User:Kwaddle87/sandbox

Dr. Luz Antonia Mendizábal Gálvez de Rodriguez (1916-2001) was a pioneering female mathematics educator, who went on to serve as a high school Principal, and then Superintendent of Schools for the city of Lima, Peru from 1969-1977.

Early life
Luz Antonia Mendizábal Gálvez de Rodriguez was born in Huancayo, Peru in 1916. She was the eldest of six children, and her family did not have enough money to send the girls to school. A nun from the religious order es:Instituto de las Hijas de María Auxiliadora met the girls out walking on a street, and offered them free schooling. This order founded many schools in Peru and South America more broadly. This changed the trajectory of Rodriguez's life permanently.

She began working as a substitute math teacher at 15 in the school, and by 18 was working full time.

Family
Born to Manuel Albino and Belen Gálvez Mendizábal, Rodriguez's siblings were Alicia Maria (b. 1919), Hortensia Niteza (b. 1920), Hermenia Delfina (b. 1922), Maria Amelia (b. 1924), and Louis Antonio (b. 1930). She married a lawyer named Pedro Rodriguez in 1939, and had eight children.

Education
Rodriguez received a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the National University of San Marcos in 1961. Her dissertation was entitled “Two Didactic Forms in the Teaching and Learning Processes of Spatial Geometry.” To conduct research for her thesis, she taught two classes for a full year using different pedagogical methods.

Career
Rodriguez taught mathematics at es:Institución Educativa Emblemática Teresa González de Fanning eventually becoming department chair. She became Principal of the school in 1966. She became Superintendent of Schools (Directora de Nucleo) for the city of Lima in 1969, and retired in 1977 to take care of her ailing husband.

Honors
At the time of her retirement Rodriguez was awarded the Peruvian Government's Palmas Magisteriales Award, then in 1997 was awarded the City of Lima Excellence in Teaching Award.