Biography

Maggy Tomova serves a dual role as the Dean of the UCF College of Sciences and Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives within Academic Affairs, where she serves as a chief adviser to Provost Michael D. Johnson Ph.D., overseeing academic planning and the implementation of strategic priorities across the university. Under her tenure as Dean of the College of Sciences, the university’s largest college by student enrollment and number of faculty, the College of Sciences has raised its four-year graduation rate by 6 percent and increased research funding to more than $30 million, among other notable accomplishments in support of student success, faculty research, and staff development. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Biochemistry at California Lutheran University, and her Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She first joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Iowa as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 2005.  After a brief stint as an Evans instructor at Rice University, she returned as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 2008. In 2017, she became the Department Executive Officer (Chair) of the Department of Mathematics, and was named Associate Dean for the Natural, Mathematical and Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) in December 2019.

Her primary research interest is in low dimensional topology and knot theory, as well as in the applications of topological results to the life sciences. She has published prolifically and is in demand nationally as a presenter at universities and conferences. Her research has been supported largely by National Science Foundation grants, including a CAREER grant in 2011. CLAS named her Dean’s Scholar in 2012.

Dean Tomova’s accomplishments as a teacher extend beyond her excellence in undergraduate teaching. She has successfully advised eight graduate students through the completion of their doctorate degrees. As Director of the UI’s Summer Math Institute from 2011-2015 she helped guide promising high school students from low-income families toward college-level mathematics, and she was Assistant Director and Research Mentor for an NSF-funded REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) for students from marginalized groups at California State University Channel Islands.