Established on 11.02.2013 by Roger E. '64 and Margaret A. Mills '67 Haglund †
Roger E Haglund and Margaret A Mills met at an all-school party at Concordia College in the fall of 1964 and were married December 18, 1965. Roger grew up on a small farm near Pelican Rapids, MN, and graduated from Concordia in 1964 with a double major in mathematics and physics. He earned a master’s degree in mathematics education from MSUM in 1975. After teaching one year at Colfax, ND, he taught mathematics, physics and computer science at Borup (MN) High School for 26 years. In 1991 Roger joined Concordia’s Mathematics and Computer Science Department, where he taught freshman mathematics and computer applications courses for 17 years. Margaret was born in Chicago and later moved to New Glarus, WI, where she graduated from high school. She graduated from Concordia in 1967, majoring in sociology and social work. Her social work career included positions at Cass County Social Services, Lutheran Social Service, Fraser and Golden Living Center.
Roger’s and Margaret’s shared interests include organic gardening, hiking, biking, birding and service projects. They volunteer at the Salvation Army, F-M Food Pantry and Churches United for the Homeless. Roger was Concordia’s Habitat for Humanity’s campus chapter’s faculty advisor, where he accompanied student workers on 14 spring break trips. After he retired in 2008 he became a volunteer crew leader for the local Habitat affiliate. Margaret is a mentor to new Habitat families and the chapter specialist for the Thrivent Builds with HFH program. Roger and Margaret are members of Hope Lutheran Church, Fargo, and have gone on two church mission trips to Guatemala. They were early members of the Audubon Society of Fargo-Moorhead, where Roger was a board member and secretary for many years. They enjoy owning Siberian huskies, and Roger competed in sled dog races for 12 years.
When Roger began teaching mathematics, he discovered that many students viewed mathematics as difficult, boring and not useful in their lives. As his teaching career evolved, he worked hard to learn ways to teach mathematics so that his students would find it interesting and relevant. He found support for his views in the “humanistic mathematics” movement, led by Dr. Alvin White. The goal of humanistic teaching is to help students gain an appreciation for mathematics as a creative, collaborative and exciting endeavor rather than a memorized set of rules used to solve tedious exercises with no obvious purposes. It seeks to place students in the position of inquirers and guide them to discover mathematical concepts through the use of interesting problems, open-ended questions, appropriate technology and collaborative learning groups. It is Roger and Margaret’s hope that the recipients of their scholarship awards will set a goal, for themselves, of becoming creative teachers who will make learning mathematics interesting, relevant and enjoyable for their students.
The Roger '64 and Margaret Mills '67 Haglund Endowed Scholarship is awarded by the Office of Financial Aid to one or more students during their junior or senior year who plan to teach mathematics. Selection criteria is further based on scholastic achievement and financial aid, with preference given to students pursuing a double major in mathematics and education or a major in elementary education with a specialty in mathematics. It is the Donor's wish that the scholarship recipients show promise of becoming creative, successful teachers of mathematics.