2020 Retiring Faculty

Jeff Nunemacher

Parrott Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
(1985-2020)

Jeff Nunemacher graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in mathematics. He then earned his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University, where he specialized in the area of several complex variables under the direction of Yum-Tong Siu. Jeff had academic appointments at the University of Texas at Austin, Kenyon College, and Oberlin College before joining Ohio Wesleyan University in 1985.

Jeff has broad mathematical interests and has taught courses covering the entire range of undergraduate mathematics, as well as many courses in computer science. For many years, before OWU was able to hire faculty with formal training in computer science, Jeff supported both the mathematics and computer science curriculums and was instrumental in developing and teaching the courses that formed the basis of what was, at that time, a new major in computer science.

Notable courses Jeff has taught include an honors course on chaos; a course on Scheme and functional programming; Mathematical Logic, which is co-listed in philosophy; a course on the history of mathematics; and a course on scale relativity in biology co-taught with a professor of zoology.

Jeff’s academic excellence was recognized at an early age when he was awarded the Presidential Scholar Award by Lyndon Johnson in 1966. Because of his lifelong dedication to teaching excellence, he was awarded the Bishop Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award in 2018. In support of this award, a former student commented that one of Dr. Nunemacher’s courses, “changed my life and remains the single most profound educational experience I have ever had.” Another student wrote, “Ohio Wesleyan is rightfully proud of its exceptional teachers, and I met them in every department. For me, Jeff Nunemacher was the best of them, the center around which my undergraduate degree revolved, and a continuing inspiration to work hard on difficult tasks.”

Jeff served as the chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science for more than 15 years. He shepherded the department as it transitioned from a windowless back corner of the old Stewart science center, to a run-down and leaky annex building on Sandusky Street, then back to its present location in Bigelow-Rice. Jeff was, and remains, a model colleague. His collaborative spirit and easygoing demeanor helped institute an ethos of cooperation and camaraderie in the department that persists to this day.

Jeff served for 10 years as the book review editor of the American Mathematical Monthly, the flagship publication of the American Mathematical Society. In retirement, Jeff remains an associate editor of the publication’s editorial board, a position he’s held for more than 20 years. He also was recently appointed to the editorial board of the Carus Monograph series.

Jeff’s publications touch on many diverse areas of mathematics and computing, including approximation theory, theory of curves, optimization, and real and complex geometry. Over 100 of his translations from the Russian of mathematics articles originally appearing in Izvestiya, Sbornik, and Doklady have been published by the American Mathematical Society and the London Mathematical Society.