UW-Madison alumna Abbe Herzig has been named the inaugural director of education in the Division of Government Relations of the American Mathematical Society (AMS).
Herzig earned both her master’s (1999) and Ph.D. (2002) from the School of Education’s highly ranked Department of Curriculum and Instruction. 
According to this AMS news release, Herzig will oversee the AMS education portfolio, with a focus on undergraduate and graduate education in the mathematical sciences. This work includes the preparation of students to enter graduate programs, the mentoring of students for success in graduate school, the preparation for careers both inside and outside of academia, and the promotion of diversity and inclusiveness in all mathematics education.
“This position provides me with the remarkable opportunity to collaborate with stakeholders both within and beyond the AMS to strengthen mathematics education, particularly at the graduate level, and with a focus on students traditionally underserved by the mathematics community,” Herzig says in the release.
Within the AMS, Herzig will work closely with the Committee on Education, as well as staff who administer AMS programs in education and/or diversity. Her location in Washington, D.C., will enable Herzig to provide leadership and advocacy for mathematics education policy in discussion with policymakers, other professional societies, and organizations such as the National Academies and the US Department of Education.
The news release adds that with the support of an NSF CAREER award, Herzig studied graduate programs in which women or students of color had greater success than was the norm elsewhere. Based on this research, she proposed and co-organized the workshops Finding and Keeping Graduate Students in the Mathematical Sciences, held at the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) in 2006 and again in 2009. These workshops brought together leaders in doctoral education to exchange ideas and develop models for graduate education that support the success of all students.
Herzig has extensive experience as a mathematics educator, researcher in higher education, and statistician in the private sector. She has also worked as a statistician in the non-profit sector, a leader of software engineers building healthcare quality metrics in a commercial corporation, a consultant to the United Nations and the Legal Defense Fund, a mathematics education researcher, and a teacher at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. While working in the private sector, she has maintained a long-standing commitment to education and ties with the academic professional community.
Herzig will leave her current position at 3M Health Information Systems to join the AMS, the news release explains.