Associate Director for Teaching; Continuing Lecturer in Mathematics
Nandini Bhattacharya received her B.A. in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College, and M.A. in Mathematics and Post-Graduate Certification in Education from UC Santa Cruz. She joined the Academic Excellence (ACE) Program at UCSC when it first started in 1987, and worked there as a Mathematics Coordinator for 20 years. Since 2007, Nandini has been a lecturer in Mathematics, mostly teaching the gateway courses College Algebra, Precalculus, and Differential Calculus, where a large number of enrolled students are from underserved or under-represented backgrounds. Compelled to serve these students better, she partnered with the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Initiatives team to redesign the first-year gateway Mathematics courses (Math 2 through Math 11A &11B). As part of her HSI work Nandini has also inaugurated a training for the STEM Graduate Teaching Assistants and Instructors that is pedagogically sound and culturally responsive to the current population of the UCSC students, in order to promote equity and educational access. She received the UCSC Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012 and 2021, Ron Ruby Award in 2021, Excellence in Diversity Award in 2005 and 2013, and the Hero Award from the Educational Opportunity Program in 2016.