Full Biography for Pamela Coxson

Candidate for
Board of Education

The Basics

I am the mother of a 4 year old who will attend a neighborhood public school beginning in 1999. I am a mathematician by training and I work as a math specialist at UCSF.

Education Experience

I have been interested and involved in education for over 20 years. As an undergraduate student in Los Angeles, I worked part-time as a teacher's aide at Jordan High School in Watts. I organized a mathematics field day for inner city high school students in Los Angeles (at USC, 1970), and later organized the first Sonia Kovalevsky mathematics Field Day for girls (at Radcliffe, 1985). After graduating from college, I was a middle/high school teacher for two years at a school in England. I returned to school to complete a Ph.D. in mathematics and then worked as a college teacher and researcher and a teacher of teachers for eight years. For the past 10 years I have worked on applications of mathematics in medicine. I have regularly gone into public schools to talk to students about medical imaging (cat scans, nmr), pharmacokinetics (the mathematics of therapeutic drug management), energy conservation, and careers that use mathematics.

My neighborhood elementary school is Edison. My husband attended this school and we had hoped that our son would also go there. For that reason, I volunteered extensively at Edison for the past two years: helping to teach mathematics to 4th and 5th graders, raising money for the school, and helping with outreach to neighbors. Unfortunately, this school has been turned over to a corporation to be run for profit beginning next year (see the detailed philosophy page).

Politics and Community Service

I believe that a democracy can only thrive if we all work at it. I have tried to get involved in my community and local government in ways that reflect my own background and interests - primarily in education, enviromental concerns, social justice, and electoral reform.

I served on San Francisco's Bicycle Advisory Committee 1994-7. I participated in developing the Sustainable San Francisco plan in 1996. I have been a school volunteer and have been invited to speak to students at many public and private schools in San Francisco. I am currently president of my neighborhood association, the Fair Oaks Neighbors.

I have devoted time and effort to a variety of campaign finance reform initiatives, notably Prop X and Prop 208. I supported the single payer health care initiative, collecting signatures and raising money ($1000 in small contributions from individuals). I am an active member of the San Francisco Green Party and the San Francisco Green Community.