Officers

Florida Section
The Mathematical Association of America
2006 - 2007

President Steph Fitchett called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM.

In attendance:  Joel Berman, Vice-President-Elect for Programs; Eduardo Fernandez, Vice-President-Elect for Site Selection; Terje Hoim, Local Arrangements Committee; Scott Hochwald, Past President; Daniel Jelsovsky, Coordinator of Student Activities; David Kerr, Governor; Chuck Lindsey, 3rd Past President; Bill Rush, Newsletter Editor; Joe Skala, Secretary-Treasurer; Li Zhou, Vice-President for Programs.

The minutes from the Executive Committee Meeting of February 24, 2005 were approved.

Reports:

1. Steph Fitchett reported on the regional meetings for 2004-2005.  First Coast and Suncoast held meetings and West Florida is planning a meeting in Fall 2005.
    
2. Joe Skala reported on costs associated with the February 2005 sectional meeting at Manatee Community College.  Unfortunately, the section lost money from this meeting.  The cause of the lost was primarily the subsidy of 25 meals for undergraduate students at the banquet and the costs of covering travel expenses for some members of the Executive Committee.  To compensate for this, the section will raise pre-registration fees to $15 and on-site registration fees to $20 for the 2006 meeting.  The Executive Committee also decided that the price for both the banquet and luncheon should cover actual expenses.
    
   Finally, the section will begin asking publishers for a $400 table fee.  Joe reported that 251 people attended the annual meeting at Manatee Community College with 121 pre-registers.  There were 53 MCC students who served as moderators for the contributed papers sessions and as helpers for the conference.
    
3. Bill Rush reported that the section web-site continues to evolve.  He passed out a template which establishes the deadlines for the 3 annual issues of the newsletter.
    
4. Dan Jelsovsky reported on student activities in the section.  He plans to continue the Student Integral Contest in 2006 with a $50 award to the winner and a $25 award to the runner-up.  He asked members of the Executive Committee to submit problems for the contest.  The Executive Committee endorsed Dan's ideas that student registration continue to be free, that students only pay half price for participation in the banquet or luncheon, and that students who speak at the conference by given a $25 stipend and a free ticket to the banquet.
    
5. Li Zhou reported on a preliminary program for the 2006 meeting which would include 3 plenary addresses - Underwood Dudley, James Tanton and Steve Dunbar.  The section will try to coordinate with MAA national on offering some of the MAA publications of these authors at the meeting.
    
6. Terje Hoim reported that both the banquet and the luncheon for the 2006 meeting would be in the campus dining hall with approximate costs of $16 for the banquet and $10 for the luncheon.
    
7. Scott Hochwald asked for nominations for the 4 positions to be filled next year.

Old Business:

None

New Business:

Steph Fitchett reported that she is going to consult with Martha Goshaw about coordinating a sectional Project Access fellow.

The meeting concluded with a tour of the facilities at Florida Atlantic University - Jupiter Campus.

Half of the Florida regions held a meeting this academic year.  The First Coast region has scheduled a spring meeting.  The Big Bend and Suncoast regions met in the fall.  The West Coast region is looking for a date next year, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is considering hosting a regional meeting next year.  We facilitated organizing and planning regional meetings at this year’s state meeting by conducting a round table discussion.

Big Bend:  This region had their 26^th annual meeting on Friday, October 28 at 2:30 PM at Florida State University.  The meeting consisted of several presentations and included mathematicians from local K-12, community colleges, private colleges, and universities in Florida and Georgia.

Central Florida:  Stacie Badran has indicated an interest in hosting a regional meeting next fall.  Her contact information is:

Dr. Stacie Badran
Mathematics Department
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
(386) 226-7749
Stacie.Badran@erau.edu

First Coast:  Cary Grant scheduled a meeting at Flagler College on March 11, 2006.

Goldcoast:  Lubomir Markov didn't know of any plans for a meeting, nor did anyone else that I could find.

Suncoast:  The 2005 Suncoast Regional meeting took place on the campus of New College of Florida in Sarasota on Friday, December 2, 2005.  This year's  plenary speaker was Professor Paul Loya, Binghamton University, who spoke on "The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra."

West Florida:  Dr. Kuiyuan Li (kli@uwf.edu), University of West Florida, has discussed the possibility of having a regional meeting at Pensacola Junior College in spring 2006 with Dr. Vicki Schell (VSchell@pjc.edu), Chair of Department of Mathematics at PJC.

Student Activities

Florida Section
The Mathematical Association of America

39th Annual Meeting ● Florida Atlantic University ● February 17-18, 2006

Presentations:

Integral Contest:

Florida Two Year College Mathematics Association

At our February meeting, Dennis Runde of Manatee Community College received our Outstanding Teaching Award.

FTYCMA will hold its fourth annual Fall Retreat on October 13-14, 2006 at Central Florida Community College in Ocala.  The focus of this year's retreat is distance learning across the mathematics curriculum.

The 2007 Joint Annual Meetings will be hosted by Tallahassee Community College on February 16-17, 2007.  The plenary speakers for the conference will be Carl Cowen and James Tanton.

Dr. Cowen is the current President of the MAA and is the Dean of the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis School of Science.  He will give a talk presenting the connections between mathematics and biology.  For more information, visit http://www.science.iupui.edu/ccowen/.

Dr. Tanton is the director of the Mathematics Institute at St. Mark’s School in Massachusetts.  He is the author of Solve This: Mathematical Activities for Students and Clubs, which won the 2005 Beckenbach Book Prize.  After missing the past Joint Meetings due to the weather, Dr. Tanton has again been invited to discuss various "proofs" that 1=2.  For more information, visit http://www.stmarksschool.org/contact_us/profile.aspx?LinkID=42506&pageaction=VPSFaculty.

Along with these plenary speakers, there will be the annual business meetings, awards banquet, invited speakers, workshops, and presentations.  Please look forward to an official call for papers in the October issue of the newsletter.

Manatee Community College

MCC Math Professors Attend ICTCM Conference

Manatee Community College (MCC) mathematics faculty members Jana Bryant, Dr. James Condor, Julie Francavilla, Dr. Arumugam Muhundan, and Altay Özgener recently attended the 18^th Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics hosted by Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida.

MCC Dean of Instruction Receives Distinguished Service Award

Manatee Community College (MCC) Dean of Instruction Dr. Mike Mears received the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Florida Section of the MAA, an organization committed to encouraging the development of effective mathematics programs.  He was honored at the Joint Meetings of the Florida section of the Mathematical Association of America and the Florida Two Year College Mathematics Association hosted by Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida.

Mears, Dean of Instruction for the Division of Mathematics, Science, Technology & Business, has been a member of MAA and FTYCMA since 1979.  During this time, he has served as the Florida Section MAA President for 1 year, served as FTYCMA President for 2 years, and has held many other offices throughout the years including FTYCMA Secretary, Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor; and Florida Section MAA Vice-President of Programs and Vice-President of Site Selection.  He has also served as Chair of Statewide Course Numbering System Discipline Committee in Mathematics from 1987-1999.  He has also served as a delegate to the national AMATYC conference numerous times.

Mears has a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Kentucky.

MCC Department Chair Receives Teaching Excellence Award

Manatee Community College (MCC) Mathematics Department Chair Dr. Dennis Runde received the 2006 Outstanding Teaching Award from the Florida Two Year College Mathematics Association (FTYCMA), an organization committed to encouraging the development of effective mathematics programs.  He was honored at the Joint Meetings of the Florida section of the Mathematical Association of America and FTYCMA hosted by Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida.

Runde has held the position of department chair for 6 of his 15 years at MCC.  He has been recognized for his teaching excellence by NISOD, St. Stephens Episcopal School, and Manatee Community College.  He has presented at a number of conferences including AMATYC, MAA, FCTM, and the Chair Academy.  Runde is also working on his 4^th Edition as co-author of A Survey of Mathematics with Applications, a textbook used in Liberal Arts Mathematics courses.

Runde has a doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in Mathematics Education from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

MCC Math Department Assistant Professor to speak at International Conference  

Manatee Community College (MCC) Assistant Professor Joni Pirnot has been invited to speak at the European Science Foundation (ESF) Workshop on Advances on Two-Dimensional Languages to be held in Salerno, Italy.  Pirnot will be joined by her dissertation advisor, Dr. Nataša Jonoska.  Travel and accommodations are being funded through two grants, one from the ESF and one from the University of South Florida.

Pirnot has taught at MCC for eight years.  She is currently a doctoral candidate in Pure Mathematics from the University of South Florida and holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of South Florida.  Her current research has been published in the April 2006 edition of the International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science.

The European Science Foundation focuses on science-driven collaboration between the best European researchers in all disciplines.  They bring together leading scientists, scholars and funding agencies to explore new directions in research and to plan and implement research collaboration in a global context.

St. Petersburg College