Report of the Governor Fall 2000 Amy Cohen

The Board met, as usual, from 9am till nearly 5pm. There were over 50 participants in the meeting room: governors, officers, staff, etc.

State of the MAA

The Treasurer's Report indicated that the MAA is in somewhat better shape than it was a couple years ago. This allows the filling of temporarily vacant staff lines, which is important to provide the services that the

members expect. There are several concerns: membership is not growing; charitable donations are lagging national trends; and both state and national tax people are beginning to look very closely at tax-reporting by

non-profit organizations. Staff and officers are asking assistance with all three concerns.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

The success of Project NExT, a mentoring program for new PhD's in their first faculty appointments, suggests that the membership may also want to see "professional development" activities offered for mid-career mathematics faculty. The first of these offerings is a series of proposal-writing workshops offered by former NSF staff who participated in a training program at MathFest2000. Other possibilities include workshops for faculty entering (or considering) administrative positions such as Dean, Chair, or Undergraduate Director. Suggestions from friends and members of MAA are welcome.

GUIDELINES FOR DEPARTMENTS

The Governors approved a revision of an MAA document suggesting guidelines for departmental operations. The goal is to strengthen the hands of local departments in negotiations with their deans and presidents.

MATHFEST 2000 

The MathFest2000 attendance was strong and enthusiastic. All the invited lectures were well attended. The second Leitzel Lecturer was Brit Kirwan, now President of Ohio State University and formerly head of the University of Maryland campus at College Park and member and Chair of their math department. He spoke on the importance of undergraduate education to the quality of universities and colleges AND to maintaining outside financial and political support for higher education. This talk foreshadowed and complemented the AMS meeting on Challenges of 21st Century Mathematics, which followed MathFest2000.

MORE MAA INFORMATION

As the member of the MAA Board of Governors representing New Jersey, I invite your comments and suggestions for ways that the Section and the national organization can help you in your professional efforts as mathematics faculty.

Respectfully submitted, Amy Cohen, acc@math.rutgers.edu

On the Web at www.maa.org/NewJersey