Scholar Combines Math and Social Justice in the Classroom: Dr. Chawne Kimber is using the little-known discipline of mathematics of social justice to teach Lafayette College students to examine numbers differently. An algebraist, topologist, and associate professor of mathematics, Kimber also grooms the next generation of STEM professionals as director of Lafayette’s six-week Summer Program to Advance Leadership (SPAL), which allows incoming freshmen from underrepresented minority groups to get a jump-start on college life by arriving on campus early. Among other things, SPAL students take college writing and calculus and visit local companies that employ scientists and engineers. Minorities and international students make up about 16 percent and 4 percent, respectively, of the 2,400 students enrolled at the Easton, Pa., college.
