Business Meeting Wisconsin Section of the MAA April 17, 2004 UW-Platteville 1. The meeting was called to order at 8:05 by Section Chair, Mark Snavely, who began by thanking past chair, Jon Kane, for his excellent leadership over the past year, and chair-elect, Jayanthi Ganapathy for her excellent leadership in planning the Spring Meeting. 2. The minutes of the business meeting of April, 2003, and the current treasurer's report were approved. The treasurer pointed out particularly the unusual entry in the "credit" column, which was $1059.83 which was a grant from the MAA secured by Ben Collins. 3. Rick Poss presented his Governor's report, and took the opportunity to encourage members to communicate to him what their view is on the current Calculus Issue. The current Calculus Issue includes whether school calculus should be TAUGHT as college calculus or TREATED as college calculus. Of course the questions go much deeper than that and the issue is very serious to all of us. Communicate your views on College Calculus vs. High School Calculus to Rick, who emphasized that his intention as Governor is to faithfully represent the Section's view in all its nuances. 4. The election of chair-elect was conducted. The Section was fortunate to have an excellent candidate to consider, David Scott of Ripon College. It was moved and seconded that a unanimous ballot be cast for the candidate, and this motion carried. 5. Kathy Muhs, Newsletter Editor, presented her report. The Executive Board has decided to try publishing the Newsletter online on the Section Website. We are in a good position to do this, because Kathy and Tony Thomas (Section Website Coordinator), have led the Section through a careful exploratory process. For academic year 2002-03, the newsletter was published online as an html file. This was in addition to a hard copy being printed and mailed to all members. For the year 2003-04, the Newsletter was published online as a pdf file in addition to being printed and mailed to all members. This coming fall, Kathy will publish the Newsletter only online, as a pdf file, with postcards mailed to all members to announce the publication. The following spring, the full newsletter will be published online, with the portion containing the preliminary program of the Annual Spring Meeting being mailed by regular mail, and serving to announce the availability of the full Newsletter on the website. Kathy pointed out that this Spring, for the first time, the Newsletter cost over $400 to print and mail. So online publishing will significantly save money. It is also to be noted that the vast majority of sections already are publishing their newsletters completely online, with postcard announcements by regular mail. Kathy says that hard copies will still be mailed to those who do not have access to the internet. "If you prefer a hard copy, tell me and I will send you one," she said. Mark Snavely noted that people and mathematics departments whose websites have links to the section website should have those links run through the national MAA website because that website will be assiduously maintained, and so if our section website changes, the MAA site can be updated and then links to the section site will continue to function. 6. Dates were discussed for the 2005 meeting, which will be at UW- Washington County. It was voted to hold that meeting on April 15- 16. Cardinal Stritch College and UW-Whitewater had expressed interest in hosting the 2006 meeting, but according to Chair Snavely, Cardinal Stritch now is not interested. Therefore the 2006 meeting will be at UW-Whitewater. After some discussion the dates April 21-22 were tentatively agreed upon as the dates for the 2006 meeting. UW-Oshkosh has invited the section to hold the 2007 meeting there, and Madison Area Technical College has tentatively said that they might like to host the 2008 meeting. 7. Kristen Lampe is on maternity leave, and so there was no official report on mathematics competitions at this time. However, Rick Poss reported that on the St. Norbert College High School Mathematics Contest, there was one perfect score, achieved by Nicholas Roch. 8. Tony Thomas has been the student activities coordinator for a number of years now, and announced that he is ready to pass on the torch. Persons who are interested or who know of a particularly suitable candidate, should contact either Jayanthi Ganapathy or Tony. Mark Snavely noted that the Executive Committee is establishing 3 year terms for appointed positions like this one. 9. Ben Collins, director of project NExT-Wisconsin, said that the fall 2004 workshop facilitator and presenter would be Barbara Reynolds of Cardinal Stritch University. He also reminded NExT fellows of the exciting luncheon scheduled for noon that day. Lastly, the NExT speaker list is in place and was included as an insert in the meeting programs. These speakers should be available to serve the mathematical community through mathematical and statistical presentations at a variety of institutions, from high schools to universities. Chair Snavely added the observation that our section's NExT program has been characterized as a model program at the section level. 10. Carl Cowen, the new MAA President, addressed the meeting. He informed us about the new Curriculum Guide, and three new (or at least young) initiatives: "Convergence", PREP, and ACCCESS. ACCCESS is funded by Exxon and is envisioned to be the analogue of NExT for two-year colleges and technical colleges. "Convergence" is a mathematics history project, funded by NSF, and will include a website that will probably be for MAA members only. That project is looking for authors. Carl also touched upon MAA study trips, Mathfest 2004, and disseminating information to members about NSF issues. It is very clear that the MAA is a vibrant, responsive professional organization. 11. In wrapping up this business meeting, Mark complimented the local organizers on the excellent job they have done. Andy noted that Linda Lampe of McGraw-Hill and Lisa Miller of Brooks/Cole have provided wonderful book exhibits. These enhance our meeting and we thank the exhibitors warmly. 12. Adjournment at 8:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Andy Matchett Secretary/treasurer