to learning mathematics. I give very demanding homework assignments and exams, always encouraging students to extend themselves mentally. Students frequently say that my class was their favorite---and (more importantly) that they learned a great amount of material too! Experience During spring 2006, I administered advanced oral examinations to two combinatorics graduate students. In fall 2006, I taught Penn's graduate Combinatorial Analysis and Graph Theory course. I also helped teach a summer graduate course at MSRI on Analysis of Algorithms and Information Theory. During my first semester at Penn, I developed the math department's first Game Theory course. Aimed at advanced undergraduates, they mastered combinatorial (perfect information) games and also von Neumann / Nash (strategy) games. I also conducted one-on-one, customized reading courses in game theory with four undergraduates and one graduate student. Throughout my career, I have won numerous awards based on student evaluations. In calculus courses at Penn, my students consistently have the highest scores (on common exams), suggesting that my students are digesting a larger portion of the material (as compared to students in other sections). I am always delighted to see my students succeed as a result of their hard work. Student Comments Spring 2006, Calculus I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for all your help and to let you know how much I enjoyed your class. Thank you for all the 8-9 AM extra help sessions when you could have been working on your research. I couldn't have passed the class without you! Thanks for answering all my emails (I know there were a lot!). Your willingness to help your students and approachability were refreshing attributes that are difficult to come across in the college setting. I looked forward to coming to lecture every morning because of your enthusiasm and insight when teaching calculus. Thank you so much for a wonderful math and overall college experience as a freshman. Math 104, in spite of its difficulty, was my favorite class this semester, and for that I can only thank you! Best prof I've ever had in this dept. and for such a large class. Why isn't he tenured yet? He's amazing! Prof. Ward is an amazing professor. By far one of the best teachers I've ever had! His desire to make math come alive to his students and concern for their progress is detectable after sitting through just one class. He is always willing to give extra help in and out of office hours with a smile on his face. In spite of the difficulty of this course, it was one of the best I have taken at Penn thus far. Prof Ward really makes such potentially daunting material understandable and accessible. I have definitely changed my views on math. Ward was the best math teacher I've ever had. Calculus was somewhat interesting for the first time in my life. I enjoyed the enthusiasm of Dr. Ward--he was also very generous with his time during office hours. ... I wish I could have professors like Dr. Ward in my other classes. He is the best math teacher I have ever had in my life. ... He really cares that we understand what's going on. ... Extremely dedicated guy. Really enjoyed being in class. Professor Ward's enthusiasm makes all the difference and it is very clear he truly cares about students' performance. Fall 2005, Calculus Dr. Ward is an incredible math teacher! I honestly don't think I could have found a better, clearer, kinder, and hard working professor, especially for a subject I find very difficult and do not excel in. He tries to present material in many different ways--written in words, written with numerical examples, shown with drawings and/or Maple, and verbally explained as well. This means that there is usually some method that appeals to you and makes sense to you. He is very concerned with our progress, and tries to make himself available whenever possible. He also does not pretend that we are all geniuses, and understands that math is (gasp!) difficult for some people. A+! Dr. Ward is by far one of the best and most approachable math teachers I've ever had. I liked having Prof. Ward as my teacher because he was so energetic and made class fun. He was really excited about math and that made it interesting to learn. I can't imagine a better math prof. than Dr. Ward. Especially for an intro level course. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from him. Prof. Ward is the best teacher I have had at Penn. He really cares about the individual, and he is willing to sacrifice much of his time on behalf of his students. Class is lively and animated and tests are fair. With the semester coming to a close, I would like to take a moment to thank you for all of the kindness you have extended to me throughout the span of Math 104. As I'm sure you are quite aware by now, Math has never come easy to me, and the thought of competing in a Ivy League Calculus class nearly scared me half to death! I did not believe I would make it through, and I do not think I would of had I not had a professor who was so assessable to his students and so committed to seeing his students succeed. It is quite rare to find a teacher whose office hours are virtually every hour of the day! I wanted to thank you for providing me with a wonderful in class experience last semester. Before starting my freshman year here at Penn I would hear stories about how huge college classes are very different from the small high school classes I experienced. I was lead to believe that it would be a lot harder, I would have to put in the extra effort to meet my professor and get the help I needed, etc. Which was all true, but you honestly made this process very easy and enjoyable. You made coming to class something I looked forward to because you always had a smile on your face and were excited and passionate about what you were teaching. You also always had your door open when I needed help on math homework (which was a lot of the time!), which is what really helped me to succeed in your class. It is obvious that you care about your students and that this isn't just a job to you. Thank you so much for a better first semester academic experience than I could have ever hoped for! Thank you so much for all your input today! Believe me, I've never had a professor be so candid as you were with me today, and I found it encouraging and extremely helpful. Fall 2005, Game Theory This was one of the most interesting and stimulating courses I've had at Penn. He is an excellent professor. The material is interesting and practical. I definitely recommend anyone to take this class. This class was great. I think it should certainly be offered again. Prof. Ward is wonderful and always offered to answer any questions I had. Spring 2005, SOA/CAS Actuary Course 1 Preparation I really appreciate having you as a teacher. You're doing a great job and keep doing the same in the future. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the way the class was taught. Good luck at Penn. Awesome instructor, very helpful, clear explanations. Fall 2004, Calculus I always referred to my notes from class for help. The notes from class were clear and easy to follow and understand! I think Mark was an excellent instructor! If I knew he would teach all of my math courses I would definitely enroll in more! He is an outstanding teacher! I think Mark does a very good job teaching this course! He is very thorough and always willing to answer our questions. He is one of the best math teachers I've ever had! I'm sure he'll do great from here on out! Spring 2004, SOA/CAS Actuary Course 1 Preparation I wish you taught all of my math/stat classes--you explain things very well. Mark Ward has brought great enthusiasm to learning and preparing for the [Actuarial] course one exam! He is very well prepared and knowledgeable in mathematics; our class is very fortunate to have him guide us on our way to becoming actuaries. Fall 2003, Algebra You make math a lot more interesting. You are really involved in the learning process. You can tell you really like math a lot which in turn makes it easier to learn. Mr. Ward is very enthusiastic and always ready to teach. Spring 2002, Calculus I think you are a great instructor. I really like math now! Great explanations of difficult material... obviously instructor cares a lot about students and their math progress. When new material was presented, Mark would indicate how the new material built upon the old material. Each day seemed like building a step on a stairway with a defined destination rather than a jumbled heap of information. This is the signature of the most successful teachers. ... I commend Mark on a superior teaching style. ... I will miss Mark's teaching methods and wish I could be so lucky as to have a teacher such as Mark for all of my classes. I honestly thought this was one of the best classes I have taken. Your teaching methods are absolutely outstanding... you teach and explain things very well and very clearly. Also, it was clear that you genuinely care about each and every student. Fall 2001, Calculus Best math teacher I have ever had! I think Mark is an excellent instructor--he always takes time to answer questions and tries to explain things so we can understand them easier. I really understood all of the material in this course, and this was because of your lectures. You are an excellent instructor. Fall 2000, Calculus He speaks clearly and explains everything very clearly! He takes time and cares how we do. He is always extremely prepared and you can tell he spends a lot of time preparing. He's the best! I always disliked math until Mark came along with his great memory devices and showed how calculus can be simple if you understand the basic steps. He's an excellent TA and would make an excellent professor someday! Thanks Mark, you have been the best TA that I have had by far. I don't think that Mark needs to improve at all. I think he is one of the best TA's that I have had on this campus. Mark is a great TA. He is able to teach so well because of this. He really cares how well we do in his class. ... He should be the professor for this course. He knows how to teach and he does it well. Mark is the best TA I have ever had. I wish he were the professor! He makes calc fun and interesting with his teaching style.