Did you know that our Section had the second largest percentage of its membership attend its 1997-98 annual meeting? Of our 301 members, 119 attended our meeting at Morehead. We were second only to the Oklahoma/Arkansas Section. Perhaps this year's meeting at the University of Louisville will see us go from an Avis to a Hertz!

Speaking of this year's meeting, the Executive Committee has met and reviewed the site and program. This year we will combine the Friday night lecture with the University's annual Bullitt lecture. Ray Tennant will have more to report on this.

The Executive Committee also established a new office, the Departmental Liaison Coordinator. We decided to have this rest in the hands of our Governor, Peter Moore. Peter has also appointed Lisa Elderbrock of Northern Kentucky University as our new Student Chapter Coordinator. As we welcome her, I want to extend our sincere thanks to John Wilson of Centre College for his work on behalf of our student members.

Christine Leverenz is chairing our Nominating Committee. Offices up for election are the Chair Elect and the Governor. Tom Kearns is chairing our Distinguished Teaching Selection Committee.

Our section has again been awarded an Exxon grant to support the student activities at our Annual Meeting.

Have a great year--hit a few home runs yourself--and we look forward to seeing you in March.

John Oppelt

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING...

Dick Davitt of the University of Louisville and Dan Curtin of Northern Kentucky University will give a short course involving the history of mathematics on Friday afternoon.

CRYPTOLOGICALLY SPEAKING...

Peter Winkler of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies will give the invited address on Friday evening.

ALGEBRAICALLY SPEAKING...

Dan Kalman of Washington, D.C.'s American University will give the invited address on Saturday morning.

The Board of Governors met at the Toronto Mathfest in July, 1998. Unfortunately, my teaching assignment this summer didn't allow me to attend the meeting. This report is based on the secretary's report which can be found at www.maa.org .

The Board of Governors had further discussions about Mathfest 2000. After much deliberation, plans to have Mathfest in the year 2000 was reaffirmed by the board. A site close to UCLA with dates immediately preceding the AMS meeting in Los Angeles, August 7th to 12th of the year 2000 will be selected. More details should be available after the Board meeting in January in San Antonio. Plans for Mathfest 1999, to be held July 31 - Aug 2, in Providence, Rhode Island, are being completed. Carl Pomerance of the University of Georgia was named 1999 Hedrich Lecturer and will deliver three talks in Providence.

The Nominating Committee for the election of national officers to be elected in 1999 is soliciting nominations for president-elect and first and second vice presidents. The Board elected Mary K. Heid of Pennsylvania State University to fill the unexpired term of James Leitzel, as Govenor-At-Large Representing Teacher Education.

The financial picture at the national level seems to be improving. Neil Beskin now serves as finance director. The board approved committee recommendations for winners of several teaching awards and meritorious service awards.

Titu Andreescu was named director-elect of the American Mathematics Competition. He succeeds Walter Mientka, who will serve as Executive Director of the International Mathematics Olympiad 2001. Aparna Higgins and Joseph Gallian will serve as co-directors of Project NExT. The Board of Governors approved the James R. C. Leitzel Lecture to be given once a year, usually at Mathfest. Endowment funds are needed to offset expenses and donations will be accepted at MAA headquarters.

The Board of Governors also voted approval of a change in the by-laws of the Association. The by-laws formerly required that an editor of one of the three journals of the Association be elected by the Board of Governors to a seat on the Executive Committee for a term of two years. Now the Board may elect either one of the editors or the chairperson of the Committee on Publications for the two-year term. This will be voted on by the membership at the annual business meeting in San Antonio.

I would encourage you to add the MAA website (www.maa.org) to your bookmarks and visit the site often. It contains articles and information about the many activities of our association. I look forward to seeing many of you at our section meeting at the University of Louisville in March.

Peter Moore

Anyone is entitled to make a nomination, but nominations from chairs or MAA representatives in departments of mathematical sciences are especially solicited. For this reason, this call for nominations is sent to both department chairs and MAA representatives so that the responsibility for nominations can be shared between them.

We urge you to submit a nomination if you have someone eligible and qualified in your department. Even if not selected this year, it is an honor for someone to have been 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.

In addition to discussing this memo with your colleagues, preferably at a department meeting, please post it in a prominent place in your department.

-- 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.

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 be submitted on the Nomination Form attached. Please follow the instructions on that form precisely to assure uniformity in the selection process both at the Section and National level. If the Nomination Form is received by the Section Secretary by November 13, 1998, the Secretary will ask the nominee's Department Chair (whose name must also be submitted) 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 11, 1998. 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:

Professor Karin Chess

Department of Mathematics

Owensboro Community College

4800 New Hartford Road

Owensboro, KY 42303

The Section Selection Committee will select the Section awardee during December and January and communicate its selection to the National Selection Committee no later than February 1, so that the National Committee can then make its selections.

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.

The KYMAA is about to enter the brave new world of electronic media, and you are invited to join us. Beginning with the Winter 1999 issue, the Kentucky Section Newsletter will become available via email in a variety of formats. Those of you who would prefer to receive your newsletter this way should send email to William Harris, the KYMAA Newsletter Editor (wharris@georgetowncollege.edu). Please follow these guidelines:

1. Your message should be entitled, "Electronic Newsletter."

2. You should include the email address at which you wish to receive the newsletter in the body of your message.

3. You need to indicate the format you wish to receive. Current options are:

a) Plain text;

b) Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows attachment;

c) Microsoft Word 6.0 for Macintosh attachment;

d) Corel Word Perfect 5.x for Windows attachment.

Other options (including HTML) should be made available in the future; you will be told about these via email and the newsletter when they are ready. The newsletter will continue to be available via the KYMAA Web site, as well.

If you choose to receive the electronic version of the newsletter, you will no longer receive the "hard" version through regular mail.

Is there a mathematical topic that is of particular interest to you? Have you encountered any intriguing mathematical problems recently? Do you have a unique mathematical experience you could share with others? Now is a great time to start planning to give a presentation (about 20 minutes in length) at the MAA meeting of the Kentucky Section in Louisville this spring! This is a great opportunity to gain experience in sharing mathematical ideas with others. Last year's student presenters were from Bellarmine College, Centre College, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, and University of Kentucky. Don't let your school be left out this year! For more information, contact Lisa Elderbrock at Northern Kentucky University (elderbrockl@nku.edu).

Centre College -- Our student MAA chapter has held its organization meeting. Officers for 1998-99 include Michael Bradshaw and Michael Lanham--co-presidents, Kara Jones--secretary, and Emily Upton--treasurer. Kelenda Allen has been working on a chapter web page which we hope to get published this fall. We will continue to have problem solving sessions with pizza, croquet with the chemists and some guest speakers. We look forward to an active year. [Reported by John Wilson--wilson@centre.edu]

Georgetown College -- T.C. Christopher--Instructor--M.S. in Statistics, University of Kentucky, has joined the faculty as a one-year sabbatical replacement. Chris Leverenz is on sabbatical during Fall 1998, and William Harris will be on sabbatical during Spring 1999.

William Harris has received tenure and has been promoted to Associate Professor. [Reported by Ann Heard--aheard@georgetowncollege.edu]

Hopkinsville Community College -- Joining the faculty at the level of Instructor are Drew Ishii--M.S., Western Kentucky University and Pat Riley--M.A., University of Missouri. Additionally, we welcome Cindy Dougherty--Instructor in Developmental Mathematics--M.S., Western Kentucky University, Ed.S. in Administration and Supervision, Austin Peay State University. [Reported by Jim Hunter--jhunt1@pop.uky.edu]

Lexington Community College -- We have four new faculty this year: Andrea Stout--M.S., Colorado State University; Jonathan Schinhofen--M.S. in Statistics, University of Virginia; Jashed Fakhrid-Deen--M.S., Clark University; Rebecca Lanier--M.S. in Education, University of Kentucky.

Lynn Molloy was on sabbatical last year, but is back now. Cindy Barber is now serving as mathematics coordinator. [Reported by Lillie Crowley--lillie@pop.uky.edu]

Midway College -- Joining the faculty is Melissa Q. Pittard--M.S.in Statistics, University of Kentucky. She is currently completing her doctorate in Statistics at UK. [Reported by Martha L. Harris--mharris@midway.edu]

Morehead State University -- Joining the faculty are Jamie L. Summerville--Assistant Professor--Ph.D., University of Mississippi, and Robert Hebble--Visiting Assistant Professor--Ph.D., University of Kentucky.

Ben Flora has retired from the department after 26 years of service. [Reported by Gordon Nolen--g.nolen@morehead-st.edu]

Dr. Harvey Elder retired last summer after 40 years of service to Murray State. Dr. Elder will continue teaching on a half-time basis for the next few years.

Dr. John Mateja has been appointed dean of the College of Science. Dr. Mateja earned a Ph.D. in physics from Notre Dame and comes to Murray State from the Department of Energy in Washington. [Reported by Bob Pervine--bpervine@gauss.mursuky.edu]

Northern Kentucky University -- Joining the faculty is Scott Linder--Assistant Professor--Ph.D. in Statistics, The Ohio State University.

Bart Braden is on sabbatical during Fall 1998. He has just completed his 5-year term as editor of The College Mathematics Journal.

Kevin Kirby was awarded the 1998 George Polya Award for his article, "Of Memories, Neurons, and Rank-One Corrections," which was published in the January 1997 issue of The College Mathematics Journal.

A new Master of Science in Computer Science degree program was approved by the NKU Board of Regents in March. The Council on Postsecondary Education must still approve the program. If approved at the state level, the program will enroll its first students in the fall of 1999.

NKU professors conducted a pilot Early Mathematics Placement last spring, testing some 900 high school juniors to determine whether they are prepared for college-level mathematics courses and to encourage them to take a mathematics course during their senior year. A proposal for a statewide test of this type was approved at the section meeting last spring and will be given on a trial basis this spring. For further information contact Gail Wells (wells@nku.edu).

Proposed Kentucky Mathematics Standards, specifying curriculum guidelines for school mathematics courses in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, have been written by the mathematics group of the Council of Partners in Education, a group of high school and college mathematics teachers in Northern Kentucky. The group's intention is to get these standards included in the Kentucky Department of Education's "Program of Studies," a collection of curriculum guidelines upon which the new Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) test is based. Interested persons can find a copy of the standards on NKU's web site www.nku.edu/~math/ and can obtain further information from Gail Wells (wells@nku.edu). [Reported by Lisa Elderbrock--elderbrockl@nku.edu]

Owensboro Community College -- Owensboro Community College, in conjunction with Kentucky Tech, offered a workshop for middle school and high school math, science and technology teachers in our four county service area. This in-service entitled, "Paving the Way for Math Success," was designed to provide faculty with an opportunity to study the status of and the need for well-prepared students in the discipline of mathematics. Janice Eaves, a math resource teacher for the Kentucky. Department of Education, spoke to teachers on the changing math requirements for high school graduation. Panelist from the Chamber of Commerce, Skills Incorporated and area businesses provided teachers with much insight into the math skills needed by local businesses. Mr. Ed. Laughbaum, Associate Director of Placement Testing at The Ohio State University, spoke to teachers about the early placement test in place in Ohio. Teachers were then given the opportunity to provide suggestions for improving the math skills of area students. All involved in this project felt it was a very successful day. [Reported by Kathy Mowers--kamowe0@pop.uky.edu]

Paducah Community College -- Mike Stewart has received Microsoft certification. [Reported by Jackie Blagg--jwblag0@pop.uky.edu]

St. Catherine College -- William Moore--Instructor in Foundational Studies in Mathematics--B.A. and Rank I, Western Kentucky University, has joined the faculty. [Reported by Sr. Ann Leonard]

Transylvania University -- James Miller will be on sabbatical during Winter and May Terms, 1999. [Reported by James Miller--jmiller@mail.transy.edu]

University of Louisville -- We have four new faculty this fall. Keith Karnes--Associate Professor--Ph. D., University of California at Berkeley) specializes in Algebra. John Akeroyd--Visiting Professor--Ph. D., Indiana University comes to the department from the University of Arkansas. His area of specialty is Analysis. Matthew Cropper--Visiting Assistant Professor--Ph. D., West Virginia, studies Discrete Mathematics. Francis Jordan--Visiting Assistant Professor--Ph. D., West Virginia, works in Analysis.

Michael Jacobson is now Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts & Sciences. Fred McMorris has been appointed Assistant Vice President for Research for the University.

Andre Kezdy and Wei-bin Zeng are on sabbatical during Fall 1998. Gzregorz Kubicki and Ewa Kubicka will be on sabbatical during Spring 1999. Chi Wang is on sabbatical for the entire 1998-99 academic year. John Roberts has retired after 23 years of service to the department.

Peter Winkler will deliver the Bullitt Lecture as part of the KY Section Meeting on March 26, 1999. His topic will be probability.

Dr. William Schmidt will present an analysis of the TIMSS data, including a state-by-state break down, and the implications of that data, on February 18, 1999. For further information contact Steve Seif (swseif01@athena.louisville.edu).

The ARM Financial group will sponsor another in its series of annual lectures about mathematics of finance, some time in 1999. For further information contact Krzysztof M. Ostaszewski (krzysio@louisville.edu). [Reported by Wiley Williams--wcubed@louisville.edu]

Western Kentucky University -- Joining the faculty at the rank of instructor are David Almand--M.S., Western Kentucky University, Jane Brantley--M.A., Western Kentucky University, Jean Griffing--M.Ed., University of Louisville and Laura Hudspeth--M.S., Western Kentucky University.

Barry Brunson and Claus Ernst have been promoted from Associate Professor to Professor. Randy Swift has been granted tenure and is on sabbatical leave for the Fall 1998 semester. Dallas Wheat has started full-time retirement after 33 years of service. Beginning Optional Retirement this year are Virginia Hanks (after 28 years of service) and Carroll Wells (after 30 years of service).

The Annual WKU Mathematics Symposium will be held on November 20-21, 1998 (Friday and Saturday). The title of this year's symposium is "Mathematics in the Twenty-First Century Workplace." Nathaniel Dean, now at Rice University in Houston and formerly of AT&T Bell Labs, will speak from 7-8 PM on Friday, followed by a social hour. Starting at 8:30 on Saturday morning, there will be 12 sessions (running 4 at a time) presented by individuals representing different careers that rely heavily on mathematics. Among the presenters will be an actuary, a statistician, a telecommunications analyst, a director of software, an individual who has used mathematical modeling at Mammoth Cave, high school and college teachers, and individuals working in the manufacturing industry and at IBM, NASA, the National Security Agency and AT&T Bell Labs. The Symposium concludes with a talk given from 11:30-12:30 by Tamara Kolda of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Registration for the Symposium will be held in the lobby of Thompson Complex Central Wing. There is no registration fee. [Reported by Mark Robinson--mark.robinson@wku.edu]

At its September 11, 1993 meeting, the Executive Committee decided to reserve space in each issue of the newsletter for

--editorial columns;

--descriptions of interesting professional mathematics activity by KYMAA members;

--articles from KYMAA members.

Please consider yourself invited to make any such submissions. Please send to: William Harris, Georgetown College Box 234, 400 E. College St., Georgetown, KY 40324. E-mail submissions are welcome! Send to: wharris@georgetowncollege.edu

Governor (1996-99) Chair (1997-99)

Peter Moore John A. Oppelt

Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci. Department of Mathematics

Northern Kentucky University Bellarmine College

Highland Heights, KY 41099 Newburg Road

(606) 572-5331 Louisville, KY 40205-0671

moorep@nku.edu (502) 452-8237

joppelt@bellarmine.edu

Chair Elect (1997-99) Vice-Chair (1998-2001)

Ray Tennant J. Lyn Miller

Dept. of Math., Stat. and Comp Sci. Department of Mathematics

Eastern Kentucky University Western Kentucky University

Richmond, KY 40475-3133 Bowling Green, KY 42101

(606) 622-3150 (502) 745-6227

tennant@acs.eku.edu lyn.miller@wku.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (1997-2000) Newsletter Editor (1997-2000)

Karin Chess William Harris

Department of Mathematics Dept. of Math, Physics & Comp. Sci.

Owensboro Community College Georgetown College Box 234

4800 New Hartford Road 400 E. College St.

Owensboro, KY 42303 Georgetown, KY 40324

(502) 686-4473 (502) 863-7921

occkec@pop.uky.edu wharris@georgetowncollege.edu

David Shannon Lisa Elderbrock

Department of Mathematics Dept. of Math. and Comp. Sci.

Transylvania University Northern Kentucky University

Lexington, KY 40508-1797 Highland Heights, KY 41099

(606) 233-8185 (606) 572-6452

dshannon@transy.edu elderbrockl@nku.edu

Richard Davitt

Department of Mathematics

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY 40292

(502) 852-6826

rmdavi01@athena.louisville.edu