She has been involved in the field of mathematics education for much of her career, running workshops for elementary school teachers and high school teachers and observing them in the classroom. She has encouraged individual mathematicians and the mathematical community at large to get involved and take mathematics education more seriously. She was in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics writing group that produced Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Dismayed at the politicization of U.S. mathematics education, Roitman has insisted, "There is no math war."
Roitman has been active in the Association for Women in Mathematics since its early years, and she served as president for the term 1979–1981.[3] She has been a Zen Buddhist since 1976, and is currently the guiding teacher of the Kansas Zen Center, of which she and her husband Stanley Lombardo were founding members.[4]
Roitman is also a poet. Her poetry has appeared in a number of magazines, seven chapbooks, and two books.[5]