Fall 2001 Newsletter

From the Chair Call for KYMAA Nominations
From the Chair-Elect The Annual KYMAA Meeting
KYMAA Teaching Award The Governor's Corner
KYMAA Visiting Lecturer Program News from the Chapters

From the Chair

Thanks to the University of Kentucky: Many colleagues passed on to me compliments on the quality of the meeting last spring hosted by the University of Kentucky. A special thank you goes to Brauch Fugate who coordinated the UK effort. With the confluence of the EXCEL conference honoring the retirement of Michael Freeman, it was an especially busy and productive meeting. Of course, the strength of any good meeting are the talks, which at this meeting were plentiful, varied in topic and of excellent quality. Thus, also thanks to the many faculty and students who made presentations and special thanks to our invited speakers: Professor Mike Freeman (University Of Kentucky), Professor Edward Barbeau (University of Toronto) and Professor Georgia Benkart (University Of Wisconsin).

Distinguished Teaching Award: I am sure all of us could give an example of a mathematics teacher in our past that inspired us to choose the doing and teaching of mathematics as a career. The importance of good teaching cannot be over stated. If you know of someone who is a truly dedicated and outstanding mathematics teacher, please nominate that person for the KYMAA Distinguished Teaching Award. Being honored by peers ranks high in one's professional career. The nomination form and guidelines appear below under KYMAA Teaching Award. The review committee is being chaired by Bill Fenton of Bellarmine College. Check with him if you have any questions about the process.

Nominations: Don Bennett is in his last year as governor of our section. A nomination committee for governor has been formed and will forward nominations to MAA headquarters later this fall. Anticipate receiving a ballot form the MAA early in the winter. Hopefully, we will be able to announce our new governor at the spring meeting. Don Bennett is chairing the nomination committee in case you have suggestions for a nomination. Further details appear under Call for KYMAA Nominations.

Newsletter Editor: Thanks to Alex McAllister of Centre College, our newsletter editor. The transition to an electronic format for the newsletter is the result of Alex's hard work. He is also responsible for the excellent KYMAA webpage, the envy of many MAA sections. If you have any suggestions for the newsletter or webpage contact Alex at alexmcal@centre.edu.

KYMAA Spring Meeting 2002: Our next section meeting will be held April 5-6, 2002 at Georgetown College. Continue to check the KYMAA webpage for meeting details. Bill Fenton, our chair-elect, from Bellarmine College, has more about the meeting below. See The Annual KYMAA Meeting for more details.

Have a great year and I look forward to seeing you in April in Georgetown.

David Shannon at dshannon@mail.transy.edu
KYMAA Chair


From the Chair-Elect

It is time again to consider nominating a colleague for the Kentucky Section's 2002 Distinguished Teaching Award. At our annual meeting each spring, I am always impressed by the variety of interesting and challenging things that people are doing in their classrooms. These faculty deserve recognition, and it is up to you to ensure that they get it.

A quick reminder of the guidelines: "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."
There is much latitude in how these guidelines are to be interpreted, so look over the forms and make the best case you can. More detailed information is available under KYMAA Teaching Award, including nomination forms. Please send the completed nominations to our Section Secretary, Karin Chess at Karin.Chess@kctcs.net, by December 1, 2001.

William Fenton at wfenton@bellarmine.edu
KYMAA Chair-Elect


KYMAA Teaching Award - Call for Nominations

Nominations for the Kentucky Section's 2002 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 Spring 2002 meeting of the section and will be widely recognized and acknowledged within the Section. The award will also be the official Section candidate for the pool of Section awardees from which the national recipients for the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics will be selected (though one of the national winners may be selected from another source). There will be at most three national awardees, each of whom will be honored at the National MAA meeting in January 2003 and receive a $1,000 check and certificate.

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.

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 via the following links:

If the Nomination Form is received by the Section Secretary by November 12, 2001, 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, 2001. 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):

  • Professor Karin Chess at Karin.Chess@kctcs.net
    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 committee to choose this year's distinguished teacher for KYMAA is:


KYMAA Visiting Lecturer Program

We would like to announce the Visiting Lecturer Program for KYMAA. We have compiled a list of those willing to give visiting lectures, the titles of those lectures, a short bio of the speaker, and contact information. This list also includes speakers willing to speak at high schools. You are invited to consider our list of speakers on the webpage for the KYMAA Visiting Lecturer Program

Lectures are undergraduate accessible, but not necessarily freshman/sophomore accessible (talks are designated as accessible to high school students). Being listed does not obligate a speaker to accept invitations, but participants are willing to travel within a reasonable radius of their home institutions. Participants do not require or expect an honorarium from the host institution. However, the host institution is expected to take full responsibility for making all arrangements directly with the speaker, covering all travel expenses, publicizing the event, and acting as a host throughout the speaker's visit.

We are still looking for speakers to include on our list of visiting lecturers; those interested in being visiting lecturers should e-mail their information to either: Dr. Kathryn Lewis of Morehead State University at k.lewis@morehead-st.edu or Dr. Daylene Zielinski of Bellarmine University at dzielinski@bellarmine.edu. Please send them the following information:

  • Name as you wish it to appear,
  • Title and Institution,
  • Contact Information including: address, phone, email, fax, url,
  • A short professional bio that gives some idea of your expertise; please limit your bio to a maximum of 150 words,
  • Titles of lectures you are interested in giving; please indicate which talks are accessible to high school students.


Call for KYMAA Nominations

The term of our current Governor will be expiring this spring, so we are seeking nominations for candidates for this office. The list of nominees must be submitted to the national office of the MAA by November 15th. If you have any questions about this position, please feel free to contact the current Governor Donald Bennett. 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:

Elections will be conducted by the national office of the MAA; members of the MAA should expect to receive a ballot by mail in the spring.


The Annual KYMAA Meeting

Our 2002 KYMAA Annual Meeting is scheduled for April 5-6, 2002 at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky. Further information will be appearing on our 2002 Annual Meeting and 2002 Meeting Program

Our schedule of hosts for future section meetings is:

2002 Georgetown College
2003 Bellarmine University
2004 Murray State University

Please contact any officer of KYMAA if you would interested in hosting a future meeting, we're always on the look out for a good meeting site.


The Governor's Corner

The 2001 MAA Summer "MathFest" conference was held August 2-4 in Madison, Wisconsin with approximately 1000 participants registered. The Board of Governors met on August 1st prior to MathFest. I am delighted to report that the MAA is moving forward, both financially and procedurally, and with new and exciting changes also being proposed. Tina Straley, the new Executive Director, has initiated changes that promise to propel our organization to the forefront in not only promoting mathematics but in service to its members.

Membership continues to grow. Between December 1, 2000 and July 15, 2001 there have been 2411 new individual members. The total paid membership is now 22,591 which is 4.36% higher than this time last year. Also, the membership committee has reconsidered the definition of "student" and has created a category for graduate student membership. These initiatives should help in recruiting and better serving student members.

After several years of financial problems, the MAA is now on track with a balanced budget. Moreover, the MAA has been successful in securing several large grants to support and expand its programs. For example, the Akamai Corporation, a company that provides traffic control to large internet users, has become a generous supporter of the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions. Also a proposal has been submitted to NSF to extend the Mathematical Sciences Digital Library (Math DL) to the secondary level. Both NCTM and the College Board are collaborating with the MAA in the development of the extension.

Project NExT continues to grow with seventy-one new 2001-2002 Fellows. These new Fellows are from 25 of the 29 MAA Sections. The NExT Fellows now total 559. Congratulations to Mike Ackerman for being selected as a Fellow from the KY Section. Mike was an assistant professor at Murray State last year but has joined the faculty at Bellarmine College this year.

In my Spring 2001 report, the sites/dates of the annual (January) Joint Conferences were announced for 2002-2006 with the exception of 2005. During this meeting, the Board approved Atlanta as the January 2005 site.

I also attended the Section Officers' Meeting which was held during the conference. The major topics of discussion were: (1) electronic vs. paper Section Newsletters (no conclusion was reached) and (2) the "Conflict of Financial Interest Policy" for officers, staff, and volunteers of the MAA. This policy pertains to both the national association and to sectional officers and volunteers. The Policy is posted on MAA Online.

Please let me know if you would like additional information, would like to serve on a national MAA committee, or have concerns you would like to bring to the attention of the MAA.

Don Bennett at dbennett@math.mursuky.edu
KYMAA Governor


News from the Chapters


BELLARMINE COLLEGE reported by Dr. William Fenton: wfenton@bellarmine.edu

We have a new faculty member: Dr. Mike Ackerman, assistant professor. Mike has his Ph.D. from Memphis in graph theory. Mike is a Louisville native and well known to faculty at the University of Louisville since he has a M.S. from UofL. (email address: mackerman@bellarmine.edu Dr. Marian Robbins is on sabbatical and spending a year at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, researching composition operators. Also, John Oppelt is no longer the Dean of Arts & Sciences at Bellarmine; we have hired a biologist for that position. However, he is still the Provost.


BEREA COLLEGE reported by J.P. Lee : JP_Lee@berea.edu

Two professors are taking sabbatical leaves this year. Prof. Steve Boyce is visiting at Indiana University, and Prof. Jan Pearce is working on a masters degree in computer science at University of Minnesota. Note that Prof. Steve Boyce served as Provost of the College from 95-00.

Ms. Patty Boyce retired from the Math Department in spring 2001 after 21 years of service to the College. Prior to her retirement, Patty served as Director of the Basic Math Program here. Dr. Dollena Hawkins was hired as new Director of the Basic Math Program. Dr. Hawkins received her Ph.D. in Statistics from University of Kentucky in 1999.

Ms. Meesoon Han is hired as sabbatical replacement for Prof. Jan Pearce. Ms. Han received her master degree in applied mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993.


CENTRE COLLEGE reported by John Wilson: wilson@centre.edu

There are several changes in the faculty at Centre this year. Bill Johnston is beginning a three year term as the Associate Dean of the college. He will continue to teach two math courses each year in addition to his administrative duties. Neil Eklund has assumed the duties of the chair of the math program. John Wilson has been promoted to the rank of Professor. David Binger is on sabbatical leave for the year.

We welcome two new full time faculty members. Ken Dutch (Ph.D in mathematics from Stanford) will fill a position created by Bill's move into a more administrative role at the college. A change in the curriculum and teaching load has allowed us to hire Andre Wehner (Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Utah State) in a joint position with the physics program. We are pleased to welcome these two new colleagues.

Several activities are planned for the student chapter this year including a monthly colloquium series, a discussion about graduate school opportunities, an information session about summer research opportunities, and the annual math vs chemistry croquet match.


LEXINGTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE reported by Lillie Crowley : lillie@uky.edu

Lexington Community College now has 7800+ students, no noticeable new space, no new faculty lines, and three mathematics instructors on sabbatical (two for the fall only). We are, therefore, using lots of PTI's and full-time temporary instructors. Peggy Saunier and Paul East are on sabbatical taking graduate statistics courses at UK to qualify for teaching statistics as well as mathematics. Beth Brady is one of LCC's Master Advisors and is working on a project to further improve and overhaul our student advising program.

Lillie Crowley, Landrea Miriti and Deb Hall are working with UK faculty (Carl Lee from mathematics, Bill Rayens from statistics, Willis Johnson, Bill Bush and Doug Jones from mathematics education) and several public school mathematics teachers to develop and implement two courses for middle school mathematics majors, one in geometry, one in statistics.

Ana Leon has been working with Northern Kentucky University on the high school placement testing program, and is currently regional director for that project.


MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY reported by Gordon Nolen : g.nolen@morehead-st.edu

Our new faculty this year are:

  • Dr. Robert Douglas (Doug) Chatham, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
    B.S., Mathematics (with minor in Computer Science), Wake Forest University_ Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Tennessee
    Previous: Visiting Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University
  • Dr. Russell J. May, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
    B.S., Mathematics, California Institute of Technology M.S., Mathematics, The Ohio State University Ph.D., Mathematics, University of North Texas
    Previous: Teaching Fellow, University of North Texas
  • Dr. David Jay Hebert (pronounced “A-Bear”), Assistant Professor of Mathematics
    B.S. Computer Science, Southeastern Louisiana University B.S. Mathematics, Southeastern Louisiana University M.S. Mathematics, The University of Southern Mississippi Ph.D., Science Education (mathematics emphasis), The University of Southern Mississippi
    Previous: Technology coordinator for the Center for Science, and Mathematics Education at the University of Southern Mississippi.
  • Mr. Michael Howard, Instructor of Mathematics
    B.S., Math & Computing, Morehead State University
  • Mr. Charlie Jones, Instructor of Mathematics
    B.A, History, Morehead State University M.A., Secondary Education, Morehead State University
    Previous: Summer Coordinator, MOAR Program, Morehead State University Instructor of Mathematics, Upward Bound, Morehead State University Past Instructor of Mathematics, Morehead State University
  • Mr. David R. Pollitte, Instructor of Mathematics
    M.S., Mathematics, Morehead State University M.A., Secondary Education, Morehead StateUniversity
    Previous: Was a Math Instructor at Morehead State Univesity during 91-92
Duane Skaggs, instructor of mathematics, is now serving as Technology Coordinator for the Department of Mathematics Dr. Daniel Seth, Associate Professor of Mathematics, is on sabbatical leave for this academic year. The newly elected Student Math Club officers are David Little, President; Beth McCarty, Vice President, Ryan McQuerry, Treasurer. The club is currently organizing fund raisers for their trip to the MAA/AMS joint meeting in San Diego in January.


MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY reported by Renee Fister: renee.fister@murraystate.edu

We are excited about all the successes our department has had over the last year. Two new faculty members joined our department this Fall: Ted Porter, Ph.D.,Auburn University and Keith Weber, Ph.D.,Carnegie Mellon University. They have already been an asset to us! Congratulations to Dr.David Gibson who was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor. Our faculty have been very active in scholarly activity with eighteen papers published and/or accepted for publication and twenty-four presentations at state/national/international conferences or other universities. Also,our department received four NSF EPSCoR grants in the last year.These grants have allowed Renee Fister, Maeve McCarthy, David Roach, and Andrew Siefker to finish promising work in applied mathematics with the incorporation of undergraduate and graduates in this research.

Our local mathematics club was very also active in the recent year. Six of the student speakers at the Spring KY MAA meeting were from Murray State. Three of our students were involved in off-campus summmer research programs; Alison Marr (Univ.of Oklahoma),Chris Robinson (Univ.of Tennessee), and Thalya Burden,(St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis).


NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY reported by Lisa K. Elderbrock Rome: elderbrockl@NKU.EDU

Our new tenured/tenure-track faculty include:

  • Gail Mackin: last year was Assistant Prof. at Western Carolina University, PhD (1997) from Virginia Tech, interests in nonlinear pde's and numerical analysis. Gail is married to David Schenck.
  • David Schenck: last year was in a visiting position at UNC Asheville, PhD (1999) from Virginia Tech, interests in differential equations and dynamical systems. David is married to Gail Mackin.
  • Hee-Jeong Lim: PhD (2001) from the University of Missouri-Columbia in statistics, interests in dealing with censored data.
  • Richard Fox: had been at the University of Texas-Pan American since 1992, PhD(1992) from The Ohio State University, interests in artificial intelligence and knowledge-based systems.
  • James Hauser: last year was in a visiting position here at NKU, PhD (2001) from University of Cincinnati, interests in software engineering and computer arithmetic.
  • Gary Newell: had been teaching at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, since 1997, PhD (1995) from University of Arizona, interests in bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.
Peter Moore is on sabbatical for the fall semester, writing graduate math books in number theory and geometry for middle grade teachers. Steve Rankin is on sabbatical for the fall semester, working on developing a graduate level course in discrete math for computer science students. Gina Foletta will be on sabbatical in the spring. Her sabbatical has two complementary components. Both involve the analysis and scholarly reporting of data collected at Dixie Heights High School (Fort Mitchell, KY) during the 2000-2001 academic year. One component includes recorded interviews and field notes documenting students' reasoning while solving mathematics problems in technology-intensive environments. The second component includes recorded classroom observations and teacher interviews documenting the nature and struggle of reform in the secondary mathematics classroom.

Jim McKenney retired after 34 years at NKU. He is now working part time helping Andy Long and others in the department in establishing the Mathematical and Statistical Consulting Center.

On Tuesday, October 30, the department will be hosting the 1st Annual Jim "Duke" Sehnert Memorial Lecture at 7:30 pm. Speaker will be Underwood Dudley, professor at DePauw University in Indiana and editor of the College Mathematics Journal. His talk is titled: "Why Mathematics?"


SAINT CATHERINE COLLEGE reported by Sr. Ann F. Leonard : ALeonard@sccky.edu

The only news I have is that Sr. Ann F. Leonard has returned to St. Catharine College from her sabbatical. She is Director of the Resource Center and is no longer in the classroom. Her days are spent working with students primarily in mathematics one-on-one or in small groups.


SOMERSET COMMUNITY COLLEGE reported by Roger Angevine: Roger.Angevine@kctcs.net

Promotions at Somerset Community College:

  • Roger Angevine, full professor
  • Don Brashear, associate professor
  • David Behrman, assistant professor


WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY reported by Mark Robinson: Mark.Robinson@wku.edu

Joining the mathematics faculty as Instructors this year on the WKU main campus are Bonnie Gibson (M.A., Western Kentucky University), Elyssa Hurst (M.S., Western Kentucky University), John LaGrange (M.S., Western Kentucky University), and Leigh Ann Wells (M.S.T., Middle Tennessee State University). Also joining the mathematics faculty as Instructors, and teaching on the WKU Glasgow campus, are Suzanne Britt (M.A., Western Kentucky University) and Linda Fitzpatrick (M.A.E., Eastern Kentucky University).

Mark Robinson has been promoted from Associate Professor to Professor. Sherrie Serros has been promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor.

Claus Ernst is on sabbatical leave during the 2001-2002 academic year, and Barry Brunson will be on sabbatical leave during the spring 2002 semester.

Beginning Optional Retirement this year, after 10 years of service, is Jim Porter, who is acting as Interim Head of the department this fall. Beginning full retirement this year is Hope Richards, after 27 years of service. Bob Bueker has started full retirement after 35 years of service, but he is continuing to teach for the department on a part-time basis.

WKU's 21st Annual Mathematics Symposium will be held October 26th and 27th, 2001. This year's theme is Mathematics in a Visual World, and will address the role of mathematics in many visual applications. We have three invited speakers this year:

  • Christopher Heil of Georgia Institute of Technology will speak about "Frame Theory: Analysis Without Uniqueness".
  • David Walnut of George Mason University will speak on "Wavelets and the Local Tomography Problem" about the use of wavelets in CT-scans, and about "Local Convolution".
  • Yang Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology will speak on "The Dragon and Other Reptiles" about fractal tiles and self-replicating tilings.
All talks will be at a level accessible to a broad range of backgrounds and interests. If you would be interested in giving a short (20-25 minute) talk consistent with this theme, please contact Bruce Kessler at bruce.kessler@wku.edu or at (270) 745-2336 by October 12, 2001.