Marta Civil

The University of Arizona

Professor

Marta Civil is a Professor and the Roy F. Graesser Chair in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Arizona. She is also a University Distinguished Outreach Professor. She was the Frank A. Daniels Jr. Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011-14). She received her Ph.D. in Education (mathematics education) in 1990 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research looks at cultural, social, and language aspects in the teaching and learning of mathematics; participation in the mathematics classroom; connections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics; and parental engagement in mathematics. Her work is grounded on the concepts of funds of knowledge and parents as intellectual resources, with a focus on developing culturally sustaining learning environments in mathematics education. She has led multiple funded projects working with children, parents, and teachers, primarily in Mexican American communities in the US. Her recent work includes a collaboration with two other universities focused on the development of a mathematical partnership that engages teachers, parents, and multilingual children in grades 2-5 in underserved communities. She is also working on how to apply lessons learned from her work in equity in K-12 settings to entry level college mathematics teaching and learning. She received the TODOS Iris M. Carl Equity and Leadership Award in 2013 and the NCTM Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. She became an AERA Fellow in 2023.