Rate My Professor Elizabeth Burroughs

Elizabeth A. Burroughs, Ph.D., is Professor of Mathematics Education and Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. In March 2026, she was appointed Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of New Mexico in 2003, with a dissertation titled 'Convection in a Closed-Loop Thermosyphon: Bifurcation and Stability Analysis.' Prior degrees include an M.A. in Mathematics from the University of New Mexico in 1999, a Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Certificate from Kennesaw State University in 1995, and a B.A. in Mathematics and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992. Burroughs has built a distinguished career at Montana State University, advancing from associate professor to full professor and department head. During 2014-2015, she served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of York in the United Kingdom, collaborating on mathematics education research.

Her research specializations focus on the connections between mathematics studied by pre-service teachers during their undergraduate programs and the mathematics they teach in schools, mathematical modeling in elementary classrooms, classroom coaching in elementary mathematics, and developing appropriate courses for pre-service mathematics teacher preparation programs. Burroughs has led several significant projects, including serving as co-Principal Investigator for the Examining Mathematics Coaching (EMC) project, Montana Models for mathematical modeling in informal settings, the META Math project for undergraduate teacher preparation, and the Immersion project on mathematical modeling with elementary teachers. She also developed an undergraduate mathematical modeling course applied to optimizing routes for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. Burroughs teaches a range of courses in mathematics education, such as Methods of Teaching 5-8 and 9-12 Mathematics, Modeling for Teachers, Algebraic Thinking and Number Sense in the Middle Grades, and Curriculum Design in Mathematics. Her contributions extend to leadership as Chair of the MAA Rocky Mountain Section. Key publications include work published in the International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow and editorship of MAA Notes Volume 98, 'An Aspirational Approach to the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers.' She received the Fulbright Award in 2014.