The Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher Program brings each year to the UCLA Mathematics Department an outstanding high school mathematics teacher from the greater Los Angeles area to teach courses and participate in the part of the mathematics program that interfaces with secondary education. Candidates for the visiting high school mathematics teacher program must have an undergraduate math major and a master's degree, they must be experienced teachers who have taught calculus, and they must have demonstrated leadership skills. The principal teaching duties of the visiting high school teacher are to teach precalculus (Math 1) and to teach or participate in teaching courses for the professional education of primary and secondary school teachers (primary responsibility for Math 38C and Math 330).

The Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher Program serves to establish a liaison between the Mathematics Department and the high school education scene. This link allows Mathematics Department faculty to keep in touch with current developments on the high school scene, and it allows key high school mathematics teachers to become more intimately acquainted with the university mathematics education scene.

The idea and initiative for the Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher Program came from Phil Curtis, who had the enthusiastic support of then Department Chair Ted Gamelin. On a Fall day in 1979 the two of them made a visit to Acting Dean Levine to obtain assurance of Administration support. The first visitor under the program was James Caballero, a veteran teacher at Santa Monica High School.

The nominee for the Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher position each year is selected by the Mathematics Department Teacher Education Committee. The nomination requires the approval of the Mathematics Department and of the Dean of Physical Sciences.

Between 1980 and 2004 a high school teacher has participated in the program each year except for the academic depression years 1992-95. The growing number of past participants has developed into an active network that has provided the UCLA Mathematics Department with valuable access to the secondary education scene. Each year the past participants meet at UCLA for directed discussions on current developments in mathematics education, followed by dinner, drink, and undirected discussions.

Unfortunately resources were not available to invite a Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher for the academic year 2004-2005. It seems we have entered another academic depression.

The current and past participants in the program, with the high school they represented at time of selection, are as follows.