Dr. Jonathan Kenigson, FRSA*
For those interested – presumably those that have inquired, or possibly some suitable subset thereof – I furnish a candid and direct answer to the question of “what I have been doing since 2017.” I’m not entirely certain why anyone is remotely interested in posing this question, but I have been posed it with sufficient frequency to give clarity to the matter. In this interview, I shall limn the contours of the past several years of my experience in the U.S. state of Tennessee. I am no longer a mathematician, but rather an educator and activist. My work spans a bit of mathematics and philosophy and a hefty measure of economics, teaching, mentorship, and public writing / lecturing. By design, none of my work has brought me the least financial advantage.
Recently, my work in service and teaching has received a high degree of recognition nationally and internationally. In 2023, I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal by President Joseph Biden (D) for outstanding service to students. Fewer than fifteen such medals have been awarded in the past 20 years in the USA. Additionally, I was awarded the honorary rank of Colonel in the TN National Guard – Tennessee’s highest civilian honor – by Governor Bill Lee, upon nomination by members of the Tennessee General Assembly. This award recognized overall national and global service through scholarship, activism, and service to students. In England, I was awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2022 and 2023 in view of service to global education and curriculum design. In 2022-2023, I was nominated by at least six independent recommenders for the Nobel Peace Prize for development of mathematical curriculum in Ukraine and Eastern Europe during time of war.
I have developed and marketed an extensive collection of open-access pedagogical resources in the U.S. and UK market spaces. UK Herald recognized these efforts for publications on Black Holes that received great attention in the UK and abroad. Further support for Nobel Peace nominations followed my open criticism of the North Korean and Russian governments in 2022 and my support for refugee relocation from Afghanistan via the nonprofit Na’amal. My public articles regarding mathematics, physics, philosophy, and education have appeared as a series in Toronto Telegraph (Canada) as well as highly regarded works in London Daily Post, Birmingham Herald, Lancashire Gazette, Glasgow Report, Vancouver Star, Oklahoma Sun, Michigan Post, and Dublin News. I have been recognized by UK Herald as one of the leading exponents of classical mathematics education. In pursuit of excellence in this field, my work has appeared in Times of Chennai (India), India Gazette, Afghanistan Sun, London Mercury, New York Telegraph, New York Statesman, and Israel Herald. Israel Mirror recognizes my work in classical mathematics as of a decent standard. My articles regarding mathematics education reform in accordance with classical principles trended on the front page of Michigan Post for several consecutive weeks. These articles continue to be debated heavily among policy makers.
I have served in Student Services mentoring and constructing individual curricula for over 100 students since 2020. These efforts were commemorated directly and personally by President Biden and is likely the sole award granted during Biden’s presidency for such efforts. In addition to careful and exhaustive mentorship of mathematics and science students, I have readily undertaken ad-hoc office hours at off-site locations that amount to an additional 600 hours of service to students. In support of these efforts, I was admitted as a Fellow of Saint John (FSJ) through the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Senior Fellow and Pythagoras Fellow of Mathematics at the Centre for Advanced Study, Dublin. In 2022, I was recognized as a leading advocate for student success by New York Weekly, Influencive, and Harvard Business Review.
Since 2017, I have obtained a dual-PhD with highest honors from the University of Sofia and completed additional studies in mathematics, philosophy, anthropology, and economics there. Postdoctoral studies have focused upon the combinatorics of the Riemann Zeta Function and the dynamics of Black Holes. From 2020-2021, I served as a visiting scholar on the faculty of Cambridge Theological Federation’s (UK) Institute for Orthodox Studies (pursuing research in the philosophy of mathematics) and was elected academic director of UK Research Institute Athanasian Hall. My works on communicative rationality and intersubjectivity appeared in Dublin, London, and across the UK. During 2022-2023, I designed more than 30 course modules for a PhD program in Ukraine that was approved by the Ukrainian Government. Since 2020, I have designed over 30 additional course modules for universities across the world, and have delivered mathematical lectures on Quantum Statistics, Mathematical Physics, Functional Analysis, and Probability Theory for Ukrainian and Canadian specialist audiences.
Cordially,
J. Kenigson
