A faculty-written National Science Foundation grant to enhance developmental math learning ended up netting a gift to Fisk University that hasn’t stopped giving: Dr. Qingxia Li, a tenured associate professor.
Since arriving at Fisk in 2014 following his first assistant professorship at Lincoln University, Li has compiled impressive credentials as a prolific and effective grant-writer, researcher, presenter, author, scholar, teacher and cross-disciplinary collaborator. He’s also an education innovator, instituting a math club, developing an eight-semester timeline for Fiskites to prepare for graduate school as they matriculate, and integrating a creative new evidence-based pedagogy for teaching math that he developed in partnership with Xin Jiaotang Liverpool University in China.
“I am continually impressed with Dr. Li’s work ethic and his eagerness to participate and contribute to departmental and school initiatives,” says Dr. Cathy Martin, dean and chair of Fisk’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. “His passion, sincerity and jovial spirit are key in his rapport with students and, in large measure, engender greater appreciation and uncommon interest in the mathematics discipline.”
Over the last four years, Li has helped more than 40 students apply to various research programs, with more than 20 winning acceptance, notes Martin.
“He does so much for students,” says Martin, adding that Li’s office is always filled with students and he frequently works late and on weekends. “And he’s on the move. He always wants to improve himself and his students. And he adds a lot of energy to the department.”
Li became fascinated with math as a child in Qingdao, a city in the Shandong province of China. He quickly discovered that he was good at it, winning competitions and awards that fueled his interest in finding various techniques to answer a mathematical question.
“I like the feeling of solving a problem in perhaps ways that had not been tried before,” he says. “That makes me very happy.”
