Education
Stephens graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in 1938 with a Bachelor of Surgery degree in mathematics. He received his Master of Surgery (1939) and his Doctor of Philosophy (1943) from the University of Michigan.
Stephens graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in 1938 with a Bachelor of Surgery degree in mathematics. He received his Master of Surgery (1939) and his Doctor of Philosophy (1943) from the University of Michigan.
He is credited with inspiring students and faculty at State University of New York Potsdam to form the most successful United States undergraduate mathematics degree programs in the past century. One of six children, he was orphaned at the age of eight at Harbinger Institute, a boarding school in his native South Carolina. He was the 9th African American to receive his Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics.
After serving in the United States. Navy (1942–1946) as a Teaching Specialist, Doctor Stephens joined the mathematics faculty of Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University.
The next year (1947) he was invited to join the mathematics faculty at Morgan State University. As a Mathematics Association of America (MAA) biography explains, “Doctor Stephens" focus was on being a research mathematician, so he accepted the position in part because he would be near a research library at Johns Hopkins University.
While at Morgan State University, Doctor Stephens became appalled at what a poor job was being done in general to teach and inspire students to learn mathematics. Doctor Stephens remained at Morgan State until 1962, at which time he accepted an appointment as professor of mathematics at State University of New York Geneseo.
In 1969 he left Geneseo to join the mathematics faculty at State University of New York Potsdam, where he served as chair of the mathematics department until his retirement in 1987.
The MAA biography reports that during Doctor Stephens’ tenure at State University of New York Potsdam "the department became nationally known as a model of teaching excellence in mathematics. Foreign several of these years the program was among the top producers of mathematics majors in the country. The teaching techniques that Professor Stephens introduced at Potsdam, and earlier at Morgan State, have been adopted by many mathematics departments across the country.
They have been described in publications by the MAA, and recently in a book, Mathematics Education At Its Best: The Potsdam Model, by Datta (Center for Teaching/Learning of Mathematics, 1993).".
