Albion College
[reported by Robert Messer]Michelle Penner is a visiting Assistant Professor. She recently completed her PhD at Washington U in St. Louis with a dissertation on foliations. Janet Jagger (U of Leeds) gave a colloquium talk on conic sections and the Dendelin spheres.Alma College
[reported by Mel Nyman]Aklilu Zeleke is a Project NeXT fellow. Myles McNally is on sabbatical during the fall term. The biweekly mathematics and computer science colloquia continue with speakers from the department and other disciplines. Alma College is planning to host an undergraduate student conference in the early spring in cooperation with Siena Heights College and GVSU.Alpena Community College
[reported by Sandy Eastway]Charley Rosebush will be retiring at the end of the 1998 Fall semester.Calvin College
[reported by George Van Zwalenberg]Five new full time faculty joined the department this fall: Randy Pruim, whose specialty is theoretical computer science and complexity theory, Dorette Pronk (geometric topology), Mark Hanisch and Tom Scofield (both applied mathematics), and Jim Keener (mathematical biology, on sabbatical leave from the U of Utah for the fall semester). Gerard Venema has been given a two year leave of absence to serve as Program Director in Topology and Foundations at the National Science Foundation, and Mike Stob has been appointed Dean of the Natural Sciences and Contextual Disciplines.Central Michigan University
[reported by Ahmed M. Assaf]We have a new chair: Sidney Graham came to us from NSF and MTU. Doug Lapp joined the department as Assistant Professor with a specialty in collegiate math education. Temporary faculty are Abdollahi Javad, Jong Joey (both full time for the fall), and Sepanski Jungsywan (full time for the whole year). Also, Shengwang Wang from Nanjing, China, and Tomas Zdrahal from the Czech Republic are visiting professors for the fall. Professor Shu-ping Hodgson passed away on June 1.Eastern Michigan University
[reported by Tim Carroll]Joan Cohen Jones (PhD from Georgia State U in mathematics education) was appointed Assistant Professor. Lecturers Elaine Richards and Mary Jo St. Louis have joined the developmental mathematics program. Jay Ramanatham is on sabbatical leave for the academic year. K. G. Janardan has an EMU Research Fellowship. In addition to receiving the Section's Distinguished Teaching Award (see page 14), Donald Buckeye was the recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Alumni Award of Lakewood Public Schools, Lakewood, Ohio, and the recipient of the 1998 EMU Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award. Geraldine Green was the recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Service Award of the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Joanne Caniglia was the EMU recipient of the 1997-98 Michigan Association of Governing Boards' Distinguished Faculty Award. In September James Northey was honored by the mathematics and computer science faculty for 41 years of dedicated service to the EMU mathematics department. EMU will be hosting the Michigan Section-MAA Annual Meeting in May (see page 2), as well as its Math-Ed conference for K-12 teachers in March.Grand Valley State University
[reported by Don VanderJagt]Several new Assistant Professors were hired this year: Esther Billings (PhD from Northern Illinois U, math education), Matthew Boelkins (PhD from Syracuse U, numerical analysis), Phyllis Curtiss (PhD Candidate at Bowling Green State U, mathematical statistics), John Golden (PhD from Pennsylvania State U, operator algebras and math education), and Diann Reischman (PhD from U of Missouri, statistics). In addition Heather Gavlas returned after a year at Smiths Industries as a Systems Analyst. Edward Aboufadel, Paul Fishback, and Salim Haidar were promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor. Pedro Rivera-Muniz retired after 31 years at GVSU, and George Sturm also resigned. GVSU will hold its annual "Math in Action" conference on February 23. Mary Bouck from Battle Creek, a member of the 6th-8th grade writing team for Standards 2000, will give the keynote speech on this timely topic. Further conference information can be found on the Web (http://river.it.gvsu.edu/~wellspa/MIA).Hillsdale College
[reported by Mark Watson]Reinhart Zeller was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Computer Science. John (Jack) Reinoehl was promoted to Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. Kathy Andrews was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Mathematics. Dr. Andrews also received a Hillsdale College teaching excellence award.Kalamazoo College
[reported by Michele Intermont]The face of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department is greatly changed this year. After 34 years, George Nielson has retired. With his new-found leisure time, he is enjoying the opportunity to travel. Joining John Fink, Eric Barth and Alyce Brady in the department are Eric Nordmoe, Steve Mackey, Ray McDowell and Michele Intermont. Eric has a PhD in statistics from Northwestern U and an MBA from the U of Chicago. He spent several years working in marketing, and has been a visiting professor here for the last two years. Steve specializes in applied linear algebra, and is finishing his PhD from SUNY-Buffalo. Ray spent several years working at Unisys Corporation, and has spent the last year teaching at Widener U (PA). He has a PhD in computer science from the U of Pennsylvania, and specializes in the specification and analysis of programs and programming languages. Michele taught for a year at John Carroll U (OH) and has spent the last three years teaching at Mesa State College (CO). She has her PhD from the U of Notre Dame and works in algebraic topology. During the past year, Alyce Brady was appointed to the Advanced Placement (AP) Development Committee in the area of Computer Science.Kettering University
[reported by Brian McCartin]Duane McKeachie will be retiring after 50 years of service! Leszek Gawarecki and Kevin TeBeest were tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. Katie Jiang, Brian McCartin, and Joseph Salacuse were promoted to Full Professor. Katie Jiang has simultaneously won the Outstanding Researcher Award and the Outstanding Teacher Award. Brian McCartin and Kevin TeBeest of Kettering and Gordon Wade of Bowling Green State U are organizing the 2nd Forum on Numerics and Modeling for Partial Differential Equations, to be held March 13 at BGSU.Lansing Community College
[reported by JingLing Wang]Rob Brown joined the full-time Transfer Math/Computer Science faculty.Lawrence Technological University
[reported by M. Merscher]Roy Schenkel has retired to become Professor Emeritus after 42 years of service. New to the department are Ada Dong and Chan-Jin Chung. Glen Bauer has been appointed Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. Bill Sverdlik has been granted tenure, and is spending this semester on sabbatical at the U of Upsala in Sweden.Macomb Community College
[reported by Art Daniel and Barb Jur]Jake Gingrich retired in May. Jake was a member of the mathematics faculty for 31 years ‹ on South Campus for 19 years and Center Campus for 12. The 1998 Fall Conference of the Michigan Association of Two Year Colleges was hosted by Macomb Community College on October 3, with an attendance of over 100. Among the presenters were Bernard R. Gifford, Chairman and Chief Instructional Officer of Academic Systems, and Rheta Rubenstein, who addressed ideas for multiple intelligences. "Preparing Community College Students for Successful Math Transfer" was a popular panel discussion of representatives from several universities. Art Daniel and Barbara Jur co-chaired the event.Michigan State University
[reported by Dick Phillips]In early October Richard Stanley (MIT) delivered a series of three lectures constituting the Second Annual Mathematics Lecture Series. New tenure track faculty appointments are Efstratia Kalfagianni (topology), George Pappas (number theory), and Peter Ozvath (topology). Visiting/PostDoc position are held by John Caughman (combinatorics), Alberto Corso (commutative algebra), Evgeny Dubstov (analysis), Mark Hoyle (topology), Tamas Keleti (analysis), Meeyong Kim, Jamshid Moori (group theory), David Richeson (dynamical systems), and Denisse Thompson (mathematics education). Congratulations to Glenda Lappan and T.Y. Li, who have been named University Distinguished Professors, and to Ron Fintushel who gave an invited talk at the International Congress. Last Spring Tom Parker and Mary Jean Winter were honored as recipients of the J. S. Frame Excellence in Teaching Award. Teaching awards for Senior Graduate Teachings Assistants were given to Scott Baldridge and Charles Morgan. Hwee Hoon Chung received the honorable mention in this category. Junior Teaching Assistant awards went to Anuradha Mulukutla, with Ferit Kivanc receiving honorable mention in this category. Undergraduate students honored for high performance on the annual Herzog Exam were Camillia Smith, Timothy Hagman, and Michael Clinesmith, while undergraduates Michelle Kapuscinski, Jerchern Lin, Scott Lawrence, Michael Clinesmith, and Timothy Hagman were recognized for high academic achievement. Forthcoming retirements have been announced for Professors Doug Hall and Martin Fuchs. Regrettably, Professor William Fitzgerald died last summer.Michigan Technological University
[reported by Lynn Murphy]New faculty are Assistant Professors Huann-Sheng Chen and Mark S. Gockenbach and Associate Professor Qin Sheng. Sidney W. Graham resigned; Phyllis O. Boutilier retired; Kenneth L. Kuttler was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor; Juergen Bierbrauer was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor with tenure; and Jianping Dong and Tamara A. Olson were promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. Juergen Bierbrauer is on leave for the Fall Quarter at the U of Orebro, Sweden; and Mark S. Gockenbach, John W. Hilgers, Kenneth L. Kuttler, and Russell M. Reid are on leave for the entire year at Rice, Signature Research, Brigham Young U, and the U of Wisconsin, respectively. Visiting faculty include David W. Pray, William P. Vockel, Hristo D. Voulov (U of Sofia, Bulgaria), and Vassil Y. Yorgov (U of Shoumen, Bulgaria). Jianzhong Gene Cao died on May 2. The Fifth International Conference on Integral Methods in Science and Engineering was held at MTU in August, hosted by the Department of Mathematical Sciences with assistance from the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics. Nearly 100 people from over 15 countries attended. Barbara S. Bertram chaired the organizing committee. David Olson reports that the annual Upper Peninsula meeting of the Michigan Section was held at MTU on October 15-16. In addition to numerous speakers from UP schools, invited speaker Barbara Edwards (Oregon State U) discussed "Undergraduate Mathematics Majors' Understanding and Use of Formal Definitions in Real Analysis".Oakland University
[reported by Jerry Grossman]To better reflect the make-up of the department and avoid confusion, we formally changed our name from "Mathematical Sciences" to "Mathematics and Statistics". The Summer Mathematics Institute for talented local high school students finished its third summer. We hired new Assistant Professors Bo-nan Jiang, a specialist in numerical analysis, and Wen Zhang, who specializes in scientific computation. Our Conference on Algebraic Combinatorics and Applications drew about 100 international participants to campus last May; Datta Kulkarni chaired the organizing committee. Guohua (James) Pan received the University's prestigious New Investigator Research Excellence Award, and Baruch Cahlon shared the 1997 research award from the Minister of Internal Security of Israel for his work on face identification. Alan Park and Datta Kulkarni are working on problems related to large-scale design optimization under a grant from the Automotive Research Center at UM-Ann Arbor. Charles Cheng is on leave for the year, spending part of the time at the Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Alan Park is on leave for the fall at MSRI in Berkeley.Saginaw Valley State University
[reported by Tom Zerger]Siamack Bondari has joined the faculty as a lecturer. He received his PhD from Iowa State U in algebra and comes to us from the U of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Garry Johns is serving as the acting Assistant Dean of the College of Science, Engineering, and Technology.Siena Heights University
[reported by Toni Carroll]Gail Johnson has accepted the university early retirement package.University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
[reported by H. Montgomery]Several faculty members have received honors: Trevor Wooley has been awarded the 1998 Prix Salem for his work in additive number theory. Robert Lazarsfeld and Gopal Prasad have received Guggenheim Fellowships. Joel Smoller has been awarded a Collegiate Chair, the Lamberto Cesari Chair of Mathematics. A conference in Professor Smoller's honor was held in April at UC-Davis. Lizhen Ji has been awarded a Sloan Fellowship. A number of our faculty have retired: Donald Higman, M. S. Ramanujan, Frank Raymond, Art Schwarz, and Howard Young. Also, long-time staff member Lee Zukowski retired in June. The Minor Keeler Chair of Mathematics has been filled for the first time, by algebraic geometer William Fulton, who joins us from the University of Chicago. Other new permanent faculty include Saugata Basu (algebraic geometry), Pavel Belorousski (algebraic geometry), Kenneth Bromberg (hyperbolic geometry), Gregery Buzzard, Tim Callahan (applied math), Matthew Emerton (number theory), Yinshui Fan, Edward Givelberg, Mattias Jonsson (complex dynamics), Julee Kim (representation theory), Alexander Kurganov (nonlinear PDE), Natasa Macura (geometric group theory), Michael Roth (algebraic geometry), Zoltan Szabs, Sophia Vassiliadou (several complex variables), Warren Weckersser (applied math), Ralf Wittenberg (ODE), and Dmitry Zenkov (geometric mechanics), as well as numerous visiting faculty and visiting scholars.University of Michigan-Dearborn
[reported by F. J. Papp]Angela Krebs has joined the faculty in mathematics education, Jennifer Zhao was promoted to Associate Professor of Mathematics with tenure, and Margret H. Höft has been appointed chairperson. Three faculty members are on sabbatical leave: John Fink for the Fall, Jennifer Zhao for the Winter, and Stephen Milles for the academic year. A new program is under development ‹ a Master of Science degree in Computational and Applied Mathematics, scheduled to begin in Fall 1999 .University of Michigan-Flint
[reported by Steve Althoen]Ken Schilling has been promoted to Full Professor. The 32nd annual UM-Flint Math Field Day will be held on March 2. Any Michigan high school is invited to send a team of five students and a teacher/advisor to participate in four team and three individual mathematics competitions. For more information, call Bob Bix at 810-762-3314.Wayne State University
[reported by Daniel Frohardt]Sarah Ferguson and John Klein have joined the faculty. Robert Bruner has been promoted to Professor. William Cohn has been re-appointed Department Chair through the 1999-2000 academic year. Kay Magaard is on sabbatical leave this term; Steven Kahn, Peter Malcolmson, and Claude Schochet are on sabbatical leave for the academic year; and T. C. Sun and Rafail Khasminskii will be on sabbatical leave in the Winter. Rafail Khasminskii received a WSU Distinguished Graduate Faculty Fellowship. Boris Mordukhovich has received a Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award. Robert Berman and Daniel Frohardt have received teaching awards from the College of Science.Western Michigan University
[reported by Dennis Pence]New Assistant Professor is Tabitha Mingus from Morehead State U in Kentucky (PhD, U of Northern Colorado, collegiate mathematics). New Instructors are Dawn Jones (PhD, WMU, topological graph theory), Kristin Wager, and Timothy Stebbins. Qiji Zhu has been promoted to Associate Professor. Kangkyun Kim (Sookmyung Women's U, Seoul, Korea) is a visiting professor of statistics for the fall semester. John Stoughton (Hope C) is spending his sabbatical leave in the department for the fall semester. Recent speakers include Richard Grassl (U of Northern Colorado), Stephen Malcolm (Biological Sciences, WMU), Michele Intermont (Kalamazoo C), Kimberly L. Pearson (Valparaiso U), Heather Gavlas (GVSU), Larry Fialkow (SUNY-New Paltz), and Garrison Greenwood (Electrical and Computer Engineering, WMU). There were 160 participants at the Fifth Great Lakes Symposium on Applied Statistics, held October 21-23 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo. Principal speakers included Jerry Lawless (U of Waterloo), Jan Shi (UM-Ann Arbor), Vijay Nair (UM-Ann Arbor), Winson Taam (OU), Simon J. Sheather (U of New South Wales), Dennis Cook (U of Minnesota), Ramon Littell (U of Florida), Daryl Pregibon (AT&T), John Elder (Elder Research), and George Millikan (Kansas State U).
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