Dean Olin's Family
Dean Olin joined the College in 2000 after serving 25 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech and six years as chair of Virginia Tech's Department of Mathematics.
Olin is known nationally for his innovative implementation of technology in service to education. He is the recipient of the 2002 Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award given by the Council for Adult and Experiential Leaning and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education on November 11, 2002. The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated their ability to foster changes in higher education that result in substantial improvement.
Under his leadership, UA's College of Arts and Sciences opened the Mathematics Technology Learning Center, a 240-computer math learning community located in UA's largest residence hall. The Math Technology Learning Center removes traditional obstacles to undergraduate learning of math by replacing lecture and blackboard instruction with interactive, self-paced computer programs in an environment where students also receive individual tutoring. In 2001, the center received a Special Award of Merit from the Alabama Quality Council.
A strong proponent of the value of learning communities, Olin has also led in the development of undergraduate residential learning communities at UA, including the Parker-Adams Freshmen Year. Designed to offer freshmen strong social and academic support, the Parker-Adams program had a 94.9 retention rate its first year.
At The University of Alabama, Olin has overseen a 9.1 percent increase in College contract and grant awards in the last year and the construction of the $58 million, state-of-the-art Shelby Hall Interdisciplinary Sciences Building, one of the largest academic research buildings in the Southeast. He is also spearheading plans for a $35 million Performing Arts Center.
Olin is a widely recognized mathematics scholar with research interests in operator theory and functional analysis. He is the author of numerous scholarly papers and has more than 20 years of continuous research funding.
He is a member of the Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, one of the standing boards in the National Research Council's Center for Education. The National Research Council is one of four arms of the National Academies that also includes the National Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
Olin received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1970 from Ottawa University in Kansas and a doctorate in mathematics in 1975 from Indiana University in Bloomington. He and his wife Lin have four children: son Kris; and daughters Susan, Ashley, and Lindsay.
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