Lawrence (Larry) Shirley
with my late wife, Alberta, at the wedding of our daughter in 2004 in Hawaii


Professor, Department of Mathematics, Towson University

854 Bosley Avenue, Towson MD 21204-2610
410-825-1328
LShirley@towson.edu
http://pages.towson.edu/shirley
(with lots of links about me and my interests)

I graduated from Caltech in 1969 with a double-major in math and history. Then I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone (West Africa) for three years, mostly teaching high school math and holding workshops on a new math curriculum. I returned to the US and earned an M.Ed. degree at the University of Illinois, but I had been hooked by Africa and returned. I lived in Zaria, Nigeria, 1974-88, teaching math education at Ahmadu Bello University, obtaining a PhD in math education, working on the Nigerian national school mathematics curriculum, marrying Alberta Ohenewah (from Ghana), and having two children, Jeff and Emily. We finally returned to the US in 1988 to northern Illinois, but came to Towson, Maryland, in 1989, where I have been a professor of math education at Towson University. From 2001 to 2011, I served as the Associate/Acting Dean of Graduate Studies, but now I have returned to full-time teachingin the Mathematics Department. Our son taught math for eight years at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California, but in 2010, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where his wife, Lauren Hall-Lew, now teaches at the University of Edinburgh and he works as a universityadministrator in Student Services. Our daughter is the Director of our local La Petite Academy pre-school. She is married to Jamaar Sweet, and their daughter, Maya, was born in 2008. I also have a step-daughter, Affie, in Ghana, who has four children. I’m very sad to report that my wife, Alberta, died in March of 2010. I visit Mesa a few times a year, since my mother still lives there, and I maintain my ties to Ghana.