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Victoria S Akin

Associate Professor of the Practice of Mathematics
Mathematics

Overview


I am an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Mathematics Department. I work primarily on teaching and math education. I am currently interested in the retention of women in STEM fields and the effect of intervention programs on girls' attitudes and beliefs about math. I am co-directing the Girls Exploring Math (GEM) program as part of this research effort. Additional interests include grading systems, facilitating whole-class discussions, and the impact of professional development programs on graduate student teaching.

Office Hours


Office: Physics 125

Math 242/Compsci 232: Spring 2024


EHD 396: Spring 2024
By appointment

Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor of the Practice of Mathematics · 2024 - Present Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Recent News Items


Published June 5, 2023
Duke University
How Trinity Faculty and Students Are Sharing Resources in Support of Durham Public Schools
Published April 16, 2019
Duke Math’s Tori Akin Named One of 2019’s Most Innovative Professors

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Recent Scholarly Works


Unnecessarily Hard: How Student Emotions, Course Components and Rigor Collide in Calculus

Conference http://sigmaa.maa.org/rume/RUME27_Proceedings.pdf · March 1, 2025 In this poster, we present a case study of Kappa University (KU), a private institution in the Southeastern United States. Our case study focuses on students’ experiences of their introductory calculus courses, which they often describe as “unnecessarily h ... Link to item Cite

WIP: Establishing Peer Observation of Engineering Teaching (POET) as a More Effective Means of Evaluating Teaching

Conference ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings · January 1, 2025 This work in progress paper investigates a model for peer observation of engineering teaching (POET) and its potential use in regular evaluations for instructors. Applying lessons learned from an initial pilot program as well as perspectives from the liter ... Full text Cite

Self-reported Student Motivations to Participate in DEI Service Work

Conference http://sigmaa.maa.org/rume/RUME26_Proceedings2024-letter.pdf · February 22, 2024 The proposed poster describes information collected from a case study of a DEI initiative in the math department at Kappa University (KU). A Networked Improvement Community (NIC) of faculty members and administrators began meeting monthly to discuss DEI in ... Cite
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Recent Grants


Achieving Critical Transformations in Undergraduate Programs in Mathematics (ACT UP MATH)

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by University of Nebraska - Lincoln · 2022 - 2025

Duke Girls Exploring Math (DukeGEM)

Public ServicePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Mathematical Association of America · 2021 - 2023

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Education


The University of Chicago · 2017 Ph.D.