Faculty Directory

Eugenia Vomvoridi-Ivanovic, Ph.D.

Vomvoridi-Ivanovic is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and Teacher Education at the University of South Florida (Tampa campus). She is multilingual and mathematically bi-literate in English and Greek and has taught mathematics at the middle school, high school and college levels. Vomvoridi-Ivanovic currently teaches mathematics education courses to undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students and has taught courses in elementary, middle and secondary mathematics education.

Her teaching practice is centered on humanizing education, recognizing students as whole individuals with complex and interconnected experiences. Whether working with pre-service teachers or doctoral students, she acknowledges that learning is deeply personal—shaped by lived experiences, emotions, and broader social contexts. Her goal is to create learning environments where all students can thrive, not just academically, but as individuals growing into their full potential. In 2022, she was awarded USF’s Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, recognizing excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Vomvoridi-Ivanovic is a qualitative researcher whose work focuses on broadening participation in STEM education and teacher education. Her research spans teacher education, mathematics education, science education and engineering education—primarily at the secondary and post-secondary levels—where she examines responsive pedagogy, mentorship and the development of students, teachers and teacher educators in clinical settings and in out-of-school and informal learning contexts. Her research has been funded by federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and NASA, and she regularly presents her findings at national and international conferences. She pursues interdisciplinary collaborations at local, national and international levels to produce high-impact, innovative, transdisciplinary research in STEM education and teacher education.

Her research has been widely cited and referenced in key educational resources, including the Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education (Cai, 2017), Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, 2017) and Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally (Van de Walle, 2022).

Vomvoridi-Ivanovic’s experiences and roles—including those as a mother, researcher, educator, multilingual individual and transnational scholar—are deeply interconnected, shaping both her perspective and approach to scholarship. She is particularly drawn to pioneering research in underexplored areas, especially those deeply personal to her. For example, her current collaborative research on academic motherhood in mathematics and teacher education offers a content-specific counternarrative that challenges prevailing perceptions of academic mothers in academia. This research highlights the invaluable knowledge and contributions that academic mothers gain through parenting, educating, and engaging with their children, teachers and schools, which they then apply in their work in mathematics and teacher education. By centering the expertise of parents and caregivers, this work reframes their contributions as assets that enrich the field and shape more effective and responsive approaches to mathematics education, teacher education and higher education.

Vomvoridi-Ivanovic is actively engaged in service at local, national and international levels. Her contributions include serving as a member of the World Academy of Science, Engineering, and Technology, where she is part of the IRC Scientific and Technical Committee & Editorial Review Board on Educational and Pedagogical Sciences. She is also an editorial board member for Research in Middle Level Education (RMLE) Online and the Connections Newsletter of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. At USF, she holds multiple leadership roles, including Chair of the College of Education’s Faculty Policy Council, Mathematics Education Program Area Coordinator and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Middle School Mathematics Education Program (formerly known as the STEM Middle School Teacher Residency Program), which received the 2020 USF Student Success – Academic Excellence Award.