Instruction in undergraduate mathematics affects so many fields of study that there is need for significant input from the partner disciplines when designing the undergraduate mathematics curriculum.
The Mathematical Association of America's Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM) has spent four years developing its Undergraduate Programs and Courses in the Mathematical Sciences: CUPM Curriculum Guide 2004, a set of recommendations for mathematical sciences departments as they plan their undergraduate curricula through the first decade of the 21st century. CUPM Guide 2004 was informed by an unprecedented amount of information on the mathematical needs of partner disciplines obtained through a series of disciplinary-based workshops known as the Curriculum Foundations Project.
The Curriculum Foundations Project was organized by CRAFTY, the CUPM subcommittee Curriculum Renewal Across the First Two Years. It gathered input from partner disciplines through a series of eleven workshops held across the country from November 1999 to February 2001, followed by a final summary conference in November 2001.
This volume includes all the individual reports, as well as the summary recommendations from the final all-discipline conference. The workshop reports and the Collective Vision were used heavily by the CUPM in the preparation of its CUPM Guide 2004. However, the workshop reports and Collective Vision have a value independent of the CUPM Guide: they can serve as resources for multi-disciplinary discussions at individual institutions. Promoting and supporting informed interdepartmental discussions about the undergraduate curriculum might ultimately be the most important function of the Curriculum Foundations Project.