Nicole M. Joseph
Nicole Michele Joseph is an American mathematician and scholar of mathematics education whose research particularly focuses on the experiences of African-American girls and women in mathematics.
Quotes
[edit]- When I was a younger student, I was that kid who was able to do school. I knew how to talk to the right people and figure out what classes and things that I needed. That’s not because I had a legacy family that all went to college.
- That was because I just had something in me where I learned how to network and interact with people very, very early. And I just began to observe how folks [who had] what I thought was more power, I just observed to see how they moved in the world and began to engage them.
- I enjoyed math because of its power to help me understand things. Not to just sit in the library and do a long problem; it wasn’t about that for me.
- It really is like, man, if you can be math literate — I don’t care if you’re an artist, if you’re a nurse, if you’re a janitor — math literacy is going to help you push forward in your life and just open up so many opportunities.
- So that’s one of the reasons why I think I really fell in love with math, and why I enjoyed it, and why I try to help my students and everybody else around me see its power.
- I’ve learned through some of my research that Black girls want to be able to have more of a family, relaxed environment — to be able to laugh and be social — while at the same time doing their math work.
