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Ken Valente

Professor of Mathematics and LGBTQ Studies
Mathematics , 201J McGregory Hall
p 315 2287247
Professional website

Degree

 BS California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo 1979; MS, PhD University of Oregon 1982, 1985

Teaching Experience

 Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley 1985-87

Specialities

 History and philosophy of mathematics since the nineteenth century
Algebraic structures

Interests

My current research is dedicated to the history of mathematics, science, and ideas.  I focus primarily on ways in which mathematical innovations were disseminated to and discussed by the general public in the period 1870-1920.  Recent work engages feminist and queer analytic perspectives.  Work in progress includes:

"Queering the Academy: A Case Approach to LGBTQ Studies," with Molly Merryman (Kent State University), in review.

"Contesting the 'New Infinite' in Spiritual Contexts, 1880-1930," in progress.

"The Fourth Dimension in Early Modern Theosophical Discourse," manuscript.

Publications

Recent research in the history of science and mathematics includes

"Alan Turing: Reflecting on the Life, Work, and Popular Representations of a Queer Mathematician." Mathematics in Popular Culture: Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media.  Ed. Jessica and Elizabeth Sklar.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012.

Entries on "Mathematics as Religion," "Religious Mathematicians," and "Religious Writings" for the Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Society. Ed. Sarah Greenwald and Jill Thomley. Pasadena CA: Salem, 2011.

"Giving Wings to Logic: Mary Everest Boole's Propagation and Fulfilment of a Legacy." British Journal for the History of Science 43 (Mar 2010): 49-74.  Link to the abstract.

"Triangulating the Contribution of George Salmon to Victorian Disputes on Mathematics, Evolution, and Liberal Theology." Nineteenth Century Contexts 31 (Sep 2009): 251-69.  Link to the introduction.

"'Who will explain the explanation?': The Ambivalent Reception of Higher Dimensional Space in the British Spiritualist Press, 1875-1900." Victorian Periodicals Review 41 (Jun 2008): 124-49.  Link to the introduction.

"'A Finite Universe?': Riemannian Geometry and the Modernist Theology of Ernest William Barnes." British Journal for the History of Science 38 (Jun 2005): 1-21.  Link to the abstract.

"Transgression and Transcendence: Flatland as a Response to 'A New Philosophy." Nineteenth Century Contexts 26 (Mar 2004): 61-77.  Link to the introduction.

Research in pure mathematics has appeared in Pacific Journal of Mathematics, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, Proceedings of the Conference on Quadratic Forms and Real Algebraic Geometry; Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra and American Mathematical Monthly.

Professional Experience

 University Professor for First-Year Seminars, CORE Distinction, and Global Engagements, 2008 - 2012

Interim University Professor for CORE Distinction and First-Year Seminars, Fall 2005

Visiting Research Fellow with the History of Science and Technology Unit of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 2002/03

Distinctions

Member of the National Advisory Committee, Expanding the Circle Summer Institute, California Institute for Integral Studies, 2012 - present

Institute Faculty, Expanding the Circle Summer Institute, 18-21 June 2012, San Francisco CA

Colgate Picker Fellow 1990/91

Pew Consortium Grant 1989

Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California, Berkeley, 1986

Other

 Member of the History of Science Society and the British Society for the History of Science