Associate professor first ACCLAIM graduate

Caroline Best, associate professor of mathematics, is the first graduate of a program created to make earning a doctoral degree more convenient for Southern Appalachian teachers with some background in mathematics.

Best received her doctorate in math education from the University of Tennessee in December after completing the ACCLAIM (Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment and Instruction in Mathematics) program.

The ACCLAIM program was created by the National Science Foundation Center for Learning and Teaching. It allows Southern Appalachian instructors to earn an advanced degree in teaching math in a rural setting without having to leave their jobs or families for an extended period of time. UT, the University of Kentucky and Ohio University are cooperating to offer the degree.

“The ACCLAIM program was at the cutting edge of distance education,” Best said. “Since 2002, online education has grown leaps and bounds. The idea that students can complete a doctoral degree without having to take time off from work is a great advantage.”

Best entered the new program with 13 other students in 2002. For the next four years, the cohort group worked together online and in person, including attending three intensive summer seminars.

“The fact that we knew each other from our summer experience definitely helped,” Best said. “The cohort of 14 lived together on one campus those summers, starting in 2002.

“The first summer we were at UTK, the second at the University of Kentucky and the third at the University of Louisville. Each summer we lived in one dorm and took three classes in a five-week session.”

Students did an internship at home during the school year between the second and third summer, which satisfied the traditional doctoral residency requirement. They then completed the rest of their coursework via distance education courses.

“After the last summer, in 2005, we had a retreat in order to keep everybody’s momentum going on their dissertation,” she said.

To date, four other students have received their degrees.

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