News from the Campuses

Albion College [reported by Robert Messer]

John Wenzel has begun a three-semester appointment as Associate Director of Academic Computing. Robert Messer will serve as chair of the Mathematics Department during this time. · Joseph Buckley of Western Michigan University spoke on symmetry groups at a Department Colloquium on February 13.

Calvin College [reported by Michael Stob]

Keith Vander Linden joined the department this year. His speciality is artificial intelligence. · Effective July 1, 1997, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science will split into two: the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. · A team of Calvin students won the MATH (Michigan Autumn Take-Home) Challenge this fall. Our teams placed first, third, and fourth, out of forty teams. Calvin teams have won this competition in each of its three years of existence.

Central Michigan University [reported by Tom Miles]

Mike Morelli has been a visiting faculty member this year. He is teaching a course on "Euclid and His Successors". Sing Ong is on sabbatical during the spring semester. Rich Fleming is concluding 15 years as chair. A new chair will begin by the fall semester. Arnie Hammel is concluding a lengthy leadership role with the national Kappa Mu Epsilon organizationfour years as chair-elect and four years as chair. · In connection with Mathematics Awareness Week (April 20­26), the department plans to host an annual recognition day on April 21 for outstanding area high school mathematics students.

Eastern Michigan University [reported by Tim Carroll]

Joanne Caniglia has been awarded two different grants: an Eisenhower Higher Professional Education Grant (Integrating Science and Math with Technology) and a Michigan Compact­SEAMS Grant (Making Mathematics Meaningful) · Bob Bartle is on leave this semester, working on his book. · Visit our web site at http://www.emich.edu/public/math/math.html.

Grand Rapids Community College [reported by Jim Chesla]

Michael Steinfort joined the full-time mathematics faculty; he taught previously at Cuyahoga CC in Ohio. · The department, in conjunction with MCTM, will host the Mathematics Challenge, an event for ninth and tenth grade teams from schools across Michigan.

Hope College [reported by John R. Stoughton]

Janet Anderson has been promoted to associate professor with tenure.

Lake Superior State University [reported by Paul Wilson]

On April 14 our department, in conjunction with LSSU's engineering departments, will be hosting a conference for high school students from nearby counties in

Michigan and Ontario. The entire department is participating with 30- to 60-minute presentations to encourage local students in the pursuit of mathematics and engineering at the college level (topics include Computer Animation, Robotics Applications, Fun with Tessellations, and Cryptography, among others). This is the second year for this conference, and we have been encouraged by the rave notices we received after last year's conference. This effort is the brain child of Thomas Boger, a member of the Mathematics Department. Tom is responsible for the coordination and program schedulea very difficult task. · We were proud to have had Paul Erdös on our campus about five years ago stimulating our students with his conjectures. He was visiting in Sault (Ontario) and we were able to cooperate with Algoma University College to bring him to the U. S. side. Unfortunately, we were not forward-thinking enough to take any pictures of his presentation. He lit a spark in many young minds with his program, and he will be sadly missed by the mathematics community.

Lawrence Technological University [reported by M. Merscher]

Pamela Lowry was recently promoted to the rank of associate professor. · The 1997 Lower Michigan Mathematics Competition will be held at LTU on April 5. About 30 teams of three students from a dozen or more smaller colleges in lower Michigan are expected. Ruth Favro (favro@ltu.edu) has details.

Michigan State University [reported by Dick Phillips]

Each year the department honors excellence in teaching with awards for each of faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduate teaching assistants. The Spring 1996 winners of the faculty J. S. Frame teaching awards were Sharon Griffin and T. Y. Li. Winners of the senior graduate teaching awards were Heesook Park and Mariusz Kepka; Dave Gebhard was a runner-up for this award. The junior graduate assistant award went to Laurie Miller, with runner-up honors being shared by Beth Delecki Earns, Tom Nelson Laird and Sarah Sword. In the undergraduate assistant category, both Thomas Nikundiwe and Steve Tuckey were honored. · Congratulations to Ron Fintushel for being named a University Hannah Professor and also for winning a Distinguished Faculty Award. Glenda Lappan begins a year as President-Elect of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and has also won a college level Distinguished Faculty Award. Elizabeth Phillips has been promoted to the rank of Senior Academic Specialist. · New administrative positions are being held by Pete Lappan (Associate Chair) and Jay Kurtz (Director of Graduate Studies). Both Tom McCoy and Carl Ganser will soon be joining the ranks of Emeriti Professors. · Sadly, longtime faculty members John Kinney and J. Sutherland Frame passed away this winter. · Thanks in large part to Patti Lamm, new features continue to appear on the Department's World Wide Web site (http://www.math.msu.edu/). Check out the links MSU Math Placement Exam and Prepare for MSU. The latter page is an attempt to relate to high school students the nature of university level mathematics courses.

Northern Michigan University [reported by Roxin Zhang]

Two new faculty members have been hired to support the Computer Science major: Randy R. Appleton, who is completing his PhD at the University of Kentucky and Jeffrey Horn, who is completing his PhD at the University of Illinois. · NMU will be hosting the annual MAA Upper Peninsula regional meeting, October 3, 1997.

Oakland University [reported by Jerry Grossman]

The department moves into its new high-rise home in May. · Rob Kushler and Steve Wright are on sabbatical leave for the winter. · Darrell Schmidt has been appointed acting chairperson to complete the term of Jim McKay, who has stepped down in preparation for his retirement and the hiring of a new chair from the outside. · Recent outside colloquium speakers have included David Blecher (University of Houston) and Ira Gessel (Brandeis University).

Siena Heights College [reported by Toni Carroll]

In collaboration with the Adrian College mathematics department we sponsored a mathematics conference for high school students and their teachers and parents on March 15. · Lana Taylor would appreciate hearing from anyone who has ideas about an art and mathematics course. Lana is on sabbatical during the winter semester. Her goals are to integrate computing technology into the developmental mathematics coursesespecially intermediate algebraand to explore the possibility of offering a course which would integrate the disciplines of art and mathematics.

University of Michigan­Flint [reported by Steve Althoen]

Steve Althoen and Ken Schilling are on sabbatical. Renate McLaughlin has just begun a 3-year term as associate provost. · Thirty-four schools from across the state were expected to participate in the Math Field Day competition on March 4. · Family Math Night was held on February 25.

Wayne State University [reported by Daniel Frohardt]

The big news, of course, is the Department's hosting of the May joint meetings. A web page with local information is available off the department's home page (http://www.math.wayne.edu). The home page also has the complete winter colloquium schedule, noting speakers from near (e.g., Karen Smith from UM­Ann Arbor) and far (e.g., L. A. Bokut from Novosibirsk).

Western Michigan University [reported by John Petro]

Yousef Alavi retired at the end of the Fall Semester after 38 years in the department. John Crowell resigned to accept a position with First of America. · Allen Schwenk has received a sabbatical leave for the 1997­98 academic year. · The Department will host the Fourth Kalamazoo Symposium on Matrix Analysis and Applications on October 24­25. Tentative invited speakers are G. W. Stewart, Nicholas J. Higman, Charles R. Johnson, and Roger Horn. Nil Mackey, John W. Petro, and Thomas M. Richardson will be the Directors of the Symposium. For additional information contact Nil Mackey (nil.mackey@wmich.edu).