From the Chair

Congratulations to Christie Perry, of Morehead State University, the 2011 recipient of the KYMAA Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. Receiving an award from your professional organization is prestigious. It is good for your department, your institution, and it gives you national recognition. If you know of someone you should nominate, the time to begin the process is now. Begin putting your nomination together. Information about the award, including what is to be included in a nomination, can be found on our website. This year we will also be electing a new Secretary and Student Chapter Coordinator at our spring meeting.

Please feel free to contact any of the members of the Executive Committee if you have any questions or concerns about KYMAA. We welcome your comments and feedback.

Have a great academic year,

Dora Ahmadi
Chair
d.ahmadi@moreheadstate.edu

From the Chair-Elect

• Erik Demaine (http://erikdemaine.org/): Computer Science Professor at MIT.
• Robert Devaney. (http://math.bu.edu/people/bob/): Mathematics Professor at Boston University.
• Christie Perry: Recipient of the KYMAA Teaching Award 2011, Mathematics Professor from Morehead State University.

The Governor's Corner

The Board of Governors met in Lexington on Wednesday before the first day of MathFest. Several issues were the focus of attention at the meeting.

Budget and investments: The MAA experienced a $ 452, 517 operating deficit in 2010 and expects a deficit of $144, 874 in 2011. There is no budget crisis because cash from investments has been more than enough to cover these deficits, but several years of deficits have signaled that it is time to make budget changes. Without available money in the operating budget, no new programs could be begun. Following a recommendation from the Budget Committee, we approved an operating budget of $ 7, 407, 465 that anticipates a $ 1, 445 deficit for 2012. The Investment Committee Reported that investments had met all investment targets and that losses from the market drop have now been recovered. Most of the MAA's investment money is gifts or grants for designated purposes. The interest from some unrestricted funds has been used to cover budget deficits.

Project NExT: After many years, ExxonMobil Foundation's funding for Project NExT ends this year. That will result in a reduced number of Project NExT fellows in the future. There were 84 fellows in 2010 - 11 and 74 fellows this year. Next year there will likely be 50 fellows. The Executive Committee is considering the direction that the MAA would like to take with Project NExT.>

Executive Director: Tina Straley, the Executive Director of the MAA, will retire at the end of the year. Following the unanimous recommendation of the Search Committee, we approved hiring Michael Peterson, the present Associate Executive Director, as the Executive Director beginning in January 2012.

Committee on the Undergraduate Program: The CUPM is working to develop a curriculum guide for the undergraduate mathematics major (not the mathematics education major, for schools that separate those majors). It is expected that their report will be presented to the Board of Governors in 2015. The previous CUPM report dealt broadly and generally with undergraduate mathematics courses - major and non-major. It is expected that this report will be quite detailed and specific regarding the content of an undergraduate mathematics major.

Since MathFest: One significant change has occurred since MathFest. John Kenelly, the MAA treasurer for nearly ten years, was not a candidate for re-election. We elected Jim Daniel, who has chaired the MAA Budget and Audit Committees for the past eight years, to a five-year term as MAA Treasurer to begin at the end of January 2012. John and Jim were planning to work together for the next few months so that John could teach Jim the details of the treasurer's position. On August 29, John submitted his resignation, and the MAA Executive Committee appointed Jim to be the interim treasurer until his term begins.

Chris Christensen
KYMAA Governor
christensen@nku.edu

KYMAA Teaching Award - Call for Nominations

Nominations for the Kentucky Section's 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award are now being accepted. The Kentucky Section Selection Committee will choose one of the nominees for the Section Award. The awardee will be honored at the KYMAA Annual Meeting in Spring 2012. The awardee will also be the official Kentucky Section candidate for the pool of teachers from which the national recipients of the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics will be selected, although the committee does also consider direct nominations from MAA members. More information on the award, and nomination instructions can be found on the national MAA website at: http://www.maa.org/awards/teachingawards.htm . Past winners of the KYMAA Distinguished Teaching Award can be found at: http://sections.maa.org/kentucky/teaching.html .

We urge you to submit a nomination of someone who is eligible and qualified in your department. Even if the nominee is not selected this year, it is an honor to be nominated. Your department will receive recognition for its commitment to excellence in teaching, and the work done in preparing a nomination folder for your candidate is not wasted, since your candidate can be nominated again in a future year. Self-nomination is not permitted.

Eligibility

• College or university teachers assigned at least halftime during the academic year to teaching a mathematical science in a public or private college or university (from two-year college teaching through teaching at the Ph.D. level) in the United States or Canada. Those on approved leave (sabbatical or other) during the academic year in which they are nominated qualify if they fulfilled the requirements in the previous year.
• At least five years teaching experience in a mathematical science.
• Membership in the Mathematical Association of America.

Guidelines for Nomination
The nominees should:

• be widely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching*;
• have teaching effectiveness that can be documented;
• have had influence in their teaching beyond their own institutions**;
• foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics in their students.

* "teaching" is to be interpreted in its broadest sense, not necessarily limited to classroom teaching (it may include activities such as preparing students for mathematical competitions at the college level--for example, the Putnam Prize Competition or the Mathematical Contest in Modeling--or attracting students to become majors in a mathematical science or to become Ph.D. candidates).

** "influence beyond their own institutions" can take many forms, including: demonstrated lasting impact on alumni; influence on the profession through curricular revisions in college mathematics teaching with national impact; influential, innovative books on the teaching of college mathematics; etc.

Nominations must include the appropriate "Evidence of Extraordinary Success in Teaching," the first page of which is the "Nomination Form." Please follow the instructions on that form precisely to assure uniformity in the selection process both at the Section and National level. The form and instructions can be obtained by clicking on Evidence of Extraordinary Success in Teaching(pdf).

If the Nomination Form is received by the Section Secretary by November 4, 2011, the Secretary will ask the nominee's Department Chair to work with the nominator in supplying the additional required materials. Ultimately, a complete nomination must also include Evidence of Success in Teaching as described on the back of the nomination form. Final deadline for receipt of all materials is December 1, 2011. If the file on the Section's awardee significantly exceeds the limits prescribed, it will not be considered for a national award and will be returned to the Section. Please send one copy of all materials to the Section Secretary (electronic submissions preferred):

Robert Hebble at robert.hebble@kysu.edu
Division of Mathematics and Science
Kentucky State University
400 East Main St.
Frankfort, KY 40601

We look forward to your participation in this exciting MAA venture of taking substantive action to honor extraordinarily successful teaching. We want to see such teaching recognized at all post-secondary school levels. We depend on you to help us identify those who merit such recognition.

This year the Teaching Award Committee members are

• Christie Perry, Chair, Morehead State University (c.perry@moreheadstate.edu)
• Lisa Holden, Northern Kentucky University (holdenl@nku.edu)
• Teri Murphy, Northern Kentucky University(murphytj1@nku.edu)
• Ryan Stufflebeam, Transylvania University (rstuffelbeam@transy.edu)
• Jacob Wildstrom, University of Louisville (dwildstr@erdos.math.louisville.edu)

Call for KYMAA Nominations

This spring we will be holding elections for Secretary and Student Chapters Coordinator. All new officers will begin their terms at the Executive Committee Meeting immediately following the Annual Business Meeting in the spring. Both positions carry three-year terms.

If you have any questions about these positions, please feel free to contact the current people in these positions or read the "job descriptions" in our bylaws, to be found at http://sections.maa.org/kentucky/bylaws.html.

• Robert Hebble is our current Secretary and can be contacted at robert.hebble@kysu.edu.
• Michael Dobranski is our current Chair-Elect and can be contacted at m.dobranski@moreheadstate.edu.

Please forward the name and affiliation of any Section member you would like to nominate for one of these offices to any member of the Nominating Committee. Self-nominations are entirely appropriate. If you'd like to get involved, JUMP IN!

This year the members of the Nominating Committee are

• Will Harris, Georgetown College (wharris@georgetowncollege.edu)
• Doug Chatham, Morehead State University (d.chatham@moreheadstate.edu
• Dan Curtin, Northern Kentucky University (curtin@nku.edu)
• Kristine Roinestad, Georgetown College (Kristine_Roinestad@georgetowncollege.edu)

The Annual KYMAA Meeting:
A Bluegrass Mathematics Extravaganza

Our 2012 KYMAA Annual Meeting will be held March 30-31, 2012 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. Further information will appear on our 2012 Annual Meeting and 2012 Meeting Program pages in the coming months.

Some of the relevant dates and deadlines:

• January 27, 2012 - Call for Contributed Papers in Winter Newsletter
• February 24, 2012 - Deadline for Abstracts for Contributed Papers
• March 5, 2012 - Publication of Meeting Program on KYMAA website
• March 16, 2012 - Deadline for Meeting Registration
• March 30 - 31, 2012 - Mathematics and Fun at the Annual Meeting!

In spring 2013, Transylvania University in Lexington will host the KYMAA Annual Meeting. Please contact any officer of KYMAA if you would be interested in hosting a future meeting.

Hey Students!

My name is Mike Dobranski, and I'm the Student Chapters Coordinator for the KYMAA. I hope your fall term is going well so far. If your institution does not have a student chapter or a math club, talk to your professors about starting one. Chapter or club meetings are a great place to share summer research experiences with other students and faculty. Here's a link to the MAA page with information on starting a student chapter at your school http://www.maa.org/students/chapter_index.html

News from the Chapters

Centre College

reported by Forrest Stonedahl (http://forrest.stonedahl.com/ )

• Joel Kilty gave a presentation to the Math Club on boundary value problems.
• Christine Shannon invited Amy Radunsky from Pomona College to speak on "Modeling Cancer Growth" in conjunction with course on computational modeling last winter.
• Lesley Wiglesworth invited Dan Curtin from Northern Kentucky University to give a convocation lecture entitled "Solution of the Cubic Equation: Renaissance Brilliance and Brawling" last spring.
• Forrest Stonedahl presented a talk at MathFest in Lexington this summer, which was entitled "Think-Tac-Toe: When are puzzles solvable?"

Eastern Kentucky University

reported by Pat Costello(pat.costello@eku.edu)

• Audrey Brock (Lecturer, M.S., UK, 2007)
• Shawn Clift (Tutor Center Director, Ph.D., 2008, UK, algebra)
• Jessica Harber (Lecturer, M.S., 2010, EKU)
• Josh Lambert (Lecturer, M.S., 2010, Murray)
• Jeffrey Neugebauer (Assistant Professor, Ph.D., 2011, Baylor, boundary value problems)
• Steve Szabo (Assistant Professor, Ph.D., 2009, Ohio University, ring theory)
• Yong Wang (Assistant Professor, Ph.D., 2011, Purdue, statistics)

Kentucky State University

reported by Andy Martin (andrew.martin@kysu.edu)

Morehead State University

reported by Kathryn Lewis(k.lewis@moreheadstate.edu )

Murray State University

reported by Tim Schroeder(tim.schroeder@murraystate.edu )

[Editor's note: David Roach sings in "Math Ditty" --fearless !]

Northern Kentucky University

reported by John Rankin(RANKIN@nku.edu)

We welcome Marla Cordray as a new instructor in the department. Marla has an MS in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati and is an alumna of NKU.

We also welcome Mel Petersen as a new instructor. Mel has an MS in statistics from the University of Iowa.

The 2011 Sehnert Lecture: Jim Albert: Measuring Athletic Performance: the Role of Luck in Sports

Monday, October 24, 2011 at 7:30 PM in Otto Budig Theater

Jim Albert is Professor of Statistics at Bowling Green State University. His academic interests are in Bayesian modeling, statistics education, and the statistical analysis of sports data. He is the coauthor (with Jay Bennett) of "Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game" and "Teaching Statistics Using Baseball." Jim is the new editor of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports. In sports, as a spectator, Jim is a big fan of the Phillies and, as a participant, is an active tennis player.

Public Welcome, 5th graders and above.

For more information, please visit the departmental website at http://www.nku.edu/~math/

Owensboro Community College

reported by Karin V Chess(karin.chess@kctcs.edu)

Thomas More College

reported by Joe Christensen( Joseph.Christensen@ThomasMore.edu)

• Bob Riehemann is on sabbatical for the 2011-2012 academic year and, I am sad to say, will not be chair upon his return.
• Joe Christensen is taking over as Department Chair for the next few years, at least.
• Bob's sabbatical replacement is Visiting Assistant Professor, Crystal Clough (PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2009 under Prof. Jintai Ding).

Western Kentucky University

reported by Mark Robinson(mark.robinson@wku.edu)

West Kentucky Community and Technical College

reported by Rhonda J Adkins(rhonda.adkins@kctcs.edu)