David and Chubbins Davison Mathematics Education Endowed Scholarship

Dr. David Davison was born and raised in Australia where his love for mathematics initially developed as an undergraduate. In the early 1970s, Dr. Davison traveled to the United States, where he furthered his education in graduate school, receiving this master’s and doctorate in mathematics education. He also met and married Chubbins, the love of his life. Upon graduation, they traveled back to Australia where they lived for three years. In May 1977, their fortunes led the Davisons to Billings and then-Eastern Montana College.

As a professor at EMC, Dr. Davison’s primary focus was math for elementary teachers, teaching math content and methods. There are two types of students whom Dr. Davison especially identified with: “The student who has a passion for wanting to make math understandable for children, and the student who is fearful of math — I like to help them to overcome that fear.” Dr. Davison retired in December 2009 after 32 and half years as a professor of Mathematics Education.

As a way to give back to the profession that gave him so much, he and his wife established the David and Chubbins Davison Mathematics Education Scholarship Endowment. “I had a full-time student who was a single mother and was only able to stay enrolled at the university with financial assistance. That’s a tough row to hoe,” said Dr. Davison. “She is the type of student we want to help.” By establishing an endowed scholarship with the MSU Billings Foundation, the Davisons will change the lives of future students in similar situations by assisting prospective teacher candidates in their efforts to become highly qualified in mathematics. Dr. David Davison passed away on December 12, 2011. The first scholarship was awarded in academic year 2010-2011.