Hortensia Soto is a Mexican–American mathematics educator, and a professor of mathematics at

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. In May 2018, she was appointed Associate Secretary of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

(MAA).

Early life and education

Soto was born in a

sod house The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, ...

in , part of the municipality of

Teocaltiche Teocaltiche ( nah, Teocaltillitzin "place near the temple") is a town and municipality in the central-western Mexican state of Jalisco. It is located in the northeastern highlands region of Jalisco, commonly referred to in Spanish as "Los Altos de ...

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

, Mexico. Her family moved to a farm near

Morrill, Nebraska Morrill is a village located in Scotts Bluff County, in the western Panhandle, in the northwestern portion of the United States state of Nebraska. Morrill is part of the Scottsbluff, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9 ...

when she was one year old, and she grew up in Nebraska. Her talent for mathematics was encouraged in elementary school and recognized in high school; already at that age she was called on to act as a substitute mathematics teacher. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in mathematics education from

Chadron State College Chadron State College is a public college in Chadron, Nebraska, US. It is one of three public colleges in the Nebraska State College System. It has open admission and an acceptance rate of 100%. According to College Factual, it has a six-year g ...

in Nebraska, earned in 1988 and 1989 respectively. She earned a second master's degree in mathematics at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

in 1994, and completed Ph.D. in educational mathematics at the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

in 1996.

Career

Soto worked at the

University of Southern Colorado Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) is a public university in Pueblo, Colorado. It is a member of the Colorado State University System (CSU System) and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). History 1933 to 1959 The idea for startin ...

from 1989 to 1992 as director of the Mathematics Learning Center. In 1995, she became an assistant professor of mathematics at the university, earning tenure there as an associate professor in 2001; the university became known as Colorado State University–Pueblo in 2003. In 2005 she moved to the University of Northern Colorado, taking a step down to become an assistant professor again. She was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and to full professor in 2014, before moving to Colorado State University as a professor of mathematics. At the University of Northern Colorado, Soto founded and directed a summer program for high school girls, Las Chicas de Matemáticas: UNC Math Camp for Young Women, from 2008 to 2014, and returned to rural Nebraska to participate in a teacher education program there, Math in the Middle. She is a fellow of

Project NExT National Ticketing Solution (NTS) is a public transport payment system in development for New Zealand. It is contracted to American company Cubic. It is expected to start roll out in the Canterbury region in 2024 and available nationwide by 2026 ...

, and has been governor of the Rocky Mountain Section of the

. She is also a principal investigator of the ''Embodied Mathematical Imagination & Cognition'' project. She has a long association with the MAA and has been increasingly involved with its governance. In May 2018, she took over from Gerald Venama as its Associate Secretary.

Recognition

In 2001, Chadron State College gave Soto their Distinguished Young Alumni Award. In 2012, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) gave Soto their Meritorious Service Award. She was the 2016 winner of the Burton W. Jones Distinguished Teaching Award of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA, and one of the 2018 winners of the

Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics The Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics are awards given by the Mathematical Association of America to recognize college or university teachers "who have been widely recognized as ...

. She is included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the Association of Women in Mathematics.

References

External Links

Meet a Mathematician! Video Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soto, Hortensia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Teocaltiche Mexican emigrants to the United States 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Mexican mathematicians Mexican women mathematicians Chadron State College alumni University of Arizona alumni University of Northern Colorado alumni Colorado State University Pueblo faculty University of Northern Colorado faculty Colorado State University faculty 20th-century American women 21st-century American women