Karen Michalowicz

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Karen Dee Ann Shuman Michalowicz (died 2006) was an American middle school math teacher who believed math education should include the history of mathematics, women in math, and ethnomathematics to be more diverse and inclusive. She also collected old 16th‑century math textbooks by Tartaglia, Sabinus, and Clavius.

She was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the daughter of a U.S. Marine. She grew up in Falls Church, Virginia, and lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, while studying at a Catholic high school in Alexandria, Virginia. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of America and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia. She taught math in McLean, Virginia for nearly 40 years and was known as “Ms. Mikey” to her students. She led the Langley School upper school math department and also taught as an adjunct professor at George Mason University.

Her work included serving on the Mathcounts board, participating in the National Commission on Mathematics Instruction, editing the Mathematical Association of America journal Convergence, and co-directing an NSF project called Historical Modules for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics. One of her students, Nathan Curtis, later won medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad and credited her with sparking his love of math.

She married Joseph Michalowicz in 1963; they had two children and later divorced, but she kept his surname. She lived in Falls Church and attended Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. She died of bone marrow cancer on July 17, 2006.

Awards recognized her work: the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 1990; Virginia State Teacher of the Year by the AAUW; and Teacher of the Year by the Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Her math book collection is at American University. The Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics offers a Michalowicz travel grant for National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conferences.