About CPAM

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As the nominees for the Classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023 wait to hear about the awardee selection from their ranks, now is an appropriate time to stand back and take a look at CPAM’s history and then to think about where our organization will go from here.

The Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics (CPAM) is an organization of recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching. CPAM’s first annual meeting as an official organization was held in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the NCTM Annual Meeting in April 1986. CPAM became an affiliate of NCTM during that NCTM meeting. From 1986 through 2022, CPAM has met for its annual business meeting in conjunction with the NCTM Annual Meeting. Beginning in 2023, CPAM’s annual business meeting is held virtually in the fall.

In the early years of the Presidential Awards program, the only opportunity for awardees to get together was the breakfast sponsored each year by Silver Burdett. From Silver Burdett’s first breakfast in April 1984 came CPAM’s newsletter, logo and ultimately CPAM’s existence. Over the years, other publishing companies began sponsoring social activities which have provided awardees with opportunities to get together to renew old friendships, to begin new friendships, and to share teaching ideas. With a membership from such a vast geographic area, the opportunities for awardees to gather at the NCTM Annual Meeting and at many of the NCTM regional meetings are greatly appreciated. 

The following facts will remind all of us where CPAM has been and where it is now:

1.  The Presidential Awards program began in 1983 with the naming of 104 awardees. From 1983 through 1989, the awardees were mathematics and science teachers at the secondary level, grades 7-12. 
2. The first awardees from the elementary level were named in 1990. From 1990 through 2002, both elementary and secondary awardees were named each year in mathematics and science. Beginning with the Class of 2003, elementary and secondary awardees are named in alternate years.
3. Since 1983, 2,597 mathematics awardees have been named. Of this number, we know that ninety-two of our colleagues have died. The Classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the thirty-ninth, fortieth and forty-first classes respectively, have been judged but have yet to be announced by the White House. 
4. The newsletter was started in October 1984 by Denise I. Griffiths, DE 1983, and has continued publication on a regular basis since that time. The newsletter comes out four times during a year. The logo of the newsletter is a sketch of the White House in Washington, DC, and of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The purpose of the logo is to remind awardees of the DC Awards Celebration and the NCTM Annual Meeting in San Francisco in April 1984 where CPAM had its beginnings.
5. CPAM has been incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware and has been determined by the IRS to be a nonprofit and tax exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
6. CPAM has awarded over $171,000 in scholarships to future mathematics teachers. In April 1989, CPAM began awarding $1,000 scholarships, renewable for three years. The scholarship has been increased to $2,000, renewable for three years for a total of $8,000. Thirty-five recipients have been named. A thirty-sixth scholarship recipient will be named in April 2024. In April 1994, the CPAM Scholarship was re-named the Denise I. Griffiths CPAM Scholarship.
7. CPAM has completed two very successful NSF grants, Teachers Teaching Teachersand Leadership Development and Enabling Change. These were conducted in conjunction with the University of Northern Iowa (UNI).
8. CPAM held summer institutes for its members from 1988-1993 and again in 1995. In 2005, CPAM initiated a Leadership Seminar as a pre-session to the NCTM Annual Meeting. The nineteenth session in this series was held last month prior to the NCTM Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. For the second time, CPAM offered the session in three formats – in person, Zoom, and asynchronously.
9. In April 1991, CPAM began distributing certificates for Outstanding Mathematics Achievement for members to use for student recognition.
10. A CPAM listserv was started in 1995 and continues today.
11. In 1998, CPAM joined with the Math Forum to answer questions submitted to the Teacher2Teacher service from all over the world. This collaborative venture provided both a service to the community by enhancing mathematics education and an opportunity for professional development for the CPAM participants.
12. Fourteen CPAM members participated in ICME-12 in Seoul, Korea, in July 2012. A PAEMST Awardees’ video was created to illustrate best practices in action; books written and donated by CPAM members were given away. CPAM participants readily interacted with the thousands of students and teachers who visited the USA exhibit. The video project was spearheaded by Sara Normington, OR 1991 Sec, and Ann Lawrence. Gail Burrill, WI 1985, and Linda Foreman, OR 1987, played essential roles in planning the Congress and in the US National Presentation.

The preceding information tells us how CPAM came to be, where it has been and where it is now. Where CPAM goes in the future is up to each one of us!

Facts and History provided by CPAM member,
Denise I. Griffiths, DE '83
November 1, 2023