Note that these are currently unapproved but will hopefully be approved at the April, 2007 meeting.

Iowa Section of the MAA

Section Business Meeting

Saturday, April 8, 2006

Iowa State University

 

Al Hibbard (Chair, Central College) called the meeting to order at 11:28am.

 

  1. Two new members to the section were introduced.  Debra Czarneski and William Schellhorn teach at Simpson College.
  2. Cal Van Niewaal moved that the minutes from last yearÕs meeting be approved; A.M. Fink seconded the motion.  Motion was approved unanimously.
  3. Ballots for Vice-Chair Elect and Treasurer were distributed; nominations from the floor were requested, but there were none.  Jim Freeman collected and counted.  Karen Shuman (Grinnell College) was elected Treasurer and Larry Naylor (Drake University) was elected Vice-Chair Elect.
  4. Mark Johnson (substituting for Wendy Weber) presented the treasurerÕs report.  There were no questions.
  5. Jim Freeman (Governor, Cornell College) gave a quick update.
    1. Cal Van Niewaal (Coe College) was presented with the sectionÕs Meritorious Service Award at the San Antonio meetings.
    2. Keith Stroyan (University of Iowa) was presented with a Haimo Teaching Award at the San Antonio meetings.
    3. The solvency of the national association is a primary issue.  Since the association is dues-driven, the dues structure is being changed to try to help this.  Dues will now be calculated (roughly) by dividing the cost to run the association by the number of members.
  6. Freeman presented a 50-year member:  Frank Kosier (University of Iowa).
  7. Hibbard presented the section teaching award to Catherine Miller (University of Northern Iowa).
  8. Hibbard announced that the sectionÕs student chapter coordinator position is being suspended due to lack of interest to fill it.
  9. Hibbard presented the proposed changes to the sectionÕs bylaws.  A.M. Fink (Iowa State University) moved to accept the changes; Murphy Waggoner (Simpson College) seconded.  The changes passed unanimously in a voice vote.
  10. Ruth Berger (Competition Coordinator, Luther College) announced that a team from Grinnell College won this yearÕs competition.  Marc Chamberland (Grinnell College) accepted the trophy.  Twenty-eight teams participated this year at Luther College.
  11. Hibbard reminded the section that time is running out on the matching challenge put forth by Steve Willson (Iowa State University) to raise funds for the section competition.  To date, $2,015 has been raised and matched by Willson.  The deadline for this challenge is May 2006.
  12. Berger led a discussion of the timing for the section competition.  It most recently took place in early March, and it is slated to happen in late-February or early-March to try to avoid spring breaks.  One idea was to connect it in some way to the undergraduate symposium at Simpson College.  There was some discussion about moving it to the fall, but concerns about coinciding with homecomings were raised.  No decision was made as to whether it will move.
  13. Waggoner reported that this yearÕs Midwest Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium at Simpson College was a success.  There were 55 attendees from ten institutions, with 20 presentations.
  14. Brian Birgen (Wartburg College) discussed the progress towards having a Section NExT here in Iowa.
    1. Requirements are waiving section meeting registration fee for three years for participants and providing a couple of meeting rooms on the first day of the meetings for special sessions for the participants.
    2. The goal of Section NExT is to get more young Ph.D.s involved in the section meeting.  First year, participants would just come and observe.  Second year, participants would give a presentation at the section meeting.  Third year, participants would help organize the Section NExT.
    3. Birgen said that it might be possible to open this to graduate students who are close to finishing.
    4. Keith Stroyan (University of Iowa) said he would pay for the first ten participants.
  15. Freeman announced that the American Mathematical Competitions is looking for colleges to help host portions of the competition.
  16. Thanks were extended to Elgin Johnston (Iowa State University) for his work in coordinating the meeting at ISU.
  17. General announcements for lunch were given.
  18. Meeting adjourned at 12:22pm.