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 section information director, Mark Mills, millsm@central.edu.

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Contents

• 2007 Iowa Mathematics Meeting at Drake University
• Governor's Report
• Chair's Report
• Treasurer's Report
• Nominating Committee Report
• Iowa Section NExT
• 2007 Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Contest Results
• Announcements and Dates of Importance
• Officers of the Iowa Section

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Governor's Report

I really don't have anything newsworthy to report at this time. However, I will give a short report at the section meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Freeman
jfreeman@cornellcollege.edu

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Chair's Report

First of all, I want to extend my thanks to Jim Freeman for all of his hard work over the past several years as Governor of the Section. Congratulations to Calvin Van Niewaal on his election to the post for the next three years. Change is in the wind and I am confident that he will be a strong leader for our section.

This year we are replacing our Information Director, Liaison Coordinator, and Vice-Chair Elect. Thank you to the many of you who have been asked to consider these positions. I know you have given the positions consideration and I am pleased with the results of my searches.

I am disappointed with the lack of nominations for the Section Teaching Award this year. After much thought, I am not convinced that the departmental Liaison system for getting information out to members is working as well as it did 10 years ago. I am sure that I have missed members who would be interested in some of the above positions, but never heard about the position vacancies. In this day of e-mail, I think the section should consider maintaining a list of e-mail addresses of all members for the use of the executive committee.

Respectfully submitted,
Mariah Birgen
mariah.birgen@wartburg.edu

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Treasurer's Report

		MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
		Iowa Section Financial Report: Spring 2006 - Spring 2007
(A) BEGINNING BALANCE (4-1-06)								$5,106.97
REVENUES
	MAA Subvention				$510.00
	2006 Meeting - Registrations (49 at $10)				$490.00
	2006 Book Sales (Display/Ordered Copies:  cash/check)				$169.50
	2006 Book Sales (MAA reimbursement)				$79.68
	Interest on Checking (Apr 11, 2006 -- February 28, 2007)				$90.04
						(B) TOTAL REVENUES		$1,339.22
EXPENSES
	Section Contribution to Competition Fund (2006)				$200.00
	Secretarial
		Call for Nominations for 2007 Haimo Award
	Honoraria
	Postage
		Spring 2006 Newsletter
		Fall 2006 Newsletter
		Call for Nominations for 2007 Haimo Award
		Miscellaneous
	Telephone
	Printing
		Spring 2006 Newsletter
		2006 Meeting (ballots,registration,receipts,printing)			$18.93
		Fall 2006 Newsletter
		Call for Nominations for 2007 Haimo Award
	Newsletters
	Travel
	Meeting Expenses				$160.79
	Speakers Travel/Lodging
	Students Lecture Program
	2006 Book Sale (Display/Ordered)				$169.50
	Project NExT
	Awards
	Miscellaneous Office
						(C) TOTAL EXPENSES		$549.22
(D) ENDING BANK BALANCE,  2/28/07								$5,896.97
	(A + B - C = D)

 

		MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
		Iowa Section Competition Report:  Spring 2006 - Spring 2007
(A) BEGINNING BANK BALANCE, 4/1/2006								$4,206.06
REVENUES
	Interest on Checking (April 11, 2006 -- February 28, 2007)				$104.53
	Section Contribution (2006)				$200.00
	Donations				$2,839.34
	Matched Donation
	2007 Competition Registration (?? teams at $5.00)
						(B) TOTAL REVENUES		$3,143.87
EXPENSES
	Printing	(photocopies for 2006 Competition)			$9.00
	Engraving	(winners on trophy)
	Honoraria	(2007 Contest Exam)
						(C) TOTAL EXPENSES		$9.00
(D) ENDING BANK BALANCE,  2/28/2007								$7,340.93
	(A + B - C = D)

 

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Shuman
shumank@math.grinnell.edu

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Nominating Committee Report

The 2007 MAA-Iowa Nominating Committee (Catherine Gorini, Joel Haack, and Cal Van Niewaal) has submitted the following nominations.  Elections will be held at the business meeting at Drake University on Saturday, April 14, 2007.

Vice-Chair Elect:

Walter Seaman	University of Iowa
Murphy Waggoner	Simpson College

Walter I. Seaman is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Iowa. He is one of the PIs on a three-year IDE MSP grant providing mathematics and science professional development for 44 Grant Wood AEA elementary teachers. His research specialty is differential geometry and he is active in the application of technology to the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels. Most recently he has been teaching math courses for elementary education majors.

After several years of working as a computer programmer/analyst, Murphy Waggoner completed an M.S. in Mathematics (1988) and an Ed.D. in College Teaching - Mathematics at Oklahoma State University (1994). She was an instructor of mathematics at Oklahoma State University, Duke University and Durham County Technical Community College before taking a position in the Mathematics Department at Simpson College in 1992. She was the Director of the First Year Program at Simpson from 1999-2002. For the past 4 years, Murphy has been the director of the Midwest Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium. She is a proponent of using writing-to-learn mathematics and has co-chaired two contributed paper sessions on "Getting Students to Write and Discuss Mathematics" at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in 2006 and 2007.

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Iowa Section NExT

The Iowa Section NExT will have its inaugural meeting the morning of Friday, April 13, before the MAA Section Meeting. I would like to encourage Project NExT fellows to come and be part of the networking and our events. The events start at 9:30 am and continue until 2:30 pm, about the time the Section meeting starts. Of course, we do need a head count, so we can plan room size and refreshments. If you are interested in coming, please contact me (at brian.birgen@wartburg.edu) or one of the other members of the steering committee (Karen Shuman at Grinnell, Russ Goodman at Central and Doug Shaw at UNI) so we can plan accordingly. Also, if you know of young PhD's or soon to be PhD's, we can still accept last minute applications.

I'll see you at the Section meeting!

Brian Birgen
brian.birgen@wartburg.edu

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2007 Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Contest Results

The 13th annual Iowa Collegiate Mathematics competition took place on Saturday, March 10, 2007, at Grinnell College.  Twenty-five teams from at least 11 colleges and universities participated.

The "Houston Eulers" team from Drake University won with a total of 86 points (out of 100).  The second-place team was the "Triple Root" team made up of two students from Grinnell College and a student from Iowa Wesleyan, scoring 75 points.  The third-place team was the "HON" team from Grinnell College, scoring 71 points.  Congratulations to Drake University!  They likely will be hosting next year's competition.

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Announcements and Dates of Importance

Announcements

None at this time.

Dates of Importance

August 3-5, 2007 - MathFest 2007 in San Jose, CA

January 6-9, 2008 - 2008 MAA-AMS Joint Meetings in San Diego

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Please send corrections, comments and suggestions regarding the Iowa MAA Web pages to
Mark Mills, millsm@central.edu.