Rate My Professor Holly Anthony

Holly Garrett Anthony is Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Tennessee Technological University, where she has been teaching for the past 18 years in the College of Education. She earned her B.S. in Mathematics and M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Middle Tennessee State University and her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Georgia. Prior to her university appointment, Anthony taught mathematics in public and private middle and high schools across Tennessee, Georgia, Australia, and South Africa. In her current role, she instructs preservice teachers in mathematics content and methods courses and delivers doctoral-level courses in STEM education, qualitative research, and program planning. She also advises upper-division undergraduate secondary education majors, supervises practicum students in K-12 settings, and maintains a split teaching appointment with the Mathematics Department.

Anthony's scholarship emphasizes teacher professional development and STEM education, with goals to transform K-12 mathematics instruction in Tennessee's Upper Cumberland region, nationally, and internationally by bridging research and classroom practice. In recognition of her contributions, she received the 2022 Caplenor Faculty Research Award, the first for a woman in 25 years and only the third from her college since the award's inception in 1981. She holds leadership positions including president of the Tennessee Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, faculty lead for the Tech Tomorrow strategic goal on innovation, and chair of the One-to-One Technology Committee. Anthony has pioneered student teaching abroad programs through homestays and co-directs initiatives like the Global Gateway for Teachers. Recent grants include a 2025 $760,000 National Science Foundation award to bolster the STEM teacher pipeline and a 2024 CITL TechTrendsetter Grant for technology-enhanced learning. Key publications feature co-authored articles such as "Authentic Health-Care Scenarios Make Mathematics Meaningful" (Mathematics Teacher, 2018) and "Making Quilts without Sewing: Investigating Planar Symmetries in Southern Quilts" (Mathematics Teacher, 2005), editorship of Developing Mathematical Literacy through Adolescent Literature (2022), and contributions including "See It, Speak It, Draw It, and Learn to Communicate in Simple Language" (2022) and analyses of STEM research journals (2020).