2025-2026 Graduate Catalog Mathematics

High achieving students who graduated with a degree in ISU's Accelerated Mathematics undergraduate program are allowed to apply up to 12 hours of approved graduate courses to both the undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Students must complete either Option I or Option II. Option I requires a culminating experience in the form of an approved master's project, comprehensive exam, or professional practice. Thesis Option II requires a master's thesis. Students may complete a sequence in Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Applied Statistics, Biomathematics or in Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Education. Students in the Biomathematics sequence must complete Option II. The culminating experience/thesis project must be approved in advance by the Department's master's program committee.

All electives are subject to approval by the department's graduate advisor.

Option I — Non-Thesis

This 32-hour option requires:

• 26 hours in mathematics
• 3 hours: culminating experience in the form of MAT 490 or MAT 498 
• Electives as needed to reach required credit minimum

Option II — Thesis

This 30-hour option requires: 

• 24 hours in mathematics
• Electives as needed to reach required credit minimum 
• MAT 499 (4-6 hours)

Biomathematics is a cross-disciplinary program whose requirements are different from the other sequences. For more information, please consult the description of the Biomathematics Sequence.

Mathematics Sequence

• 11 hours: MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• 3 mathematics courses numbered 407 or above, excluding MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• Options I or II

Students with the following interests are advised to take the corresponding courses: (1) Secondary mathematics education: MAT 401, MAT 403, MAT 421, MAT 422; (2) Doctoral study in mathematics: MAT 407, MAT 447; (3) Computational mathematics: MAT 459, MAT 461, MAT 463, MAT 471 ; (4) Applied mathematics:  MAT 440, MAT 441, MAT 445, MAT 459, MAT 462, MAT 463, MAT 471 .

Actuarial Science Sequence

• 1 course selected from: MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• 12 hours: 3 courses selected from: MAT 460, MAT 470, MAT 473, MAT 480, MAT 481, MAT 483, MAT 484, MAT 485
• 3 mathematics courses numbered 407 or above 
• Options I or II 

The Department reserves the right to enforce professional standards of practice as specified by the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. These standards may be taken into consideration in program retention decisions.

Actuarial Science Online Sequence

Option I — Non-Thesis
This 32-hour option requires:

• 1 course selected from:  MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• 12 hours: 3 courses selected from: MAT 460, MAT 470, MAT 473, MAT 480, MAT 481, MAT 483, MAT 484, MAT 485
• 3 hours: culminating experience in the form of MAT 490 or MAT 498
• 14 credit hours of electives:
  • Electives outside of the department are eligible to satisfy this requirement. A maximum of 6 credit hours can be taken outside of the department. No more than one graduate level course outside of mathematics allowed. Please see your academic adviser.

Notes:

• The Department reserves the right to enforce professional standards of practice as specified by the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. These standards may be taken into consideration in program retention decisions.
• At least 3 courses need to be at MAT 407 or higher (excluding MAT 409, MAT 421, MAT 422, MAT 490, MAT 498, MAT 499)

Option II — Thesis
This 30-hour option requires:

• 1 course selected from:  MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• 12 hours: 3 courses selected from: MAT 460, MAT 470, MAT 473, MAT 480, MAT 481, MAT 483, MAT 484
• 4-6 credit hours: MAT 499
• 11-13 credit hours of electives:
  • Electives outside of the department are eligible to satisfy this requirement. A maximum of 6 credit hours can be taken outside of the department. No more than one graduate level course outside of mathematics allowed. Please see your academic adviser.

Notes:

• The Department reserves the right to enforce professional standards of practice as specified by the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. These standards may be taken into consideration in program retention decisions.
• At least 3 courses need to be at MAT 407 or higher (excluding MAT 409, MAT 421, MAT 422, MAT 490, MAT 498, MAT 499)

Applied Statistics Sequence

• MAT 448 , MAT 451
• 1 course from: MAT 436 , MAT 437 , and MAT 446
• 3 courses selected from: MAT 443, MAT 450, MAT 453, MAT 455, MAT 456, or MAT 458 
• Options I or II

Biomathematics Sequence

Biomathematics is an interdisciplinary graduate program offering courses and research opportunities in basic and applied mathematical biology. In order to accommodate students in the biological, mathematical or physical sciences, some substitutions may be approved at the discretion of the master's degree director. Persons seeking cross-disciplinary training in mathematics and biology may select this sequence. This 30-hour sequence requires: 

• Thesis option II 
• BioCore: MAT 440, MAT 442, MAT 448, MAT 451, BSC 420A36 taken twice under different topics 
• 12 hours from the School of Biological Sciences 
• 13 hours at the 400 level from outside of the BioCore 
• An area of emphasis may be chosen from the following:

Emphasis in Biostatistics and Modeling

A choice of courses from MAT 450 , MAT 453, MAT 455, MAT 456 , MAT 457, MAT 458 , MAT 459, MAT 462 ; and BSC 443 ,  BSC 403, BSC 404, BSC 405, BSC 450.37, BSC 471, BSC 486.

Emphasis in Computation and Bioinformatics

A choice of courses from MAT 459, MAT 463, MAT 471 ,  MAT 461; and BSC 447, BSC 453, BSC 455 , BSC 415, BSC 419, BSC 467, BSC 470, BSC 471.

Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Education Sequence

Persons who are teaching or who plan to teach at the elementary or middle school level may elect this sequence. This program does not lead to licensure.

• MAT 401, MAT 402, MAT 403, MAT 409, and MAT 412
• Options I or II 
• Students in this sequence who are considering entering the Mathematics Education Ph.D. program at Illinois State University are advised to take MAT 145 and MAT 146 and, as part of their master's program, the following courses: MAT 412 , MAT 413  or MAT 430 , MAT 414 , MAT 415 , MAT 420 , MAT 426, MAT 409, MAT 421, and MAT 422. Please see the Ph.D. advisor for more information.

The typical program is approximately 90 hours. A full-time student should expect to complete the required coursework for the program in 3 to 4 years past the master's degree.

Two options are available K-8 or K-12.

Program requirements include:

• 6 hours of graduate mathematics content courses 
• 30 hours in mathematics education 
• 3 hours for a professional project 
• 12 hours in research methods 
• 6 hours of electives in areas such as mathematics, technology, curriculum, educational psychology, evaluation, supervision, human development, learning theory or measurement 
• a minimum of 15 hours of dissertation credit

Students in the program must demonstrate competence in teaching prospective or practicing mathematics teachers. Some of these requirements may be satisfied by work completed prior to acceptance into the program. The student must also meet the other university requirements for Ph.D. programs listed elsewhere in this catalog. Students must meet the Graduate School's residency requirement for a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Co-Curricular Program Requirements

Approved 6/8/2022

The co-curricular program requirements consist of experiences in teaching, research and engaging with a community of scholars. Activities used to address each of the co-curricular program requirements must be pre-approved by the department.

Teaching Competence: Students who do not have previous PreK–12 teaching experience will be expected to gain teaching experience in PreK–12 classrooms. Additionally, students must demonstrate competence in teaching prospective or practicing mathematics teachers.

Research: Students must engage in a guided research process by preparing and submitting a manuscript to an educational, or educational related, research or teaching journal.

Community of Scholars: Students must actively participate with the mathematics education community at Illinois State University. This requirement can be met in a variety of ways. The focus should be on engaging with the mathematics education community as part of a teaching, research, or service team.