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2016 Executive Committee Minutes

Minutes:	MAA Rocky Mountain Section Executive Committee Meeting
Date & Time:	Thursday, April 7, 2016, 7:00–9:00 pm
Location:	Il Bistro Italiano, 400 Main Street, Grand Junction, Colorado
Attendance:	Kyle Riley, Erica Hastert, Bill Emerson, Bill Cherowitzo, Mike Jacobson, Heidi Keck, Tracii Friedman, Lisa Driskell, Cathy Bonan-Hamada, Janet Barnett, George Heine, Kathy Andrist

1. Kyle Riley called the meeting to order at 7:45 pm. Minutes from the 2015 meeting and current agenda were approved. Agendas for banquet and business meeting were confirmed. Specific tasks were reviewed and order of events confirmed. Suggestions were given for organizing the new networking breaks. People will propose topics when picking up packets and discussions tables will be created. Bob Devaney may not make the business meeting as he must also attend the Intermountain meeting.
   

   This meeting has 179 preregistered participants and 90 talks.

2. Reports
   • Heidi Keck gave the financial report. The section has about $12,000 on hand. Subvention is down, but last year's meeting made money. CMU expects this meeting will make a modest profit as well due to generous donations. Activity grants and sponsored graduate student speakers have been fewer, which limits our expenses.
   • Next year we will need to elect three people: Chair-Elect, Governor, and Secretary/Treasurer. These are all important and difficult roles, so we need to start work on this now. Gus Greivel leads this committee. Again discussion centered on how to better communicate with members to alert them to these issues.
   • There was only one section activity grants awarded in fall 2015. The PPRUMC was awarded $750.
   • Mike Jacobson spoke for the awards committee. As usual the decision was difficult. It would be nice to help our nominee prepare for the Haimo award nomination, but no one had experience to volunteer.
3. Discussion and action items
   • Graduate Student Speaker program is not flourishing. Description of process currently used was given. Potential problems and solutions were discussed: Maybe the money is not enough? Maybe we should use the money elsewhere? Lack of connection with graduate chairs and lack of clear grad student research focus is problematic. This helps us connect to research institutions so worth keeping the program.
   • Colorado Math Awards (Dick Gibbs) was awarded $250 (Bill E motion, Mike second, unanimous approval)
   • Books for door prizes( Janet Barnett) was awarded $150 (Bill E motion, Tracii second, unanimous approval)
   • Big question is how does the section connect with high schools, two-year colleges, and research institutions?
4. Representative for MathFest and Joint Meeting is Mike Jacobson.
5. Future Section Meetings: General discussion about moving location for ease of majority of members with recognition that no location will be convenient for everyone. Reminder that before agreeing to host, the prospective program chair must ask about local usage fees. It is now very common for institutions to charge for rooms and IT services.
   • 2017 CSU-Pueblo is confirmed. Janet Barnett will be program chair
   • 2018 UNC in Greeley is confirmed. Oscar Levin and Nathaniel Miller will chair.

 

Respectfully submitted,
Heidi Keck, Western State Colorado University Secretary/Treasurer of the MAA Rocky Mountain Section