Dec 22, 2009 - Claremont, Calif. -

Supporting local mathematics educators and their students is the focus of a new community service program, recently funded by a $125,000 grant, to be administered by Harvey Mudd College.

Called the Homework Hotline, the program will be led by Pomona-native Gabriela Gamiz-Gomez and will utilize HMC’s high-achieving math and science undergraduates to provide mathematics tutoring to local secondary school students.

The program, currently under development, will be offered as a free service to the local community and is based on the successful Homework Hotline model at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, an Indiana college that specializes in engineering, science and mathematics education. Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline, started in 1991, reinforces math and science concepts and helps students develop better problem-solving skills through tutoring via a toll-free phone call, e-mail and online resources. The service, supported by the Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc., has answered more than 280,000 calls since 2002, including 21,506 in the first four months of the 2009-10 school year. More than 30 students are available between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. each Sunday through Thursday, from September through May.

Initially, HMC will pilot the program locally. By calling a toll-free number, students will be able to work with HMC student tutors who are trained to provide help in mathematics.

"I'm very excited about the Homework Hotline program. It's a great opportunity to expand our vision to reach groups of students who may not normally benefit from tutoring," said President Maria Klawe.

Homework Hotline administrator Gamiz-Gomez will draw from a wealth of experience in the local community as she develops the program. She grew up in Pomona, attended Ganesha High School and participated in the California's Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program on the HMC campus, where she took classes and attended field trips to places such as Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She went on to Pomona College—becoming the first person in her family to attend college—where she received a B.A. in psychology. She went on to earn an M.A. in education from Claremont Graduate University.

Gamiz-Gomez worked as a tutor with Upward Bound, a program similar to MESA that provides first-generation, college-bound high school students with residential experiences on college campuses throughout the U.S. She later served as associate director and then director of Upward Bound’s Math and Science Center from 1996 to 2002. More recently, she was the project director for a Title V grant for developing Hispanic-serving institutions in the Riverside Community College District, where she was also adjunct professor of education.

Now, as director, Gamiz-Gomez is charged with making the HMC Homework Hotline a reality. Plans for the program began when HMC President and Math for America Los Angeles board member Maria Klawe visited Rose-Hulman, located in Terre Haute, Ind., in 2008 and met with the institution’s Homework Hotline director. Shortly after, Darryl Yong, associate professor of mathematics, traveled to Rose-Hulman to talk with its Homework Hotline staff, study the program and determine how a similar tutoring service could be implemented at HMC.

“Access to tutoring is a huge issue because it helps close the gap between the kinds of educational opportunities that are available to students in affluent families and students in poor families,” says Yong, who is co-director of the Harvey Mudd College Professional Development and Outreach Group which supports middle- and high-school mathematics teachers in the Los Angeles area through mathematics workshops, travel grants and other outreach activities. He is also on the steering committee for Math for America Los Angeles. Like Yong, Gamiz-Gomez is particularly excited that the hotline will reach students who will benefit most from free tutoring services.

The $125,000 grant from donors James and Marilyn Simons, ardent supporters of advancing research in basic science and mathematics, provided the necessary funding to launch the Homework Hotline. Rose-Hulman staff and students see the new program as an open partnership and are supporting the development of HMC’s new program by agreeing to share training materials, promotional strategies and other resources.

“It’s exciting to see everything unfold,” says Gamiz-Gomez, who plans to enlist HMC faculty and students to partner with her in the planning and implementing stages. “I’ve received tremendous support from the HMC community, and I can’t wait to start working with everyone.”

 “We’re happy to see Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline become a national model for helping middle school and high school students in other areas across the United States,” says Susan Smith, director of Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline.  “Rose-Hulman and Harvey Mudd have a lot in common, with both ranking among the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate engineering education, and it would seem appropriate that we would work together to utilize our students to help encourage today’s youths to get the critical math skills to become tomorrow’s engineers and scientists.”

About Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a national leader in undergraduate education in engineering, science and mathematics, with a strong emphasis on humanities and the social sciences. The college’s mission is to produce citizens sensitive to the impact of their work on society. HMC's educational outreach programs to K-12 institutions—targeted to both students and teachers—help encourage interest in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and increase the pool of future engineers and scientists from groups that are traditionally underrepresented. Harvey Mudd College is a member of The Claremont Colleges Consortium, which also includes Claremont Graduate University, Claremont McKenna College, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Science, Pitzer College, Pomona College and Scripps College.