2001 Annual Meeting for KYMAA

Welcome!	Hotel Information
The Invited Talks	Maps and Directions
Call for Papers	Future Meetings
Hey Students	Call for Nominations
Forms for the Meeting	Meeting Program

Welcome!

More information is provided below, including a description of the invited talks, a call for papers, information for students, meeting forms, directions, and lodging and meal information.

A complete schedule for the meeting should be available on this site by March 16th.

The Invited Talks

By teaching them mathematics, of course. But what do they really need to learn? Yet more abstract content or how to enjoy and think like a pro at all levels of math? Many aspiring teachers have been scarred by less than happy experiences in fast-paced upper-level math courses. What can we do to restore their confidence and their pleasure as participants? We need teachers who actually like math, who take the same pleasure we do in acquiring and expressing its ideas with clarity and precision. I will offer and demonstrate an approach that seemed to work recently in a special course for teachers at UK. I found a few topics that were relatively accessible and especially good vehicles for learning how to enjoy and explore mathematical ideas. I intend to stimulate discussion and sharing. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas and experience.

There will also be an MAA workshop on Mathclass.org run by Paul Eakin, Carl Eberhart, Ken Kubota. The workshop will provide a brief tutorial introduction to the mathclass.org project. Mathclass.org is the home of wqs2, a web-based support system for the teaching of mathematics-intensive subjects. Its primary purpose is saving teacher’s time through the use of technology to facilitate teacher-student and teacher-teacher communication. Mathclass.org is the host site for the KEMTP project. Participants will register as a teacher, create a class, and install a homework list. Workshops will be offered on Friday at 11-12 am, 2-3 pm, and 4-5 pm, and on Saturday at 9-10 am. If there is sufficient interest, a materials authoring workshop will be given Saturday afternoon. Further details cam be found at: http://www.msc.uky.edu/carl/under/MAAWorkshoponMathclass.htm.

On Friday evening, the invited talk will be given by Professor Edward Barbeau from the University of Toronto. Professor Barbeau received his doctorate in functional analysis at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England in 1964, and has been in Toronto since 1967. For many years, he has been interested in mathematics education, mathematical enrichment and competitions. He has served on the problems committees for the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and the Putnam Competition and was the Academic Chairman when the IMO was held in Toronto in 1995. His publications include Polynomials (Springer-Verlag), Power Play (MAA) and Mathematical Fallacies, Flaws and Flimflam (MAA). He was named Distinguished Educator by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, was presented with the David Hilbert Award from the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions and received the Adrien Pouliot award for contributions to mathematics education from the Canadian Mathematical Society. He has given short courses on Problem Solving and Lagrange Multipliers for the Mathematical Association of America. The title of his talk is The Problem Setter. Professor Barbeau explains:

Preparing problems for competitions and training can be a lot of fun. But it is also quite a challenge. There is now an enormous literature of problems, generally poorly indexed, and it is hard to come up with something new, or even something new to the students, who thanks to modern communication can range widely over source material. I will talk about some of my experiences, describe some of the pitfalls, and share some of my favorite problems. However, these experiences have affected the way I deal with all students, not just the talented ones writing contests.

The featured speaker on Saturday morning will be Professor Georgia Benkart from the University of Wisconsin. Professor Benkart is currently a George Polya Lecturer for the MAA. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University, the 29th of Nathan Jacobson's 33 students. Her main research interests are Lie algebras and groups, representation theory, and combinatorics. At the annual meeting in January, 1994, Professor Benkart gave the AMS-MAA Invited Hour Address, "A Tale of Two Groups," which "told in Dickensian fashion the story begun 80 years ago by Issai Schur tying the knot between the symmetric groups and the general linear groups of invertible matrices." In 1987, Professor Benkart received the University of Wisconsin's highest prize for distinguished teaching. She has been an editor of the Journal of Algebra since 1991 and serves on the editorial board of the AMS's Surveys and Monographs series. The title of her talk is Algebras That Go Up and Down. The talk, based on recent research interests of Professor Benkart, is described as follows:

A partially ordered set has its ups and downs. That is, on any set with a partial order there is an up operator and a down operator. Sometimes these operators behave so nicely that they act like the operators in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. You can be certain that during this talk will be one of those times.

In addition to these events, members of the MAA are invited to attend the:

MathExcel Celebration
A Conference and Workshop at UK in conjunction with the KYMAA meeting on Saturday, April 7.

MathExcel and similar Excel programs in science are collaborative workshops in support of fundamental courses in math and science. Excel students volunteer for scheduled group study in a communal and supportive atmosphere. MathExcel and its adaptations have been operating for several years at UK, LCC, and several other schools in Kentucky and elsewhere. They have demonstrated substantial advantages in both grades and retention.

Uri Treisman, a nationally known educator and the originator of this model, will be the keynote speaker on Saturday afternoon. This Conference will bring together faculty, students, and other interested education professionals to review the successes and challenges of MathExcel programs nationwide. It will feature successful programs in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Oregon. Hear from Leaders of these programs how they have adapted the model to their own campuses. Learn how to initiate, organize, and manage one. See how you can have fun offering your own students the same opportunity for superior achievement. This conference is supported by UK and the Kentucky Council for Postsecondary Education.

Call for Papers

For both faculty and students, if you wish to make a presentation, fill out the Presentation Abstract Form and submit by March 2, 2001. A copy of the form can be obtained below under Forms for the Meeting. In general, talks are scheduled for 20-minute intervals. (Special presentations can be allocated if a longer time is necessary.) It is important to note any special needs and a time preference on this form. Submit the Presentation Abstract Form by either regular mail, e-mail, or fax to:

Hey Students

There will be opportunities for students to give 15-20 minute talks on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning, so get a talk together and come share some mathematics with other students! Last year there were 12 student talks. Let's see if we can top that number this year!! (Check out the Spring 2000 newsletter on the section webpage to see abstracts from last year's talks.)

There is a registration form below to be filled out and returned. Also look for information on sending in an abstract for your talk. Hope to see you in Lexington in April!!

Forms for the Meeting

Hotel Information

• University Inn Motel Suites, 1129 South Limestone Street
  Ph. (859) 278-6625
  Rates: single-$55,double-$59
  Expires: March 7
  Remark: Southwest corner of UK campus, across from Agriculture Complex. Within walking distance.

• Springs Inn, 2020 Harrodsburg Road
  Ph. (859) 277-5751, Res: 1-800-354-9503, E-mail: reservations@springsinn.com
  Rates: single-$46,double-$54
  Expires: March 7

• Campbell House Inn, 1375 Harrodsburg Road
  Ph. (859) 255-4281, Fax: (859) 254-4368
  Rates: single-$51,double-$69
  Expires: March 23

• Fairfield Inn, 3050 Lakecrest Circle (Intersection of Man-0-War and Harrodsburg Road)
  Ph. (859) 224-3338
  Rates: single/double-$107
  Expires: March 6

• Days Inn, 5575 Athen-Boonesboro Road, Exit 104, I-75
  Ph. (859) 263-3100, Fax: (859) 263-3120, 1-800-329-7466
  Rates: single-$50,double-$55
  Expires: March 16

• Sheraton Four Points Barcelo Hotel, 1938 Stanton Way, (At I-75 and Newton Pike North)
  Ph. (859) 259-1311, Fax:(859) 233-3658, 1-800-325-3535, E-mail: www.fourpoints.com
  Rates: single/double-$109
  Expires: March 6

• Radisson Hotel, 369 West Vine Street (walking distance)
  Ph. (859) 231-9000 or 1-800-333-3333
  We were not able to reserve a block of roooms, so its first-come, first-serve.

Maps and Directions

Parking: Before 4:30 on Friday, the only available parking is the E lot marked P6 located behind the Coliseum. It's accessible only from College View Ave, off Rose Street one block NE of the intersection with Euclid/Avenue of Champions. Do not park in any of the others before 4:30 on Friday. After 4:30 on Friday and all day Saturday any of the E lots P1-P6 are available (but do not park in any R lot-you could be towed).

You can also find a zoomable map of the area around UK at: Lexington Map

Finally, the promised map of campus should help:

Future KYMAA Meetings

2001	University of Kentucky
2002	Georgetown College

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 following schools have already expressed an interest in hosting a future meeting:

• Bellarmine College
• Murray State University

Call for KYMAA Nominations

• Chair-Elect -- organizes program of annual meeting (initial 2 years) and becomes Chair for the following 2 years;
• Vice-Chair -- conducts survey and MAA booksale at annual meeting (3-year term);
• Student Programs Coordinator -- plans annual meeting events for students (3-year term).

• Lyn Miller at lyn.miller@wku.edu,
• Peter Moore at moore@nku.edu,
• Vivian F. Cyrus at v.cyrus@morehead-st.edu,
• Lillie Crowley at lillie@pop.uky.edu.

Elections will be held at the KYMAA Annual Spring Meeting, but we are hoping to collect nominations as soon as possible.

Meeting Program