Contents for the Spring 2010 Issue |
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ISMAA Annual Meeting |
The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Illinois Section of the MAA
Don’t miss the ISMAA annual meeting April 9-10 at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. Plenary speakers include David Bressoud, President of the MAA, Macalester College; Richard D. De Veaux, Williams College; Vali Siadat, Daley College; Jerry Bona, University of Illinois at Chicago.
For more details see: http://ismaa.knox.edu/2010AnnualMeeting.htm
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From the Section Governor |
Herbert E. Kasube
Bradley University
There are a number of exciting things going on with the Mathematical Association right now. To begin, the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco were a huge success. Approximately 5500 attendees enjoyed mathematical conversations and weather that was better than that in Illinois. This wasn’t quite record registration (the 2009 JMM in Washington, DC drew 5965 participants.), but attendance at both JMM and Mathfest remains steady. The percentage of registrants who are students continues to rise.
Financially, the MAA weathered 2009 quite well. It was never necessary for the Association to dip into its reserves. The same cannot be said for all companies or organizations.
The Strategic Planning Working Group on Meetings presented its report to the Board of Governors. Their report stressed the strong “sense of community” felt by members of the MAA. The vision statement recommended by this group read“Through its national meetings, the MAA provides its members with opportunities to
This statement was the result of gathering information from focus groups and other gatherings.
There are two new Strategic Planning Working Groups being planned. One will study SIGMAAs while the other MAA books.
Bob Anastasio reported that electronic memberships seem to be going very well. So far 1600 MAA members (myself included) have chosen this new option. This represents approximately 10% of the membership.
The River of Bricks has passed the 350 mark. At the Board of Governors meeting an envelope was passed to raise enough money for a brick in honor of Howard Penn, a long-time MAA member who passed away in 2009.
It was announced that the 2010 Study Tour to Spain and Portugal has been cancelled. There is no trip planned for this year. Plans for 2011 include Mayan Guatemala and Honduras.
Activity at the Carriage House in Washington DC continues withy numerous events. Rental activity is expanding.
There was a very lengthy discussion at the Board of Governors meeting about proposed changes in MAA Bylaws. Most are “editorial”, but some are more significant. It is hoped by some that the current Board can hold an electronic vote prior to July 1. Once passed by the Board of Governors these changes would come to a vote by the membership at a Business Meeting.
This marked Martha Siegel’s last JMM as Secretary of the MAA. Martha has served in that post for 14 years and a very nice reception was held in her honor in San Francisco. Barbara Faires from Westminster College is the new Secretary.
The MAA is close to hosting section websites. There would be a WIKI for each section. John Travis is the contact person and sections are asked to send their webmaster to Mathfest 2010 in Pittsburgh as designated representative.
There is also a desire to gather section histories in preparation for the MAA Centennial in 2015.
The Board of Governors Meeting in San Francisco was my last as Governor of the Illinois even though my term officially continues until July 1, 2010. It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve in that position. Thank you for that opportunity.
Iraj Kalantari
ISMAA Chair
Western Illinois University
Macomb IL 61455
(309.298.1238)
Colleagues,
I write this message as the Chair of the Illinois Section of the Mathematical Association of American for the current year.
The Board of Directors held its spring meeting last January at the downtown campus of De Paul University and more information about that meeting will be coming to you in the form of the minutes of the meeting.
Permit me to list some important items again:
My letter to your department should arrive early in March; please consider adding your voice to this important cause.
Become an Institutional Sponsor
ISMAA offers three levels of Institutional Sponsorship. Free student registration at the annual meeting comes with each level. The base level, Ordinary Sponsorship ($50), allows unlimited student registration at the annual meeting. The higher levels, Supporting Sponsorship ($90) and Speaker Sponsorship ($150), have all of the benefits of Ordinary Sponsorship *PLUS* two free faculty registrations. Those who choose Speaker Sponsorship will be listed as an underwriter of a plenary speaker at the ISMAA meeting. Regular registration at the meeting is $20 (on-site would be $25), so those schools who would normally choose Ordinary Sponsorship may wish to consider the Supporting level. However, to make life easier on our secretary-treasurer (and faculty who wish to avail themselves of the "free" registration) please contact Jon Johnson <mailto:jonj@elmhurst.edu> by e-mail for the procedure prior to registering for the Annual Meeting. A copy of the form is available online <http://ismaa.knox.edu/out-of-focus/winter-2007/inst-member-2007.pdf>.
Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a professional development program of the MAA, with major funding provided by the Exxon Education Foundation, and additional funding from several other sources. This program is designed to support new college faculty in their teaching, scholarly, and professional activities and and to help these new faculty members to get involved in the mathematical community beyond their own institutions.
The success of Project NExT on the national level has prompted a number of MAA sections to organize their own local versions of this program. The Tenth Annual ISMAA Project NExT Program will be held in conjunction with the ISMAA annual meeting at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, April 9, 2010- April 10, 2010. Up to nine 2010 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows will be selected.
Anyone within their first four years of teaching mathematics (after finishing a master's or doctoral degree) at any two or four-year college or university in Illinois is eligible, as well as any graduate students at universities in Illinois who are completing their PhD this year and have a position in Illinois for the 2010-2011 academic year. 2010 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows' meeting registration, pre-conference workshop registration, opening banquet fees, and Friday and Saturday lunches at the annual meeting will be paid for by the ISMAA Project NExT for the 2010 and 2011 ISMAA Annual Meetings.
The 2010 Program will begin on the morning of Friday, April 9, 2010 with Dr. Richard D. DeVeaux, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Williams College, presenting the conference workshop, Data Mining and New Trends in Teaching Statistics. The workshop is followed by an opening lunch at which new ISMAA NExT fellows will have an opportunity to get to know one another as well as other sectional Fellows and national NExT Fellows. The ISMAA Project NExT program will conclude on the afternoon of Saturday, April 10, 2010, following the closing address of the ISMAA meeting. After a brief box lunch, the group will reconvene for a session devoted to professional development opportunities in the ISMAA and the MAA.
This year we will match new ISMAA NExT Fellows with a Mentor at the meeting. It is expected that each Mentor-Fellow pair will continue to communicate about professional development issues throughout the following academic year.
Application materials for 2010 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows can be accessed via the links below. For further information, please contact the Director for the ISMAA Project NExT Program:
2010 ISMAA Project NExT Application (MS Word)
2010 ISMAA Project NExT Application (pdf)
Timothy D. Comar
Department of Mathematics
Benedictine University
5700 College RD
Lisle, Illinois 60532
PHONE: (630) 829-6555
FAX: (630) 829-6551
tcomar@ben.edu
The registration deadline for the 2009 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows is March 8, 2010.