Contents for the Spring 2009 Issue |
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ISMAA Annual Meeting |
The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Illinois Section of the MAA
Don’t miss the ISMAA annual meeting April 3-4 at Bradley University in Peoria. Plenary speakers include Gail Burrill, past President of NCTM, from Michigan State University; Sunil Chebolu from Illinois State University; Ivars Peterson, Director of Publications for Journals and Communications at the MAA; and Laura Taalman from James Madison University.
See http://ismaa.knox.edu/2009SpringMeeting.htm for more details.
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From the Section Governor |
Herbert E. Kasube
Bradley University
Things are active at the MAA! The Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC earlier this month were a huge success. The total registration was 6027. That was a new record representing the first time with a registration over 6000. This speaks well for the program itself.
There are few items from the Board of Governors Meeting that should be passed along. First of all, the MAA is not immune to the current financial crisis, but things are not nearly as bad as they could be. Our investments are down “only” about 10%. This does not mean that there will not be any changes. In a memo from Executive Director Tina Straley the governors were told of some of the measures to be taken. Some programs will be “trimmed”, but none eliminated. There will be modest increases in book prices and dues. Some open positions at MAA and AMC will not be filled. The number of issues of FOCUS will decrease from nine to six.
Another item of interest is that the MAA will no longer offer free memberships to students presenting papers at section meetings. It was felt that these were not effective is producing long term benefits. Few of these students continued to be members of MAA past their “free” period.
The MAA elections to be held in the spring of 2009 will be done entirely by email, with a paper ballot available only by special request. All members should check with MAA to be certain that the email address on file is correct. Requests for paper ballots can be made to
email elections2009@maa.org or in writing to
mail MAA National Elections 2009
1529 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Fax name and address to (202) 387-5948
Phone MAA at (800) 741-9415 (Give name and address)
In Project NExT news, Chris Stevens is stepping down to be replace by Aparna Higgins.
The Strategic Planning Groups continue their work. They are taking a SWOT approach. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). In particular, the Working Group on Sections presented their report. .It is clear that the MAA considers sections their lifeblood.
The Working Group on Publications solicited input from the governors. Should MAA continue its current journal options? Should an “electronic membership” be available? (NCTM offers such an option.) If you have opinions or suggestions, please pass them along to me. As for book publications, the MAA is vigorously promoting its textbook offerings.
Membership remains (basically) stable, with a minor dip in regular memberships. The Membership and Marketing Department has studied varied aspects of membership (gender, age, journal subscription, SIGMAAs. Conclusions?
While at the JMM I also had the privilege of attending Vali Siadat’s presentation as a Haimo Award winner. Congratulations Vali!
The MAA Study Tours continue to thrive. The 2008 tour was to Peru, with an optional trip to the Galapagos Islands. (Attend the Meeting in Peoria to hear more about this trip.) The 2009 tour travels to Egypt.
During my stay in DC I visited the MAA Headquarters twice. On the day the weather was nice I was able to see the Illinois Section’s brick in the Halmos walk, but my camera was in my hotel room. The visit when I had my camera, it was raining quite hard. Sorry about that.
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From the Section Chair |
Lanette Poteete-Young
ISMAA Chair
Judson University
I am completing my second (and final) year as Chair. This spring the Board will bring to the membership some additional bylaw changes. For the past year we have been working through our bylaws to update the language and make sure they are current in reflecting how our section operates. At this time we have two substantive changes that we plan to bring to the membership at our spring meeting. We plan to remove the Committee on Secondary School Lectures from the bylaws. This committee has not been functioning well in the last several years and all of our attempts to revitalize it have failed. There doesn’t appear to be much interest or demand for it. Another change involves formalizing the position of Auditor. We have been using one for several years and so decided to mention that position in the bylaws. The rest of the changes are editorial in nature to reflect the language the MAA is requesting we use to refer to them. We have posted on the web a completed final version (click here) that will be voted on at our spring meeting and another version that shows the changes in the content of the old version (click here). In the “marked-up” version, strike-throughs reflect deletions and red font reflects new additional language. If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any Board member.
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Speaking of the Spring Meeting, the Program Committee is working hard to plan an outstanding spring meeting for all of us on April 3 and 4, 2009 at Bradley University. Please plan to attend and bring your students and colleagues! This year we are promoting undergraduate research by offering OUR (Outstanding Undergraduate Research) Awards at the spring meeting. If you have a student who has done (or is doing) original undergraduate research, please make sure they apply for this award. We are also continuing to subsidize travel expenses for undergraduates to attend the spring meeting. Please watch the website for more information on how to apply for these funds.
I want to offer congratulations to Vali Sadat from our section who received one of the 2009 Haimo Awards from the MAA for excellence in teaching! Once again this year we will be accepting nominations from the membership for both outstanding teaching as well as outstanding service. Please send your nominations to the chair of the Awards Committee, Olcay Akman, oakman@ilstu.edu .
Planning ahead, we have been invited to Augustana College for our 2010 Spring Meeting, April 9-10, 2010. Please keep these dates in mind.
As always if you have any questions or suggestions, I would be happy to hear from you. Your Board members will also be willing to answer any questions you might have. I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Meeting April 3-4, 2009.
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 Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, April 3, 2009- April 4, 2009. Up to nine 2009 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 2009-2010 academic year. 2009 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 2009 and 2010 ISMAA Annual Meetings.
The 2009 Program will begin on the morning of Friday, April 3, 2009 with Dr. Ivars Peterson, Director of Publications for Journals and Communication at the Mathematical Association of America, presenting the conference workshop on Communicating Mathmeatics. 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 4, 2009, 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 2009 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows can be accessed via the ISMAA website at http://ismaa.knox.edu/NExT2009.htm. The registration deadline for the 2009 ISMAA Project NExT Fellows is March 2, 2009. For further information, please contact the Coordinator of the ISMAA Project NExT Program, Timothy D. Comar at tcomar@ben.edu: