Professional profile
I came at St. Norbert College in 1983.  I love working with the students here.  There are few things as professionally satisfying as watching young minds develop their mathematical skills.  When a breakthrough occurs, when a student who is struggling with a math problem suddenly "gets it," then I feel that I've made a difference.

Mathematics is not some soul-less game of performing mindless computations.  It is an art, a language, a creative endeavor that allows us to construct and explore new worlds and new ways of doing things.  That's why a mathematician can be comfortable talking about Euclidean geometry as well as geometries where parallel lines don't exist.  I like teaching all kinds of math, from freshman level pre-calculus through our most advanced topics, but I especially enjoy "pure" proof-based mathematics.  The practice of proving a claim, using nothing but definitions, basic axioms, and formal rules of logic, distinguishes mathematics from virtually every other field. Just think: Mathematical properties that were established long ago, such as the Pythagorean Theorem, are still valid today, and what we prove today will be just as valid 1000 years from now.  

I get a special kick out of working with students on research projects.  Some of the students present their findings at regional or national conferences, others write up their results for our in-house St. Norbert College Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics.  Every once in a while, a student and I will co-author something that will appear in a national journal.  Here is a piece, written by student Brian Hahn and me, that appeared in the December, 2005, Mathematics Magazine.

Over the years, I have worn a few different hats.  For five years (1987-1992) I was the Wisconsin coordinator of American High School Mathematics Examination (AHSME).  From 1997 until 2002, I served as the Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past-Chair of the Wisconsin Section of the Mathematical Association of America.  Most recently (2002-2007) I served a five-year term as the Associate Dean of SNC's Natural Science Division.

Location: Cofrin Hall
Room: 307
Phone: (920) 403-1339
Fax: (920) 403-4098

Mailing address:
St. Norbert College
100 Grant Street
Cofrin Hall, 307
De Pere, WI 54115-2099

john.frohliger@snc.edu

Academic credentials:
B.A., Indiana University
M.S., Purdue University
Ph.D., Purdue University

Courses taught recently :
MATH 115 Pre-Calculus Mathematics
MATH 124 A Survey of Calculus
MATH 131 Calculus and Analytic Geometry 1
MATH 132 Calculus and Analytic Geometry 2
MATH 233 Calculus and Analytic Geometry 3
MATH 250 Advanced Foundations of Mathematics
MATH 303 Linear Algebra
MATH 306 Abstract Algebra
MATH 310 Differential Equations
MATH 350 Modern Geometry
MATH 373 Real Analysis
MATH 376 Complex Analysis