Iowa Section of the MAA

Executive Committee Meeting

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Drake University

 

Present:  Ruth Berger (Competition Chair), Mariah Birgen (Chair), Joe Gallian (MAA President), Al Hibbard (Past Chair), Mark Mills (Information Director), Larry Naylor (Vice-Chair Elect), Karen Shuman (Treasurer), Cal Van Niewaal (Liaison Coordinator, Governor elect), Murphy Waggoner (candidate for Vice-Chair Elect), Wendy Weber (Secretary)

 

Birgen called the meeting to order at 7:10am.

 

  1. Minutes of last yearÕs Executive Committee Meeting were approved without dissent.
  2. Birgen welcomed our visitors: Murphy Waggoner, candidate for Vice-Chair Elect, and Joe Gallian, MAA president and plenary speaker for this meeting.
  3. Birgen extended a thanks to Mark Mills (Information Director) and Cal Van Niewaal (Liaison Coordinator) for their service in their respective positions.  Birgen thanked Al Hibbard for accepting the next term of Information Director.  Monica Meissen, new Liaison Coordinator, was not able to attend.  To insure that both of these positions would not be renewed in the same year, Hibbard agreed to accept a two year term for Information Director.
  4. Shuman provided a summary of the donations received in the Competition Campaign.  Donations received from 2004-2006 totaled $3414.67.  Steve Willson, Iowa State University, generously matched this total.  The total amount for the campaign is $6829.34.  Birgen will extend the thanks of the Section to Willson at the Business meeting today.
  5. Hibbard announced that all officers should review their respective positionÕs operational plans after the meeting and contact him with any changes that need to be made.
  6. Birgen provided an update on the first Section NExT pre-conference workshop held Friday, 13, 2007 at Drake University.  Joe Gallian attended the workshop.  There was one new Section NExT member.  During the workshop, Section NExT discussion included advertising Section NExT, contacting individual chairs of departments to inform them of Section NExT, creating a brochure for Section NExT, increasing visibility of Section NExT on our SectionÕs web site.
  7. Birgen reported that the ASA, AMATYC, and ICTM were contacted prior to the Section Meeting to see about coordinating participation in our Section Meeting.  Though there was no positive response, it was agreed that this is a good idea and the Chair should continue to pursue joint involvement each year.
  8. Discussion of attendance at MathFest in August 2007. Weber will contact all Officers after the Section meeting to determine who will be our representative at MathFest.
  9. Berger reported that the Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition this year was a success.  Students began the day after arriving at the host institution, Grinnell College, by interacting with each other while playing SET.  They then had lunch and proceeded to take the 3 hour team exam.  Exams were graded within two weeks, and scores were posted on the Section website.  Logistics of when the Competition should be held were discussed; it was decided that Birgen would bring this discussion to Section members at the Business meeting later in the day.
  10. Birgen reported on the lack of nominations for the Section teaching award.  The process for soliciting nominations was discussed.  In years where nominations are low, the Secretary will contact past yearÕs nominators to ask them to consider re-nominating a person for the current year.  In order to reach individuals, the Secretary will use the SectionÕs website to email members directly.  The Secretary will follow up by contacting liaisons to encourage them to remind them to nominate worthy colleagues.  The Secretary will also contact members of the Section involved in Project or Section NExT and encourage them to nominate mentors.
  11. Birgen reminded member of upcoming elections, term endings and awards (Vice-Chair Elect is elected yearly)
    1. 2008:  Election of Secretary
      2008-09:  The Section can have a Polya Lecturer
    2. 2009:  Term begins for new Information Director, Election of Treasurer
    3. 2009-10:  Election of Section Governor
    4. 2010:  Nominations for Meritorious Service Award
    5. 2010:  Term begins for new Liaison Coordinator
  12. Other Business
    1. Hibbard brought up the idea of contacting attendees of each yearÕs Section Meeting to help evaluate the meeting.  With the database generated from registration, it will be easy to email attendees and gather ideas to make the meeting better.
    2. Discussion of whether Liaisons are passing information on to members.  It was decided that since the Section maintains a database of email addresses of all MAA members in the Section, that important information could be sent directly to members; liaisons could then send on information to non-members of the MAA.  It was pointed out that the national office only sends email to liaisons, and that liaisons need to send national information to all department members.
    3. Discussion of the timing of forming nominating committees was discussed.  Nominating committee members must have enough time to contact nominees and then to wait to hear back from them.  The Chair should contact past chairs to ask them for recommendations of nominees.  The nominating committee should be listed in the fall newsletter so that Section members can send them nominations.  It was agreed that the Past Chair, who has served in all chair positions, should be involved in helping to make sure that tasks are completed in a timely fashion.  Hibbard pointed out that reminders for some important tasks could be automatically sent out via email beginning this fall.
  13. Meeting was adjourned at 7:58am.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Wendy A. Weber

Secretary

4-14-07