Fall 2005 Newsletter

From the Chair Call for KYMAA Nominations
From the Chair-Elect The Annual KYMAA Meeting
From the Student Chapters Coordinator KYMAA Visiting Lecturer Program
The Governor's Corner
KYMAA Teaching Award News from the Chapters!!!
Henry L. Adler Teaching Award

From the Chair

Let me say right up front that I am pleased to be making my first report as the chair of the Kentucky Section of the MAA. Over the years this organization and group of colleagues has been a very important part of my professional life. I moved to Kentucky in January of 1985 and attended my first section meeting the next year at Murray. I distinctly remember asking a colleague where Murray was. He got out a road map and proceeded to make a point of starting at Danville and unfolding the map several times until he got out to where Murray appeared. I drove out there that spring and began some wonderful relationships that continue to this day. Since then I have rarely missed a spring meeting. If you are new to the section or if it has been a few years since you attended one of the meetings, I strongly urge you to come this year. A lot is happening in the KYMAA and you should be a part of it.

Several members of the section met in Albuquerque at the MathFest in August to plan the creation of a Bluegrass Section NExT group. We see this as an exciting way of building stronger connections between different types of institutions in the section as well as increasing the involvement of graduate students, new faculty members, and National NExT fellows. We have planned a tentative agenda for a section NExT meeting to precede our regular spring section meeting.

One more time I would like to thank all those responsible at Morehead for doing a great job of hosting the meeting last spring. At that meeting we approved some bylaw changes that provide a better description of what we actually do in the section. We submitted these changes to the national committee on sections and received a few suggestions for minor adjustments to some wording. These few changes were approved by the executive committee at our fall meeting and will be forwarded to the national organization for final approval at the January meeting of the Board of Governors. If you want to read these by-laws you will find them here: Revised KYMAA Bylaws

In addition to these bylaw changes the executive committee has been discussing a proposal to split the secretary-treasurer’s office into two separate positions. This change would not go into effect for another couple of years at the earliest so we will still need to hold an election for a secretary-treasurer at our next meeting. We are also scheduled for the election of a newsletter editor and we anticipate a special election for a student chapter coordinator. Look for more information later in this newsletter: Call for KYMAA Nominations. You may read descriptions of these officer positions in both Revised KYMAA Bylaws and on the MAA's Guidelines for Section Officers. Please let me know if you or someone you know is interested in serving the section in any of these offices. More will be forthcoming on this topic in the winter newsletter.

Finally I want to remind everyone to submit those nominations for the Kentucky Section's 2006 Distinguished Teaching Award. December 1 is the official deadline for submitting applications; more details can be found later on this newsletter: KYMAA Teaching Award.

John Wilson at wilson@centre.edu
KYMAA Chair


From the Chair-Elect

The Spring Meeting will be held at Centre College on March 31- April 1, 2006. We are pleased to have Arthur Benjamin from Harvey Mudd College, Steve Dunbar from U. Nebraska-Lincoln, and Dora Ahmadi of Morehead as our main speakers. Art Benjamin is the co-author of “Proofs that Really Count” and “Mathemagics” and, in May 2005, was listed among the Readers’ Digest “America’s 100 Best” list, as Best Math Whiz. Steven Dunbar is the MAA Director of the American Mathematics Competitions. Dora Ahmadi is the recipient of the Section’s Distinguished Teaching Award for 2005.

It’s not too early for students and faculty members to start planning to give a contributed talk at the 2006 meeting. The contributed talks always provide a wealth of surprising and interesting results, and they form a prominent part of the program. With three invited talks and a shortcourse, attendance at the contributed talks--which ran in 5 parallel sessions at some times at the last meeting--can be spread thin. In an effort to emphasize the importance of the contributed talks, this year there will be no shortcourse. We’re counting on you, your students, and your colleagues to again provide an excellent array of contributed talks.

Tom Richmond at Tom.Richmond@wku.edu
KYMAA Chair-Elect


From the Student Chapters Coordinator

Attention: Math Club Sponsors and all Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty Members

It is time to begin planning for the upcoming KY Section Meeting. It promises to be a great meeting with outstanding speakers. The meeting will be held March 31 to April 1, 2006 at Centre College. Students last year liked joining faculty at the Friday night banquet, don’t miss it this year. Meals for students will be at a discounted price.

Begin recruiting presenters for the 2006 meeting. Student presenters will have a choice of a free one-year subscription to the Mathematical Association of America, which includes a monthly publication of the student's choice, or a book.

If you don't have an active club at your institution, recruit a few interested students, hold a meeting and begin brainstorming ideas for activities. Here are some activities that math/CS clubs: movie nights, pizza parties, invited speakers, fun problems, interview a professor, invite an alumni, sponsor a problem solving competition, a bowling night, intramural basketball, intramural soccer, celebrate pi day, celebrate math awareness month, organize to attend the KY Section Meeting. If you have any questions about MAA math clubs or student participation at the meeting, please contact me.

Dora Cardenas Ahmadi at d.ahmadi@moreheadstate.edu
KYMAA Student Chapters Coordinator


The Governor's Corner

Mathfest 2005 in Albuquerque was my first meeting as Governor of the Kentucky Section. I would like to thank outgoing Governor Rodger Hammons for his outstanding work. The amount of information provided me was huge. The agenda for the meeting ran 144 pages and that does not include the new Governor's training materials nor the materials for the Section officers meeting. I came home with a lot of paper. I will highlight information that I believe is of general interest, but do not hesitate to call on me for more!

The MAA is in good shape financially. Endowments and grants are each around $7 million, book sales continue strong and physical expansion continues at HQ in DcC. Membership has grown to over 26,000. The MAA continues to turn out excellent books. they are available for purchase at MAA Online and also Amazon.com, and also at the Section meetings. The MAA will be 100 years old in 2015. Plans are underway for a big celebration in columbus, OH. Some of us remember the 75th birthday party, which was also held in Columbus.

The MAA is encouraging sessions to develop their own Next programs for new faculty members. Our section is well along in the process of setting up a section Next program. Look for details to appear soon. A section can also sponsor a national Next Fellow for around $2500. At the moment this is prohibitive for KYMAA, but if it was thought worthwhile we could seek funding.

All MAA members are asked to consider joining one of the many MAA committees. Please see http://www.maa.org/committees/ for a presentation of opportunities. In particular the MAA is committed to a continuing process of strategic planning. The next issues for planning are Governance, Membership, and Student Activities.

In sports-our US Math Olympiad team finished 2nd of 93 countries, with 4 gold medals and 2 silver medals. One of the medalists is from Albuquerque and we got a chance to congratulate him in person. The MAA continues to work to strengthen the American Mathematics Competition. A survey is being designed to find ways to improve participation.

This is just a taste of all the activities of the MAA. Find your place in our great organization.

Dan Curtin at curtin@nku.edu
KYMAA Governor


KYMAA Teaching Award - Call for Nominations

In 1991, the MAA created the Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics in order to honor college or university teachers who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. In 1993 the MAA Board of Governors renamed the award to honor Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo. Each year at most three college or university teachers are honored with this national award, each of whom is honored at the National MAA meeting and receives a $1,000 award and certificate. The KYMAA gives an annual teaching award, and the winner of our section award is automatically considered a nominee for the national Haimo Award. Most winners are chosen from among these (from either the current or the previous year), but the committee will also consider direct nominations from MAA members. Nominations for the Kentucky Section's 2006 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 2006. 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, past winners, and nomination instructions can be found on the national MAA website ate: http://www.maa.org/awards/haimo.html. Past winners of the KYMAA Distinguished Teaching Award can be found at: http://www.maa.org/kentucky/teaching.html

Top Five Reasons for Not Making a Nomination and How to Dodge Them:

  1. Everyone in my department is such a good teacher; I can’t possibly choose just one.
    Solutions: Nominate everyone, or take turns nominating each other.
  2. My dog ate the nomination packet.
    Solution: Who needs a dog anyway?
  3. I’m the best teacher I’ve ever met; how could I nominate anyone else?
    Solutions: Pay someone to nominate you, or Have your nomination ghost written.
  4. All I ever needed to know about teaching I learned from my cat.
    Solution: Nominate your cat!
  5. I’m sure there are plenty of nominations already.
    Solution: This is Kentucky! Let’s make it a real horserace!
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 at the MAA website: http://www.maa.org/sections/teachingawards.htm or via the following links:

If the Nomination Form is received by the Section Secretary by November 8, 2005, 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, 2005. 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):

  • Daylene Zielinski at dzielinski@bellarmine.edu
    Department of Mathematics
    Bellarmine University
    2001 Newburg Road
    Louisville, KY 40205

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, 2006, 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:


Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching

Henry L. Alder Award for Distingushed Teaching by
A BEGINNING COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS FACULTY MEMBER

In January 2003 the MAA established the Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member to honor beginning college or university faculty whose teaching has been extra ordinarily successful and whose effectiveness in teaching undergraduate mathematics is shown to have influence beyond their own classrooms. An awardee must have taught full time in a mathematical science in the United States or Canada for at least two, but not more than seven, years since receiving the Ph.D. Each year at most three college or university teachers are to be honored with this national award and are to receive a $1,000 award and a certificate of recognition from the MAA. Award recipients will be expected to make a presentation at one of the national meetings of the MAA.

Nominations for the award may be made by any member of the MAA.

For more information, see http://www.maa.org/awards/alder_award.html.


Call for KYMAA Nominations

During the transition period between our old bylaws and our new bylaws we have the opportunity to make some adjustments to our sequence of elections. The current executive committee believes that it is not a good idea to elect a new secretary-treasurer and newsletter editor in the same year. While all of the officers have important responsibilities, these two officers play a key role in helping everything to run smoothly and in keeping everyone informed of Section activities. So, the thought of having two new people step into these positions at the same time seems a bit daunting. Therefore, we have given careful thought to what we believe would be a better schedule of elections.

The overlying plan was to make as few changes as possible, with no more than two new officers elected to a three-year term in any year, and to have the secretary-treasurer and newsletter editor elected in different years. This can be accomplished most quickly by having the election for the student chapter coordinator in spring of 2006 instead of 2007 and having the election for a newsletter editor in 2007 instead of 2006. The result of this change would be to have the secretary and the student chapter coordinator elections in 06, 09, …; the newsletter editor and vice-chair elections in 07, 10, …; and the governor election in 08, 11, … If the section decides to split the secretary-treasurer office into two separate offices (a proposal currently under discussion by the executive committee and likely to be presented to the Section membership in the spring), the treasurer elections would take place the same year as the governor elections. We elect a new chair-elect every two years and this person automatically becomes chair of the section for the two years that follow. After discussing this plan at our fall executive committee meeting, the committee unanimously agreed to begin implementing this transition in the coming year. If you have any questions or concerns about this proposed schedule of elections, please contact John Wilson, KYMAA Chair, at wilson@centre.edu.

Therefore, barring any large outcry of dissent, we will hold elections at our Annual KYMAA meeting next spring for a secretary-treasurer who will serve a three-year term beginning after the Business Meeting. It is our expectation at this point that this person would continue as the secretary if we create a treasurer’s position in 2008. We will also hold an election for student chapter coordinator who will begin a three-year term at the end of the Business Meeting. We will hold a special election for a newsletter editor to serve a one-year term with the understanding that we will be having another election for newsletter editor in 2007 for a three-year term.

In short, this year we are seeking nominations for candidates for the offices of Secretary-Treasurer, Student Chapters Coordinator, and Newsletter Editor-Webmaster. The elections for Section Officers are held during the Business Meeting at the Annual KYMAA meeting in the spring, but we are already welcoming nominations, including self-nominations! If you have any questions about these positions, please feel free to contact the current people in these positions:

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.


The Annual KYMAA Meeting

Our 2006 KYMAA Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 31 - April 1, 2006 at Centre College, Danville Kentucky. Further information will be appearing on our 2006 Annual Meeting and 2006 Meeting Program webpages in the coming months.

The Invited Talks

On Friday evening, the invited talk will be given by Professor Steven Dunbar of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The title of his talk is MAA's American Mathematics Competitions: Easy Problems, Hard Problems, History, and Outcomes.

Saturday morning will feature two invited speakers:

  • Last year's recipient of the Kentucky Section's Distinguished Teaching Award, Professor Dora Ahmadi of Morehead State University, will speak on What does dancing have to do with the derivative?
  • Our second invited speaker on Saturday morning is Professor Arthur Benjamin from Harvey Mudd College. The title of his talk is PROOFS THAT REALLY COUNT: The Art of Combinatorial Proof.

Some of the relevant dates and deadlines:

  • February 1, 2006 - Call for Contributed Papers in Winter Newsletter
  • February 27, 2006 - Deadline for Abstracts for Contributed Papers
  • March 13, 2006 - Publication of Meeting Program on KYMAA website
  • March 17, 2006 - Deadline for Meeting Registration
  • March 31 - April 1, 2006 - Mathematics and Fun at the Annual Meeting!

Our schedule of hosts for future section meetings is:

March 31 - April 1, 2006 Centre College
March 30 - 31, 2007 Northern Kentucky University
Spring 2008 your school name here???

Please contact any officer of KYMAA if you would interested in hosting a future meeting - we're particularly interested in soliciting a host for the 2008 KYMAA Annual Meeting.


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 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: Kathryn Lewis of Morehead State University at k.lewis@moreheadstate.edu or 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.


News from the Chapters


Bellarmine University reported by Bill Fenton: wfenton@bellarmine.edu

New Faculty: Dr. Bill Rising, assistant prof, Ph.D. from U. Massachusetts--Amherst in applied probability. Bill brings experience in industry and in statistical consulting, as well as his previous teaching. His background offers much to our actuarial science program, and we are delighted to have him in our department.


Big Sandy Community College reported by Reza Akhlaghi: m.akhlaghi@kctcs.edu

Reza Akhlaghi is no longer the chair of math division - Mr. Dwight Smith is our newly elected speaker. Also, our colleague and friend Mr. Hassan Saffari passed away recently (August 7).


Berea College reported by James Blackburn-Lynch: James_Lynch@berea.edu

We have one new faculty member at Berea this year: Mario Nakazwa, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Ph.D. May 2005 from the University of Georgia. In addition, Larry Gratton finished his work for his Ph.D. this August as well. Judy Rector and Ralph Stinebrickner are also on sabbatical this year.


Centre College reported by John Wilson: wilson@centre.edu

We have one new faculty member this fall in math and computer science. Michael Bradshaw is a Centre graduate who, this September, has finished all of his work for a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Massachusetts. He will teach some introductory statistics and some computer science this year as a replacement for Christine Shannon and Alex McAllister who will be taking sabbatical leaves in the spring.

Anne Collins has been selected as a project NExT fellow for 2005-07. The college named Bill Johnston as H. W. Stodghill Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Mathematics. New officers for the student math association at Centre this year are Stephen Calender – president, Spencer Clark – vice-president, Yi Yang – secretary, and Michael Pangallo – treasurer.


Eastern Kentucky University reported by Dirk Schlingmann: Dirk.Schlingmann@eku.edu

We have two new professors joining our faculty this year: Bangteng Xu, PhD is an Assistant Professor and Gareth Bendall, PhD is a Lecturer. In addition, Mathew Cropper was promoted to Associate Professor and Ron Pierce retired last fall with 40 years of service.


Georgetown College reported by Homer White: Homer_White@georgetowncollege.edu

William Harris rejoins us after his sabbatical year at Cornell University.


Hopkinsville Community College reported by Jim Hunter: james.hunter@kctcs.edu

We are in the process of adopting the MathXL software program that accompanies our prealgebra text written by Lial and Hestwood (3rd edition). MathXL allows the students to do homework and test online. This is the first semester we’ve tried it, and so far it seems to have been given a positive reception by our students. Some instructors are only using the homework module; others are doing the assessment as well. If everything goes well this fall, then we plan to adopt MathXL for basic algebra during the spring.


Jefferson Community College reported by Brita G Dockstader: brita.dockstader@kctcs.edu

Else Robertson was promoted to Professor last spring.


Kentucky State University reported by Robert Hebble: robert.hebble@kysu.edu

Kentucky State University has a few changes for the 2005-2006 academic year.

Ms. Susan Foege has been hired in a tenure track appointment as assistant professor of mathematics. Sue has significantly strengthened the unit over the past few years, working with us in a non-tenure track capacity. We are delighted that she will be working to become a permanent part of the family.

Dr. Joel Jones is joining us this year as a tenure track associate professor. Joel comes home to Frankfort after teaching many years at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, and working several years in a start up venture in industry. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University where he did his Ph.D. work in geometric topology. We are excited to tap into his years of experience as a faculty member and entrepreneurial spirit.

Mrs. Cathy Mania is joining the KSU faculty as the coordinator of our developmental program. Her passion for strengthening the developmental and freshman offerings has been demonstrated in the past and we are looking forward to her guidance and commitment to effective teaching in the years to come.

Additionally, the unit together with the Division of Mathematics and Sciences is continuing its work with the NSF Teams Enhancing Access for Minorities in the Sciences (TEAMS) and the Appalachian Mathematics and Sciences Partnership (AMSP) to increase the diversity and number of qualified STEM educators.


Morehead State University reported by Kathryn M. Lewis: k.lewis@morehead-st.edu

The Morehead State University Department of Mathematics and Computer Science welcomes new faculty member Robin Blankenship, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, who earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. Gerd Fricke, Professor of Mathematics, is on sabbatical leave for the 2005-2006 academic year. Rodger Hammons, Professor of Mathematics, retired on June 30th of this year after 34 years of service, the last 16 years of which he served as department chair. He is teaching half-time at Morehead State this academic year. Dora Ahmadi, Associate Professor of Mathematics, is the new department chair.


Murray State University reported by Renee Fister: renee.fister@murraystate.edu

Dr. Wesley Calvert is a new assistant professor in our Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He received his Ph.D. from Notre Dame. He works in computable model theory and enjoys actively involving his students in his classes. Dr. Scott Lewis received tenure and promotion to associate professor effective Fall 2005. Dr. Maeve McCarthy, associate professor, has been granted a sabbatical for Spring 2005 to continue her research on eigenvalue problems.

The Euclidean Mathematics Club has provided excellent activities for its members. They have continued with their Halloween party tradition, have enjoyed speakers who have talked about topics in which they are interested, have learned about statistics and its relation to sports, and have provided tutoring for those in need.

Our faculty has given over 20 presentations at local, regional, national, and international conferences. Approximately 7 of our students have given presentations over research that they have worked on with another faculty member. The department continues to guide our students through their teaching and to provide them opportunities to work on research through grant monies. In this regard, we have been fortunate to receive grants with the Teacher Quality Institute (Math Alliance) and with the biology department (BioMaPS).


Northern Kentucky University reported by Steve Rankin rankin@nku.edu

The new faculty at Northern Kentucky University are: Terry Erdmann, Lecturer, with a Masters from the University of Toledo; and James Justice, Lecturer, with a Masters from Northern Kentucky University. Chris Christensen is on sabbatical for the fall, 2005 semester. Andrew Long and Gail Mackin have both received tenure and been promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. Tom Kearns has entered the phased retirement program, going to half-time status beginning this fall.

The James “Duke” Sehnert Memorial Lecture will take place on Monday, October 24, 2005 at 7:30 pm in the Otto Buddig Theatre(University Center). The speaker will be Fred Rickey, a professor of mathematics and well known math historian at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His talk will be preceded by a banquet at 6 pm in the University Center Ballroom. Dr. Rickey will be on campus both Monday and Tuesday for informal meetings with students and faculty. For further information on his visit, contact Dan Curtin at curtin@nku.edu.

The 13th annual John O'Bryan mathematics contest will be held at Campbell County High School on Saturday, Nov. 12. Questions for the contest come from the Rose-Hulman Institute’s High School mathematics test and NKU provides a written team test. The contest draws between 100 and 125 students from about 15 local schools. NKU provides graders and judges for the contest.

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science separated into two departments as of July 1. The Department of Mathematics will continue to be part of the College of Arts and Sciences. The Computer Science Department is now a part of the College of Informatics.


Owensboro Technical and Community College reported by Karin Chess: karin.chess@kctcs.edu

The mathematics faculty at Owensboro Comm. & Tech. College are participating in a Title III grant aimed at improving developmental education. Focusing on the prealgebra course, the faculty participated in a workshop last May on mathematics learning styles and strategies for teaching a one-hour course paired with the typical three-hour prealgebra.

Karin Chess and her husband spent July in China working with elementary and high school teachers of English to improve their oral English skills. Some students reported that they majored in English because, although they were good at mathematics in school, the demand was greater for English teachers. She reports that the month in China was educational, enjoyable, and hot. If interested in volunteering, you can get information about this annual program by emailing David.Wachtel@kctcs.edu

.

As President-Elect of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), Kathy Mowers was able to attend the USAMO Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. and MathFest in Albuquerque. She reports that they were both great MAA events.


Saint Catherine College reported by Sr Ann Leonard: aleonard@sccky.edu

We have a new adjunct professor: Beverly Burchell at bburchell@sccky.edu. In May 2005 we hosted a conference: Innovations in Foundation Mathematics led by Dr. Barbara Bonham. I think those who attended found it very helpful.


University of Kentucky reported by Carl Lee: lee@ms.uky.edu

The University of Kentucky's annual newsletter can be found online at:
http://www.ms.uky.edu/%7Emath/alumni.html


University of Louisville reported by Wiley Williams: williams@erdos.math.louisville.edu

The Department has hired 3 new tenure track Assistant Professors: Dr. Lee Gibson, a Kentucky native, just received his Ph.D. from Cornell in Probability Theory. Dr. Jon-Lark Kim comes from a 3-year post doctoral appointment at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He received his degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 2002; he works on Algebraic Coding Theory. Dr. Alica Miller obtained her Ph.D. in 2001 from Michigan State and joined us after a 3 year VIGRE post-doc at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a one-year visiting position at the University of California, Irvine. Her area of expertise is Dynamical Systems. We also have a new Visiting Assistant Professor: Dr. Hamid Kulosman received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and joined us after spending a year at the University of California, Riverside. He works in Commutative Algebra. In addition we hired one Visiting Instructor: Trevor Irwin is finishing his degree and expects to have his Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington by the end of the year. He works in the area of Descriptive Set Theory.

Dr. Udayan Darji was appointed as Chief Undergraduate Advisor and Dr. Steven Seif will serve as Undergraduate Director. Dr. Thomas Riedel continues as Chair. Dr. Patricia Cerrito and Dr. Andre Kezdy are on sabbatical leave for Fall 2005; Dr. Ewa Kubicka and Dr. Grzegorz Kubicki will be on sabbatical in Spring 2006. Dr. Richard Davitt retired at the end of the Spring semester after 35 years of service. He continues to teach in Fall Semesters as Professor Emeritus via the University's Phased-in Retirement Plan.

The Math Club is very active with meetings and social events scheduled several times a months. Kelly Houston is the new president, for information please write to MathClub, Department of Mathematics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292.

Besides weekly seminars in Analysis, Algebra, Combinatorics and Probability as well as a Colloquium series, the Department hosts the annual William Marshall Bullitt lecture series in Mathematics. This free lecture, held in late March or April, is open to the public and aimed at non specialists. Last April's speaker was Dr. Douglas Arnold, Director of the Institute for Mathematical Analysis and its Applications and Professor of Mathematics, University of Minnesota. He spoke on "Mathematics and the Cosmos in the Einstein Centenary". The abstract of this and past talks as well as announcements for the coming lecture can be found on the departmental web-site http://www.math.louisville.edu

The Department is actively seeking Graduate Fellowship Applicants for its GEMS program that is funded by an NSF GK-12 grant. More information is available at www.math.louisville.edu/gems


Western Kentucky Community and Technical College reported by Rhonda J Adkins: rhonda.adkins@kctcs.edu

We had one retiree at the end of the 2004-2005 academic year in our math department. Professor Jackie Blagg with 24 years of service.


Western Kentucky University reported by Mark Robinson: mark.robinson@wku.edu

We have one new faculty member: Molly Wesley (Ph.D., University of Kentucky) is a new Instructor at our Glasgow campus. Mark Robinson is serving as Interim Department Head this year. Ferhan Atici and Jens Harlander have each been promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. Marc Lengfield has been promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor.

The 25th annual WKU Mathematics Symposium will be held November 18-19, 2005. The theme is "Real-life Problems from Bagels to Gravity". Invited speakers are Steven G. Krantz from Washington University in Saint Louis and Edward B. Saff from Vanderbilt University. This year we again will have funds available through MAA NSF-RUMC (NSF Grant DMS-0241090) to support student travel and lodging. The call for papers and more information will soon be available at http://www.wku.edu/~david.benko/symp05.htm.