MAA Iowa Section Newsletter

Fall 2001

This is the web edition of the Iowa Section Newsletter. To receive a printed copy of the newsletter or to make suggestions/comments, please contact the editor, Mark Mills, millsm@central.edu.

Contents

• Governor's Report
• Note from Newsletter Editor
• 2002 Iowa Section Teaching Award
• Dates of Importance
• Departmental News
• Officers of the Iowa Section

Governor's Report

The MAA Board of Governors met on August 1 at the MathFest in Madison, WI. For this first-time governor, the all day meeting was very interesting. It consisted mostly of reports from various MAA committees, MAA staff members and editors of MAA journals. It is amazing how many activities the MAA is involved in!

The main topic of interest to you may be the fact that many sections are starting their own Section NExT programs. The national NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) can only accept about 70 new members each year, and must therefore reject many excellent applicants. They are strongly encouraging the creation of Section NExT's. Some financial support for this endeavor is available to sections who submit a good proposal! Apparently the organization of existing Section NExT's resulted from strong interest and initiative of those section's national NExT Fellows. I therefore invite all Iowa NExT Fellows to let me know if there is interest to start our own program. It would be modeled after the national NExT program, accepting new PhD's who are starting out in their teaching careers, but could be more inclusive. Let's start the discussion now. I am look forward to hearing from all interested Iowa MAA members.

Ruth I. Berger
Luther College

Note from Newsletter Editor

This is my first newsletter since taking over the position from Cal Van Niewaal.  I am very happy to accept comments and suggestions anyone may have regarding this newsletter.  In particular, if there are format ideas, I would happily welcome them.  Also, if any of the departmental liasons have changed, I would like to know this, since I am in charge of updating the web pages.

I appreciate your patience as I take on this position.

Mark Mills
Central College

2002 Iowa Section Teaching Award

Each year, the section solicits applications for the Iowa Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.  The section winner is then a candidate for the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching.  The deadline for applications for the 2002 award is January 1, 2002.  For more information and an application, visit the award web page.

Dates of Importance

January 6-9, 2002 - National MAA Meetings in San Diego.  Visit MAA Online at www.maa.org for more information.

March 23, 2002 - Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Contest, University of Iowa, Iowa City.

April 5 and 6, 2002 - Annual Meeting of the Iowa Section, Morningside College, Sioux City.
The special speaker for the meeting will be Allen Schwenk from Western Michigan University.