One of the unique experiences of the math major is the senior seminar (Proseminar I & II), whose purpose is to enable students to develop skills in reading mathematics independently and organizing such material for presentation to classmates. In Math 495 (Proseminar I) all of the students read the same text, and take turns teaching the material to the class, responding to questions and leading the discussion of problems. During Math 496 (Proseminar II) the student presents progress reports on her independent study of a mathematical topic. Her choice of topic is made with the help of a faculty advisor, who then supports her independent work. The culmination of the senior seminar for each student is a final talk summarizing the major results of her study. She submits in advance a paper on the topic to her examining committee of three faculty readers. Fifteem minutes of questioning follows the presentation. The paper, formal presentation, and response to questions constitute the Senior Comprehensive Examination in mathematcs. Grades of record are Honors, Pass and Failure.
Current/most recent Semester Syllabus
Schedule of Seminar talks for the current semester
Current schedule of Senior Comprehensive Presentations
Response (comment) form
for seminar presentations
Comment form in MSWord
format(you can type response on it and send it as an email attachment)
Proseminar and Senior Comprehensive Project Student Guide
The Senior Comprehensive (also see the Guidelines for the Senior Comprehensive Paper and Criteria for evaluation of the Comprehensive Project.)
Templates for Mathematics papers in general and the Senior Comprehensive Paper specifically (on the Math Department Advanced Writing page)
Maintained by cpeltier@saintmarys.edu
Last update 1/5/11