Strangely, Alan Zollman never was the smartest kid when it came to math. As a child, he struggled more than his classmates.

However, that changed when he hit high school, and today he is getting recognized for math prowess by being named to a leadership position in a leading math organization.

“I was never the smartest kid in math in elementary school,” the 52-year-old associate mathematics professor said. “I was pretty slow actually. Then I got to high school and found that I looked at math differently than other people did and I liked it more than they did. Where others see a lot of formulas and rules and stuff to remember, I see a lot of integrated ideas that are interesting and challenging.”

Zollman recently was elected director of the School Science and Mathematics Association, an international education think tank.

“It’s pretty nice,” he said. “It’s both science and mathematics educators, and it’s international. It’s a nice honor that people know and respect you. It’s a nice honor for Northern. It makes our program more visible beyond NIU.”

The recognition doesn’t come as a surprise to Zollman’s colleagues, considering he has done more than 40 national presentations and published 50 articles on mathematics education.

“He’s a very helpful, friendly person around the department and an excellent colleague who is more than willing to do his share,” said John Wolfskill, mathematical sciences assistant chair. “It does really reflect on our mathematical education faculty. They have worked really hard for many years and it is important recognition for Alan’s hard work all these years.”

The admiration is mutual.

“I like the people I work with a lot because they are very bright, but not stuffy. I like the fact that it’s a big university, but a small town. Most of all, I love teaching because of my great students. They always look at things differently than I would. It’s great to see the different perspectives they all bring to the table every time.”

In his spare time, Zollman likes to be with his family, including his wife Sharon and two daughters. He counts photography as his favorite hobby, particularly when he is snapping pictures of national parks, which he likes to do every summer.

Zollman hasn’t always called a classroom home. He has worked as a welder in a ship yard and had a stint in the peace corp, teaching underprivileged children in Ghana.

“It was like a dream,” he said. “Everything I did – how you got water, how you shaved, how you taught – was different from what I do here. I didn’t even know where Ghana was before I got there. It was a great experience.”

What’s not a great experience is the stereotype of the boring nerd that afflicts mathematicians.

“I think everybody gets unfairly stereotyped,” he said. “Math brings out more emotion when people think of it. If you go over to Molly’s and say you are a math major, people probably don’t come over and buy you drinks.”

Maybe someone will buy Zollman a drink at his retirement party, but that’s a long way off.

“I like working with teachers and I like working with kids. Even if I retired, I think I would still be involved with education at some level, but I don’t intend to retire anytime soon.”