President’s Report – Spring 2009
Another semester is underway and it is especially exciting for me having just returned to the classroom after being a full-time administrator for two and a half years. There is nothing quite like the excitement of walking into the classroom at the beginning of a semester and seeing all the students – some new, some already known from past semesters in other courses. It is something you don’t get to experience much in administration. I just hope people will remind me of these feelings when I start feeling bogged down by grading.
We had a wonderful Fall Meeting at Capital University in October 2008. John Tynan of Marietta College, Susanna Epp of DePaul University, Wiebke Diestelkamp of the University of Dayton, and the MAA President-Elect David Bressoud of Macalester College gave Invited Addresses. A total of 20 talks were given during the Contributed Papers sessions with four of them given by students. Speaking of student presentations, the MAA now has so many students presenting at Section Meetings (mainly during the Spring Meetings) that the MAA is discontinuing their practice of giving a gratis membership or publication to the student presenters. This is not meant to discourage students from presenting, but recognizes that student participants now make up roughly one-third of the total attendance at Spring Section meetings.
Lew Ludwig (chair of CONSACT) and his committee are working on this summer’s short course. The topic will be Knot Theory and it will be taught by Colin Adams of Williams College. People may attend just the summer short course or they can combine it with a Knot Theory Conference that will immediately follow the short course. More details about the summer short course and conference can be found elsewhere in this Newsletter.
The
Centennial Committee (formed last year) is continuing planning for
our Section's 100th
Annual Meeting Celebration in 2016. They
shared “MAA Centennial M&M’s” with us at the Fall Meeting
banquet and I believe they will have another surprise to share with
us at the Spring Meeting banquet to help us get in the “Centennial
mood.” Some Universities/Colleges of the Ohio Section have updated
their department’s history and posted them on their departmental
webpage. We are encouraging all departments of the Ohio Section to do
so. If you have any suggestions for celebrating our centennial,
please forward them to any of the Centennial Committee members.
Although most of our Section Committees now have full rosters, it is always nice to have members on a waiting list to step up when someone leaves a committee. Also, we could still use a few more members on CONCUR and CONSACT committees. If you wish to serve on these or any of the other committees, I am compiling a list of interested people for filling committee openings in the coming years. Committee membership is a great way to get more involved with the Section and “give back” a little for all the wonderful benefits we receive through our membership.
The Spring Meeting will be held April 3-4, 2009 at Bowling Green State University. The Program Committee (chaired by Jon Stadler) is working diligently to put the finishing touches on another excellent program for us. I hope to see you there!
Vickie Van Dresar
Ashland University
Ohio Section President