Mary Dolciani's enthusiasm for mathematics, her love of life and her concern for her students serve as a constant inspiration for all who knew her. Mary P. Dolciani was the child of immigrants. Mary's mother, to whom she was devoted, and her father were committed to encouraging their daughter to advance and achieve. This was not common at the time. Mary received her BA from Hunter College and joined the Hunter faculty in 1955. She served as chairperson of the mathematics department and as provost at Hunter, and in 1974 became dean for academic development at the City University of New York. In 1980 she returned to teach at Hunter, continuing until illness forced her to stop. She also worked for the U.S. Government on classified projects at Fort Monmouth during World War II.

Dolciani was probably most at home in the classroom, where she was a "Master Teacher". In her forty-two years of teaching, two at Vassar College and forty at her alma mater, Hunter College, Professor Dolciani was both a teacher of undergraduate students and a teacher of teachers. She developed the first multi-media mathematics learning laboratory in the City University system, a laboratory which is still thriving today. She directed many National Science Foundation institutes and New York State Education Department institutes for mathematics teachers. A very active member of the School Mathematics Study Group, Professor Dolciani took the lead in developing new curricula for secondary school mathematics. She served the Mathematical Association of America with distinction as a member of the Board of Governors and as a member of the Committee on Publications. Mary was special - not only in her singular mathematical accomplishments, but in the fact that she belonged to a small, select group of women in mathematics.

In her memory, the Houghton-Mifflin Company made a gift to the Mathematics Education Trust of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This will establish a fund to make grants to high school teachers in order to improve the quality of teaching mathematics. The Dolciani Mathematical Center, the headquarters of the MAAwas dedicated in 1979. Dr. Dolciani remarked that she wanted the building [to be] a living tribute to her father, an immigrant to this country who died at a young age and had struggled to provide for her education.

Books Written

Dolciani Series of Mathematics textbooks