About Hortensia

Hortensia Soto was born in Belén del Refujio, Jalisco, Mexico and raised on a farm in western Nebraska. She is the second of nine children and although her parents only have a third-grade education, all her siblings have a college education.

Hortensia has published in various areas of mathematics education including assessment, mathematical preparation of elementary teachers, outreach efforts for high school girls, and especially in the area of teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics. Her current research efforts are dedicated to investigating the teaching and learning complex analysis, where she adopts an embodied cognition perspective and is part of the Embodied Mathematics Imagination and Cognition community. Since her days as an undergraduate student, Hortensia has mentored young women and promoted mathematics via summer outreach programs. She has also been involved with facilitating professional development for K-16 teachers in Nebraska, Colorado, and California. Currently, she is delivering professional development to collegiate teachers as part of Project PROMESAS SSC (Pathways with Regional Outreach and Mathematics Excellence for Student Achievement in STEM), where she helps faculty learn about equitable teaching practices.

Hortensia’s research informs her teaching. As such, she is guiding her history of mathematics students to learn about and interact with mathematicians from underrepresented groups.

Hortensia is a working member of the Mathematical Association of America and currently serves as the Associate Secretary and is an editor of the MAA Instructional Practices Guide. Most recently, she received the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, practicing yoga, meditating, reading, and most of all spending time with her son Miguel.