Hispanics are grossly underrepresented in university math departments, both as faculty and students, William Yslas Vélez said at the Jan. 20 Marjorie Lee Browne Colloquium. He said universities should encourage minority students to pursue majors in mathematics.

Vélez, a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of Arizona, spoke about the need for minorities, especially Hispanics, in science and engineering careers. He encouraged mathematics departments to develop community outreach programs such as the one he developed at his school. Sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, the colloquium was held in conjunction with the symposium honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

Drawing on his own experiences as a Chicano, Vélez noted that although 25 percent of Arizona’s population is Hispanic, there are only two Hispanic mathematicians at the University of Arizona.

“I feel great pain to think that the students of the Southwest are not being served,” Vélez said. “If they are not being served by Chicano mathematicians, they are not being served.”

At the graduate level, Vélez faults math departments for overlooking qualified, U.S.-born students in favor of foreign-born students. Though he considers the latter often better-prepared for advanced mathematics courses, he nonetheless stressed that American students, regardless of ethnicity, should have an equal shot at graduate education.

“Diversity should mean that those who go through our K-12 system of education should be able to survive and flourish at our universities,” Vélez said. “Our faculty should reflect the population of the United States.”

As one of a handful of Chicano mathematicians at Ph.D.-granting universities in the Southwest, Vélez has risen to the pinnacle of academic success. Besides teaching, he also has served as a consultant to the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego and has held positions at various military labs. In 1997 he received a White House President’s Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Despite his own achievements, Vélez stressed that more needs to be done to increase math literacy among minority populations. He said that if faculty members focus less on research and more on encouraging youths to pursue majors in mathematics, there will be increased diversity in the technological sector of the workforce.

“We work tirelessly to create the notes that are this complex composition of mathematics, yet we spend little time thinking of how to sing, and even less time recruiting for the singers of this composition,” Vélez said. “Don’t you think that the music would be sweeter if more of us had a chance to sing?”

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