Remembering teacher’s dedication to theory, practice

Silver Circle winner Daniel Miltner died unexpectedly March 25. “Dan was an exceptional teacher, relentlessly trying to provide the best learning opportunities possible for his students,” says Alison Castro Superfine, director of the Office of Mathematics Education, where Miltner was assistant director.

Since 1966, the Silver Circle Award has been presented to some of UIC’s best teachers. Winners, who are honored at their college commencements, receive $500 and their names join a long list of distinguished colleagues. But what makes the award especially meaningful is its selection committee: the graduating seniors.

In remembering Daniel Miltner, who died unexpectedly March 25, his colleagues speak of his strong dedication to teaching — both theory and practice.

“Dan was an exceptional teacher, relentlessly trying to provide the best learning opportunities possible for his students,” says Alison Castro Superfine, director of the Office of Mathematics Education, where Miltner was assistant director.

Miltner, clinical assistant professor in the College of Education and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was selected for his second Silver Circle Award this year. Other honors include a teaching award from UIC’s Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. 

“He was the heart of the mathematics education group in the math department, and an irreplaceable friend and colleague,” Superfine says. “His loss will be felt at UIC for a very long time.”

Miltner was involved with math instruction at every level, from elementary to doctoral. He taught high school in Silver Spring, Maryland, for five years before he came to UIC, where he earned a master’s and Ph.D. in math education.

He worked on a grant that took him into the Chicago Public Schools, helping teachers work with reform-based math curricula that encourages students to reason mathematically and connect ideas to what they
already know.

Miltner was the math department’s peer tutor coordinator and a member of the mathematics education committee. He served on the UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the Teaching Performance Assessment Project.

He was a member of the Chicago STEM Education Consortium, the Chicago Public Schools Algebra
Initiative and the Chicago Community College Reinvention Taskforce.