NEWS

HELLO, my name is Kathy Cramer.

Hometown? I was born in Bethpage (Long Island), New York. Bethpage is most noted for Bethpage State Park and its five world-class public golf courses. The U.S. Open Championship was held on the Black Course in 2002 and 2009. Tiger Woods won it in 2002.

What was your very first job? My first job was working in the Estée Lauder factory on Long Island. I worked there for two summers while in college. While factory work was mind numbing, I remember enjoying meeting and working with other college students hired for the summer. It also paid greater than the minimum wage.

When did you join UMRA? In 2018.

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? I retired from the University of Minnesota as associate professor of mathematics education in the College of Education and Human Development. Before coming to the University, I was a professor of mathematics education at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls.

What inspired your interest in mathematics and education? I was an undergraduate mathematics major at Syracuse University. Mathematics was a subject I always enjoyed. While I didn’t take course work in teaching as an undergraduate, I did volunteer at a local school in Syracuse for young mothers, tutoring high school girls in math. At that time, when a girl was pregnant, she wasn’t allowed to continue going to her regular school but had to attend school at a special program within the district. I found out that I enjoyed teaching mathematics, and upon graduation I built on that tutoring experience to become part of a new Title I math laboratory project in the elementary schools in the Syracuse district.

From your perspective as a teacher of teachers for 20-plus years, how has the teaching—and learning—of mathematics changed since most UMRA members attended elementary school? The teaching and learning of mathematics has evolved a great deal over the 20 or more years I was in academia. In the early ’70s, the focus started to change from teaching procedures to teaching for understanding. Research on children’s thinking that documents what meaningful learning looks like, impacted how we teach. My area of research focused on teaching fractions. We know that children learn fractions best using a variety of concrete models that help them construct, for themselves, an understanding of fractions as numbers that are distinct from whole numbers. Models help students build meaning for the relative size of fractions and how to add, subtract, multiply and divide them. 

Do you have any tips for would-be grandparent-tutors? Don’t teach your grandchildren the procedures you learned. Ask children how they solve math tasks. Encourage children to estimate reasonable answers. Ask children to draw pictures or use objects to explain their thinking. 

You have been a leader of the UMRA Book Club for several years. What prompted you to join the group? I love reading and always wanted to be part of a book club. I have so enjoyed being part of this group, as I have had the opportunity to read authors I might not have selected on my own. One book in particular that we read a few years ago has stayed with me: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell.

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? I met my husband in Minnesota, but he also is a displaced Long Islander. He grew up 10 miles from Bethpage.


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News

If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for president-elect or a position on the UMRA Board of Directors, please contact one of the eight members of UMRA’s 2025 Nominating Committee. 

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Meet Michael Luxenberg, the new co-leader of the UMRA Hiking Club. A retired data analyst and entrepreneur, he met his wife, UMRA member and Professor Emerita Joan Garfield, when both were grad students at the U of M and rode the campus bus from Minneapolis to St. Paul.

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Former President Jimmy Carter’s version of “retirement” was remarkable. What if all U of M retirees started the new year stepping up our efforts to make the world better?

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The UMRA-sponsored Journal of Opinions, Ideas & Essays has added three videos to its online collection of original publications by UMRA members. 

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