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
• Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition
• 2003 Iowa Section Teaching Award
• Dates of Importance
• Departmental News
• Officers of the Iowa Section

Governor's Report

The MAA Board of Governors met on Wednesday, July 31, in Burlington, VT.  The all day meeting consisted mostly of routine business and committee reports. Here a few highlights with links (which can of course all be found through www.maa.org).

•  Jim Tattersall was elected to a second five-year term as Associate secretary of the MAA.
• Nancy Hagelgans of Ursinus College was elected as the new Chair of the Committee on Sections.
• The new MAA Treasurer John Kenelly reported that we are doing okay considering the current general economic situation but that fundraisers are needed to help build MAA endowment.
• Math Fest 2002 had a record number of attendees!  In general, MAA is doing well with membership numbers, attendance at national meetings and book sales. MAA books (www.maa.org/pubs/books/subject_index1.html) are now available at Amazon.com, and soon also at Barnes & Noble Online. The one section mentioned with particularly low attendance at a regional meeting was the Iowa section!
• MAA is sponsoring a trip to Greece next summer (May 22-June 5, 2003). It is limited to 30 participants (see www.maa.org/forms/Gmain.html).
• MAA/NSF sponsored Professional Enhancement Programs (PREPs) are designed to provide College teachers an opportunity for additional training in certain fields (see www.maa.org/pfdev/prep/prep.html).
• Based on recent CBMS surveys (www.ams.org/cbms/cbmssurvey-ch1.pdf), the MAA is concerned about the number of part-time math faculty.  Math departments are asked to look at the recommendations in the MAA Departmental Guidelines publication (www.maa.org/guidelines/guidelines_intro.html). 
• Also, we are concerned about the rising number of "dual enrolment courses" taught by high school teachers for both high school and college credit.  The Advanced Placement exam should remain the standard way for high school students to earn college credit.
• MAA will eventually move to conducting electronic votes for national MAA officers. Hopefully this will increase the voter participation.  For now the ballots are still done by "paper mail" until all details can be worked out.
• Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching): Nationally there were over 100 applicants from which 70 new Project NExT Fellows were selected. Since the space in the national program is limited, sections are strongly encouraged to start their own more inclusive section NExTs.  (See guidelines at www.maa.org/sections/nxt%5Fdvlp.html.)  Do we have any national NExT fellows in our section who are interested in starting a section NExT-Iowa program?  We need your leadership and initiative!
• The Akamai Foundation of Boston made a large charitable gift to the MAA on behalf of the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). Details can be found at www.unl.edu/amc/ .
• International Math Olympiad (IMO): the US did well by placing third, after China (1st) and Russia(2nd) (see www.maa.org/news/imo02.html).
• In the past, MAA governors have sent substitutes to the Board of Governors meeting and those substitutes have been allowed to vote.  It turns out that this violates MAA bylaws and we will continue to discuss changing the bylaws.  For now, substitutes are not allowed to vote.
• The MAA has many national committees (see www.maa.org/aboutmaa/commlist.html). The MAA is relying on section governors to know their members interests and aptitudes well enough to recommend section members to serve on national committees.  Let me know if you are interested in serving on a national committee.
• Future national meetings: The January 2003 Joint Math Meetings will be in Baltimore (see the announcement at www.ams.org/amsmtgs/2074_intro.html).  The next MathFest will be held at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Co, July 31- August 2, 2003. A more complete list can be found at www.maa.org/meetings/meetings.html. 

Ruth I. Berger
Luther College
bergerr@luther.edu

Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition

At the Spring 2002 section meeting, there was some discussion about how we can get more students to take part in the annual section meeting.  One idea was to hold the Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition during the section meeting (probably on Friday afternoon), and then have some more student-centered activities during the remainder of the meeting (e.g., a pizza party prior to the Friday evening talk).  Currently, the competition is held either a week or two before the section meeting or a week later--and there has been an excellent level of student participation.

The advantage of having the competition concurrent with the meetings is it would get the students attending at least a part of the section meeting, perhaps seeing the invited speaker during his/her Friday evening talk.  If the exams could be graded by the time of the business meeting on Saturday, then the results could be announced and the trophy passed at that time--maybe with some of the team members actually present.

Of course, there are a few things that would have to be taken into consideration.  First, this would require that the host institution have enough open classrooms or work areas to accommodate all the competing teams.  (Last year, there were 30 teams.)  This would also mean that some faculty would not be able to take part in the Friday afternoon program because they would be organizing and overseeing the competition.  Finally, in order to have the results for the Saturday business meeting, people would have to grade the exam overnight, and someone would have to compile all the results on Saturday morning.

One other thing that would be affected is that the competition would no longer be hosted by the previous year's winning institution.  It's location would now be tied to the choice of the chair-elect.

If you have any particular views about whether or not we should try doing the competition at the section meeting, or if you have particular ideas to make it more plausible, please contact Ruth Berger (bergerr@luther.edu).

2003 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 2003 award is January 1, 2003.  For more information and an application, visit the award web page.

Dates of Importance

January 15-18, 2003 - National MAA Meetings in Baltimore.  Visit MAA Online at www.maa.org for more information.

??? - Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Contest, ???.

April 4-5, 2003 - Annual Meeting of the Iowa Section, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls.
The special speaker for the meeting will be Ronald Graham, current MAA President and Chief Scientist at AT&T Laboratories.