Math professor receives 2025 Wisconsin Section Distinguished Mathematics Teaching Award

April 9, 2025 - University of Wisconsin-River Falls Mathematics Professor Erick Hofacker has received the 2025 Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Wisconsin Section Distinguished Teaching Award. The honor, which was awarded at the sectional meeting at UW-Platteville April 4, recognizes that mathematicians at the colleges and universities in Wisconsin place high importance on teaching.
 
The award makes Hofacker the Wisconsin Section nominee for the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, a MAA national award bestowed each summer.
 
Hofacker is the first person in the state to win both this award and the Wisconsin Mathematics Council (WMC) Distinguished Mathematics Educator Award, which he received in 2019 for his outstanding contributions and exceptional leadership and service to the Wisconsin mathematics education community. Both awards honor his work in K-12 mathematics, as well as in higher education.  
 
The Wisconsin Section of the MAA will host their 2026 conference at UW-River Falls April 10-11, 2026, and will feature Hofacker as the keynote banquet speaker.
 
“Erick created a unique practicum model within the Secondary Mathematics Apprenticeship experience as connected within a professional development school partnership,” explained Mary Wright, a UW-River Falls emeritus faculty member who has been Hofacker’s math apprentice teaching partner for the last 18 years. “This apprenticeship model is superb and Erick’s work and dedication to his work in mathematics teacher education has left a true legacy, as his work lives on not only through his candidates but continues to impact current and future students in K-16 schools.” 
 
Over the years, Hofacker, who holds a bachelor’s degree and Master of Science degree in teaching from UW-River Falls, has prepared over 150 math apprentices to become middle school or high school mathematics teachers, many of whom he still works with on a variety of projects. 
 
From 2008-19, he led at least one funded grant project each year. He served as the main primary investigator and coordinator on most of the 13 external grant projects he and his colleagues received, totaling over $2.5 million. These grants supported and engaged hundreds of K-16 mathematics teachers and university apprentices (pre-service math teachers) in scholarly work by working with faculty from other UW institutions. Since 2020, Hofacker has conducted nine different multi-year, non-funded online projects for hundreds of K-12 mathematics teachers across the state of Wisconsin.
 
In 2023, he developed the Mathematics Bridge Project, a joint project between the MAA and WMC. Now in its second year, the effort brings members of both organizations together to share work they are each doing related to PK-16 mathematics and mathematics education in Wisconsin.
 
“Erick is a master educator and true mentor. He is consistent in leading by example and through encouragement. Erick has strong working relationships with many school districts in the state and with colleagues in higher education,” said Barbara Miller, a former UW-La Crosse statistics professor and one of Hofacker’s grant and project partners for the past 11 years. “His momentum for planning and leading projects that engage and grow current and future teachers is unrelenting. Of note, is Erick’s passion for the inclusion of mathematical modeling at both the K-12 and collegiate levels.” 
 
Hofacker holds a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Minnesota and has been teaching mathematics for 27 years. He is in his 25th year at UW-River Falls and directs both the undergraduate and graduate mathematics education programs.