Main Content Area
Undergraduate
Advisors
Mary Wright | Director of Undergraduate Programs and Chief Advisor
Southern Illinois University | Department of Mathematics
Office: Neckers 357
Phone: 618.453.6582
Email: mwright@math.siu.edu
Other Mathematics Advisors
Don Redmond | Mathematics Advisor
Southern Illinois University | Department of Mathematics
Office: Neckers 259
Phone: 618.453.6509
Email: dredmond@math.siu.edu
Marvin Zeman | Mathematics Advisor
Southern Illinois University | Department of Mathematics
Office: Neckers 263
Phone: 618.453.6506
Email: mzeman@math.siu.edu
Undergraduate Opportunities
Opportunities for mathematics majors have expanded greatly in recent years. Mathematics majors become actuaries, statisticians, mathematical computer scientists, applied mathematicians, operations research analysts and mathematical researchers. Mathematics is growing and changing and holds fascinating challenges for inquiring minds.
As an undergraduate mathematics major at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, you may work toward a Bachelor of Science degree in the College of Science or the College of Education and Human Services, or a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Liberal Arts. The classes in the mathematics major curriculum are small and are taught by senior faculty members. A strong support system of college and departmental advisement is available to you at SIUC throughout the year.
A student planning for employment with a bachelor’s degree should consider a minor or a second major in some field in which mathematics is applied. Many students earn a double major in mathematics and computer science. All of the bachelor’s degree programs in mathematics, including the Bachelor of Science degree in the College of Education and Human Services, have sufficient flexibility to allow you to prepare for alternate career possibilities.
To prepare to major in mathematics at SIUC, you should have a solid high school preparation in algebra, geometry in two and three dimensions, and trigonometry, including a substantial study of functions and graphing. Students transferring to SIUC after two years at a community college should have completed the calculus sequence and, if possible, linear algebra and a course in a high-level computer programming language.
As a mathematics major at SIUC, you will meet with a Department of Mathematics advisor at least once each semester for planning and departmental approval of courses appropriate to your goals and interests.
A grade of C or better is required in every mathematics course used to satisfy departmental requirements. A student cannot repeat a course or its equivalent in which a grade of B or better was earned without the consent of the department.
Double majors in mathematics and related fields
Special provisions are made for students to earn a double major in mathematics and a field in which mathematics is extensively applied. The courses Math 447, 449, 471, 472 and 475 carry credit in both mathematics and computer science. See Bachelor of Science Degree, College of Science for specific requirements in mathematics for students who also earn a major or minor in computer science.
For students pursuing a double major in math and engineering, physics, or chemistry, the mathematics requirements are Math 150, 250, 251, 305 and five additional mathematics courses numbered above 300, including at least three courses above 400, and including two of the three areas of algebra, analysis, probability and statistics. A mathematics department advisor must approve the courses.
Students majoring in business and administration with a secondary concentration in mathematics may obtain a second major in mathematics. The requirements are Mathematics 150, 221, 250, 251 and five approved mathematics courses at the 300-400 level, of which at least four are at the 400-level. Recommended courses for this program include Mathematics 471, 472, 475A, 483, 484, Management 352, 360, 456; Economics 315, 465; Finance 310, 331 and 341.
Option in Statistics
A student majoring in mathematics in the College of Science or the College of Liberal Arts may choose to concentrate in statistics. For this option, the 300- and 400-level course requirements include: 417; 305 or 472; one of 352, 450, 452 or 455; 380 or 480; 483; and at least two of 473, 481, 484, 485.