Winter 2003 Newsletter
Editor's Note: Check out the February issue of the MAA Focus for an article about our e-newsletter.
From the Chair
Our annual section meeting will be held April 4 - 5, 2003 at Bellarmine University in Louisville. The KYMAA webpage is the source for meeting information (proposal deadlines, registration, hotels, and directions to Bellarmine). Bill Fenton, our chair-elect and from Bellarmine University, has arranged a program that has an impressive array of speakers. Details can be found under The Invited Talks below. Additional details about the meeting can be found under The Annual KYMAA Meeting. Please think about presenting a paper at the meeting - March 3rd is the deadline for submitting an abstract. I would also point out that elections for several important offices will occur at this meeting , so I hope you will be able to attend.I look forward to seeing you in April at Bellarmine.
David Shannon at
dshannon@transy.edu
KYMAA Chair
The Governor's Corner
I am appreciative of once again having the opportunity to represent the Kentucky Section at the Board of Governor's Meeting (BOG) at the Baltimore AMS/MAA Joint Meeting in January. This was my second BOG meeting and was similar to my first meeting in Burlington in that this meeting's agenda was filled with information concerning our organization and how it is striving to effectively serve both its membership and the larger mathematical community. I would like to share some of the highlights with you.Meritorious Service Citation: Karin Chess, KY Section Secretary-Treasurer, was awarded a Certificate of Meritorious Service Citation from the Kentucky Section during the MAA awards ceremony held on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003 in Baltimore. Unfortunately Karin was not able to attend the meeting and Dora Ahmadi, MoSU, stood in for her. Karin will be presented with the citation at our section meeting at Bellarmine College, April 4-5, 2003. I know you will all want to join me in congratulating Karin for her long and faithful service to the KY Section.
Membership: The Association seems to be doing well regarding its membership as it was announced that the MAA gained over 1,100 new members during the period from July to December of 2002. Total membership now exceeds 25,000.
MAA Finances: John Kenelly, MAA Treasurer, gave a very detailed budget
report and stated that the Association is holding its own during the current
economic downturn. However, a small increase in member dues was approved to
go into effect in 2004. The MAA headquarters in Washington D.C. is committed
to using technology to increase its efficiency but is finding the cost of doing
is more that what had been expected. A "new look" of the MAA web site is expected
within the next few weeks and will provide many new features.
As an example, the MAA On Line Bookstore will provide for increased e-commerce
opportunities and will allow members to purchase MAA books and other related
material on line. In particular, the 24 new books published by the MAA during
2002 will be available for purchase on line. It was also announced that a "grants"
position is being funded in the national office and would be a useful resource to
members who are involved with grant writing.
3M Gift to MAA: The MAA has received a three million gift from the estate of Paul Halmos. The gift will be used to renovate the Carriage House at the national headquarters location in Washington, D.C. into a Conference Center.
Math Awareness Month: Math Awareness Month's (MAM) theme for 2003 will be "Mathematics and Art" and a very impressive poster has been created to publicize this important annual activity. Funds for the distribution of the poster were only acquired from the NSA during the meeting. Hopefully we will see it soon on departmental bulletin boards across the country.
MAA SIGMAAs: The Association now has 6 Special Interest Groups, or SIGMAAs. They are in the areas of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, Statistics Education, History of Mathematics, Environmental Mathematics, the Philosophy of Mathematics, and Business, Industry and Government. An organizational meeting was held in Baltimore to formalize efforts to ask for recognition of a SIGMMA on Web based Instruction. These SIGMAAs should provide excellent opportunities for members to communicate together on topics of common interest.
PMET and PREP: I want to mention in particular two program of the MAA that will of interest to many of the KY Section members. The first is Preparing Mathematicians to Educate Teachers, PMET, which is concerned with improving the education of teachers of mathematics. NSF has agreed to support the project with a multimillion dollars commitment. We should hear more of this effort in the near future. The second program is the MAA's Professional Enhancement Programs or PREP. Although not a new program at the MAA it has been expanded to provide an increased number of professional development opportunities and workshops on a variety of topics. Again watch for more details to be forth coming this spring.
Retired Members: Currently retired MAA members do not pay dues but can receive the journals for one half of the cost to regular members. The BOG requested that the Bylaws be changed to replace the "one half" reference to an amount to be set by the BOG (see MAA Bylaws Articles VIII and XI).
Section Bylaws Changes: Several MAA sections submitted revisions of their section Bylaws and were approved by the BOG. Those sections were the Indiana, Maryland-DC-Virginia, Michigan, Pacific Northwest, Northern California and Southern California Sections.
May Issue of CMJ: And on a lighter note, the pet lovers among us will want to watch for the May issue of the CMJ (College Math Journal) as it will contain an article that involves our canine friends and will raise the question of whether humans are the only ones who understand max-min problems from calculus!
Summary: This is just a sampling of the topics discussed at the Baltimore Board of Governor's meeting. More information can be found at the MAA web site. I suggest we all make a New Year's resolution to visit the MAA site more often and participate as our interests directs. I know you will be convinced more than ever that the MAA is doing quite well and is striving hard to serve its members.
Rodger Hammons at
r.hammons@modeheadstate.edu
KYMAA Governor
The Annual KYMAA Meeting
Our 2003 KYMAA Annual Meeting is scheduled for April 4-5, 2003 at Bellarmine University, Louisville Kentucky. This should be an outstanding meeting and we strongly encourage you to join the fun. Perhaps you can give a talk, or just come and listen to what your fellow mathematicians are up to these days.More information is provided below, including a description of the invited talks, a call for papers, a call for nominations and information for students. We are presently assembling information to facilitate your attendance of the meeting, including directions, and lodging and meal information. Further information will be appearing on our 2003 Annual Meeting and 2003 Meeting Program webpages and in the next newsletter in early March. Please note the following important dates for the KYMAA Annual Meeting:
- March 3 : deadline for submitting abstracts for talks at the meeting
- March 17 : publication date of meeting program on this webpage
- MARCH 20 : is the Registration Deadline. You Must register by this date if you would like to join us for meals at the meeting since the caterer needs a headcount by this date. At the very least e-mail Karin Chess at Karin.Chess@kctcs.edu.
- March 30 : is the last day the Holiday Inn will hold a room in the block of 35 set aside for the meeting; contact information on the 2003 Annual Meeting webpage. The other hotels listed on the webpage do not have reserved blocks, so you may wish to reserve early.
- April 4 - 5 : a grand celebration of Kentucky mathematics
at Bellarmine University!
Finally, our schedule of hosts for future section meetings is:
|
2003 |
Bellarmine University |
|
2004 |
Murray State University |
|
2005 |
tentative for Centre 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 Invited Talks
The short course on Friday afternoon will be on Fibonacci and Catalan numbers. It will be conducted by Professor Ralph Grimaldi of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Professor Grimaldi is a well-known researcher in combinatorics and he has presented very popular workshops on these topics at the national MAA meetings. The short course will be in two distinct parts, so feel free to come late!On Friday evening, the invited talk will be given by Professor Susan Ganter of Clemson University. Her talk will be "Calculus Renewal: A national study of impact after ten years." Professor Ganter is the lead author of the recent book Changing Calculus from the MAA. She has extensive experience with evaluation studies, including a residency at the National Science Foundation.
Saturday morning will feature two special speakers:
- Professor John Wilson of Centre College will speak on
"The Opportunity to Teach." Professor Wilson is known
to many of us through his active participation in both the sectional
and national MAA meetings. He is last year's recipient of the
Kentucky Section's Distinguished Teaching Award.
- Professor Steve Abbott of Middlebury College will speak on
"Integration: From Cauchy to Riemann to Lebesgue to ... Riemann."
Professor Abbott has published in many areas, including operator theory,
functional analysis, robotics, and the plays of Tom Stoppard.
He is the author of Understanding Analysis, an introductory text
from Springer-Verlag.
A Call for Papers
One of the main activities of our annual meetings is the presentation of papers by faculty and students. Please consider giving a talk at this year's meeting. Use this opportunity to share mathematical ideas and insights, an interesting mathematical application, or an effective teaching innovation with your colleagues from across the state. For students, consider reporting on an honor's project or a summer research project. A panel presentation on current mathematical issues is always interesting.For both faculty and students, if you wish to make a presentation, fill out the Presentation Abstract Form and submit by March 3, 2002. A copy of the form can be obtained above under The Annual KYMAA Meeting. In general, talks are scheduled for 20-minute intervals. Although, special presentations can be allocated more time if 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, fax, e-mail (preferred!) to:
Department of Mathematics
Bellarmine University
Louisville, KY 40205
e-mail: wfenton@bellarmine.edu
fax: 502-452-8074
Nominations Needed!
If classified ads for faculty were honest, many could declare "Wanted: highly-motivated individual, tolerant of low pay, willing to work hard in exchange for occasional bouts of extreme job satisfaction."The positions of Chair-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor offer no pay at all, but can yield serious levels of satisfaction, because the jobs are vital to the life of the KYMAA. The terms of all three expire at the Spring meeting, and we seek your help in identifying potential nominees. Our current Chair-Elect, Bill Fenton, will become Chair, and Karin Chess will retire after many years of faithful service as Secretary-Treasurer; their positions must be filled by new folks. Newsletter Editor Alex McAllister is willing to stand for re-election, but other names certainly would be considered.
Please reflect, and send your suggestions to any member of the Nominating Committee:
- Barry Brunson (chair) at barry.brunson@wku.edu
- Chris Leverenz at Christine_Leverenz@georgetowncollege.edu
- Lillie Crowley at lillie@uky.edu
- Pat Costello at Pat.Costello@EKU.edu
- Chair-Elect: Bill Fenton at wfenton@bellarmine.edu,
- Secretary-Treasurer: Karin Chess at Karin.Chess@kctcs.edu,
- Newsletter Editor: Alex McAllister at alexmcal@centre.edu.
Barry Brunson at barry.brunson@wku.edu
Chair 2003 Nominating Committee
Hey Students!
April is Mathematics Awareness Month. This year's theme is Mathematics and Art. Encourage your math clubs to organize activities during the month of April. Joint activities with art clubs are appropriate.You can also kick off the 2003 Mathematics Awareness Month celebration by organizing a trip to attend the Annual KYMAA Section Meeting, April 4-5, 2003 at Bellarmine University, in Louisville. You should consider presenting a 20-minute talk. Student presenters will receive a free one-year membership in the Mathematical Association of America, including the choice of a monthly publication.
During the meeting, you can share your plans for Math Awareness Month activities at a Free Pizza Party on Friday, April 4 and learn of other math clubs' activities. If you have any questions about MAA math clubs or student participation at the meeting, please feel free to contact me!
Dora Ahmadi at d.ahmadi@moreheadstate.edu
KYMAA Coordinator of Student Chapters
Kentucky Math Mailing List
While preparing this newsletter, I received the following from Lee Larson at LLarson@Louisville.eduThere is a general list I have set up to distribute math announcements called mathannounce. It's open for anyone to join and any member of the list can post to it. Right now, it's got about 200 addresses scattered over the state. I encourage anyone to join it because I see it as a general announcement list for mathematical happenings in the region.
To add your name to the list, send an e-mail with the single word "subscribe" in its body to: mathannounce-request@erdos.math.louisville.edu
In a few minutes you should get some instructions about confirming your subscription by e-mail. After you subscribe, you can post your announcements to the list. The return address on the posting must match an address on the list, or the posting will be rejected.
Tell everyone about the list, because the more names that are on it, the more useful it will become. If you have any lists with e-mail addresses of people who should be on mathannounce and won't object to being added, I'll be happy to sign them all up at once.
KYMAA Visiting Lecturer Program
We would like to remind everyone of 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 ProgramLectures 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@moreheadstate.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 biography that gives some idea of your expertise; please limit your biography to a maximum of 150 words,
- Titles of lectures you are interested in giving; please indicate which talks are accessible to high school students.
Bullitt Lecture on April 3
The Bullitt Lecture in Mathematics is taking place April 3 at UofL. Carl Pomerance will be speaking about some yet to be determined number theory topic.