Twenty semesters later: how NFW helped us to multiply majors

In the Fall of 1997, I missed my daughter's first Halloween to attend the NFW. Though that was disappointing, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there were a number of people who thought about teaching and had very constructive ideas to share. I immediately applied what I had learned in the large lecture class that I taught for a few years, with success for my students and my career. I then spent 7.5 years as the Director of Undergraduate Studies: the contacts and insights provided by the NFW and subsequent occasional attendance at AAPT meetings were most helpful in improving our program (the number of graduating majors increased from about 3 to over 15 per year), along with the help of a few dedicated faculty at Syracuse. The specific pedagogical viewpoints and tools introduced at the NFW were helpful in my teaching and administrative work, but the most useful part of the experience was the license granted to seek improvements in both teaching and the undergraduate program and providing contact with others who took such issues seriously.