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Bill Bogley in front shrubbery

Bill Bogley to lead Department of Mathematics

By Debbie Farris

Bill Bogley, Head of Mathematics Department

The College of Science welcomes Bill Bogley as the new Head of the Department of Mathematics effective July 1, 2018. Bogley is a Professor in Mathematics.

“Bill is a successful and highly respected teacher and researcher,” said College of Science Dean Roy Haggerty. Bogley served as Associate Chair in the Department of Mathematics from 2011-12.

“I want to thank Enrique Thomann for his leadership as Mathematics Department Head, a role he has held since October 2014,” said Haggerty. “While serving in this capacity, Enrique has overseen strong growth of the undergraduate program. I know he is looking forward to having more time for teaching and research while continuing to help the department be successful.”

During Thomann’s tenure, the department introduced the popular Mathematical Biology option for mathematics majors, decreased time to graduation for graduate students, increased in student diversity, launched an Accelerated Master's Platform program, began working with the APLU grant which has improved student success and had 19 faculty from all ranks successfully promoted.

Bogley joined Oregon State’s Department of Mathematics in 1990 and holds the rank of Professor. His research is in the areas of combinatorial and geometric group theory. He served as served as Head Undergraduate Advisor in the Department of Mathematics for many years.

Bogley has received numerous graduate and undergraduate teaching awards, including the Loyd Carter and Fred Horne Awards in the College of Science and the Honors College’s Outstanding Professor Award and Eminent Professorship, an honor he received twice.

In 1996, he co-authored CalculusQuest, a fully developed web-based course in Differential Calculus with OSU mathematics colleague Robby Robson who specializes in computational linguistics. The course was arguably the first of its kind in the world. In 1998, the course received an Honorable Mention from the Paul Allen Foundation in its national Outstanding Online Education competition. CalculusQuest was heralded for its “extensive use of online exercises and quizzes organized around a mountain climbing metaphor illustrate the potential for teaching higher order mathematics online in a predominantly asynchronous mode.”

Bogley has taught and mentored generations of mathematics students at OSU and advised seven Ph.D. and eight master’s students.

Bogley brings significant leadership and administrative experience to his new role. He has been active in shared governance and served on many committees at OSU, including the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. He served as Assistant and Associate Dean of the Honors College from 2005-10 and OSU’s Director of Academic Programs, Assessment, and Accreditation, where he led the implementation of general education learning outcome assessment protocols for the entire university.

Bogley also served on the Undergraduate Education Council and chaired the University Assessment Council at OSU. He served on the university’s First-Year Experience Central Steering Committee and Task Force in 2012-13.

Bogley received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and earned both his master’s degree and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oregon.