Minutes
Executive Committee Meeting
Wisconsin Section of the MAA
January 18, 2007
 

Present: Mohammad Ahmadi, Ben Collins, John Koker, Kristen Lampe, Jim Marty, Ken Price, David Scott, Jeganathan Sriskandarajah, Steve Szydlik, Irfan Ul-Haq.

1. The meeting was called to order just after 4:00 by Jeganathan Sriskandarajah. Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting of September 29, 2006, were approved after typographical errors were corrected.

2.  The treasurer's report was accepted in the absence of Mark Snavely. On a question of UWEC honoring two retired teachers, the committee chose to wait for more information and agreed to vote by e-mail if necessary.

3.  Governor John Koker reported on national MAA concerns. Reports are now coming out from the three year strategic planning initiative designed to help the MAA function better. Model by-laws will be supplied to all sections. The Carnegie House of the Halmos Foundation, a conference and meeting center, is opening in April of 2007. Finally it was noted that Wisconsin had not yet announced a recipient of the Certificate of Meritorious Service.

4. Mohammad Ahmadi presented the preliminary schedule for the spring meeting. Prepartaions are well underway, and proceeding nicely.

5. Kristen Lampe presented the Contest Report. There was a good transition from Edgewood to UW-Stout as organizers of the contest; however, participant numbers are down. The AMC 10 and 12 results are not yet available.

6. Ben Collins set the due date for spring newsletter reports as February 2, 2007.

7. Ken Price and Steve Szydlik reported success with Face Off! at St. Norbert at the Pi Mu Epsilon conference and at MATC's fifth annual MathFest. In Madison, Ben Collins substituted effectively as host for John Koker. Everything is ready for the spring meetings. Some low-cost housing should be available for students. There may be an Euler video running in the student retreat room. Various money options are being investigated, such as the possibility of T-shirts from Mathematica.

8. Irfan Ul-Haq reported that there will be a NExT panel Saturday afternoon at the spring meeting on "Keeping Your Research Alive." There is a suggestion to bring current and past members together in the future to get feedback. NExT is doing well financially because the registration fee has been increased slightly and speakers are currently being recruited from nearby to save money. This will continue for at least one more year. The question was raised about changing the honorarium for the fall workshop, but no change was approved. On another issue, we still believe our money is better spent locally than in sponsoring a national NExT Fellow and this will becommunicated to Joe Gallian.

9. Jim Marty reported for the WMC that plans for the Green Lake Conference are well underway. It is scheduled for May3-4. UWM's Hank Kepner is now NCTM president.

10. David Scott reported that Andy Matchett has agreed to run for Chair-Elect, so the committee confirmed its earlier decision to endorse Andy.

11. Jeganathan Sriskandarajah noted that there is lots going on at Madison MATC for Math Awareness Month. Interested people can check out their website.

12. The next "star" for Know Your Wisconsin Mathematician was chosen. John Koker will be responsible for the interview.

13. Next meeting: Lunch on Saturday, April 21, 2007, in Eau Claire after the spring meeting at a local restaurant. Simei Tong will be requested to suggest an appropriate site.

Respectfully submitted,

David Scott, Past Chair