Char's focus was on teaching, curriculum development, and enhancing the professional development of prospective and practicing area teachers. In addition to teaching, she directed numerous honors thesis and capstone projects for students. In the department, Char served as a connection between mathematics and mathematics education. She brought mathematicians and mathematics educators in our department together through the Enhancing the Core project, which used K-12 curriculum and methods/visualization to motivate concepts in our core mathematics classes. Char has been honored for her teaching in multiple ways, including an Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Mathematics Education from the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) in 2013 and the Distinguished University Teaching of Mathematics from the Michigan section of the Mathematics Association of America in 2002.

 

Char was heavily involved in MCTM and other professional organizations at the state level and served in multiple leadership positions, including Regional Director and President (and president-elect and past president). Char organized multiple conferences for teachers and teacher educators, including Mathematics in Action, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, and Conversations Among Colleagues. She spearheaded an ambitious effort to create a 13-book series (Adventures with Mathematics, published by MCTM) to provide summer enrichment activities for students K-12 to explore key mathematical concepts via games and activities.  She was honored for her service to the profession by MCTM in 2006 and by the university with the GVSU Outstanding Community Service Award in 2017.

 

Char was also prolific with her scholarship and received a GVSU Distinguished Contribution to a Discipline Award in 2004. She authored/co-authored six published textbooks promoting active based learning, fourteen book chapters, thirteen journal articles, and more than 30 activities for the Adventures with Mathematics series.