Wisconsin Section of the MAA Executive Committee Meeting September 27, 2002, UW-Baraboo Minutes Present: Jon Kane (Chair), Andy Matchett, Kathy Muhs, Rick Poss, Mark Snavely, John Symms, Tony Thomas, Aaron Trautwein 1. The meeting was called to order at 4:05 by the chair. Matchett presented minutes of the executive committee meeting held on April 13, 2002, right after the annual spring meeting. Also he presented a draft of minutes of the business meeting that had been held on the same date. 2. Treasurer's report. Yearly financial obligations right now are approximately $700 for the newsletter, $500 for contest prizes, and $500 for Project NExT. Income is $700 from the national (subvention) and profit from the spring meeting. Spring meeting profit is variable and has averaged perhaps $500 in the past. However, now that the section subsidizes student banquet tickets, a practice that the committee wants to continue, the banquet actually looses money. The consensus of the committee was to maintain the present plan, dipping into savings as needed, for two or three years. Equally importantly, ideas for increasing revenue were discussed. These included adding $2.00 to the price of banquet tickets, electronic distribution of the Newsletter, and raising the meeting registration fee. Distinguished Teaching Award. After considering the September letter from the National to MAA Section Secretaries, the committee decided to allow a nomination to be considered for the Wisconsin Section award with only the nomination form and a narrative completed. This would be due early in November. Then the selection committee would make its decision and ask the nominator to beef up the nomination packet so it meets the requirements for the national award. 3. Rick Poss gave his Governor's Report. This summer Mathfest at Burlington set a new record in attendance, beating the previous record which was set at Madison in the summer of 2001. It is suggested that there are many members of the section who would make good committee members at the national level. Send suggestions to Rick. 4. Jon Kane gave a report on the Section Officer's meeting at Mathfest. Project NExT continues and continues to receive support and fine tuning. A mathematical tour of Greece is being arranged by the MAA, May 22 - June ?, 2003. Officers of other sections consider joint meetings with regional AMS, Siam, and NCTM sections. Our experience is mainly with the WMC and is somewhat problematic. A massive CUPM report will be coming out on curriculum recommendations for undergraduate mathematics programs. A CUPM representative will probably speak at our Spring Meeting this year. Website and email distribution of section information was discussed. This year we will distribute the Newsletter by mail as usual, but also electronically. So Kathy will send copies to Aaron, to be emailed by the national, and to Tony, for posting on the section website. After considerable discussion it was decided that the electronic copies of the Newsletter shall all be "Word copies" (as opposed to "Word Perfect", pdf, "latex", etc.). Kathy's intention is that we have a process that can evolve in whatever direction future forces push it, but that we not make radical changes right now. Perhaps it will develop in the future that a significant fraction of section members would be willing to just receive a notice that the Newsletter is posted on the website, and then download it themselves. That could save us $500 per year. 5. Student Contests. John Symms gave high praise to the good work of the group at Edgewood College in running the State Mathematics Contest. They could use problem suggestions. Send problems by email to Linda Uselmann. John pointed out that his five-year term is soon completed. He may be able to interest a colleague from Carroll College in taking his place. 6. Newsletter. Kathy Muhs, had us update the meeting calendar, and determined that October 1 would be a good deadline for newsletter articles. 7. Spring Meeting Plans. Mark Snavely has lined up David Stone (Chair of the committee on Sections) and Kennedy and Haunsperger (Math Horizons editors) as speakers. A new idea was explored and approved, namely, having a panel discussion with graduate students. The aim would be to inform undergraduates about what might await them. Friday, April 4, was tentatively set as the deadline for abstracts for the spring meeting. The spring meeting itself will be April 25-26 at UW-Marathon County 8. Student activities. Tony Thomas led a discussion of student participation at the 2002 Spring Meeting. There were 36 students registered at the meeting. There were 6 student talks which involved a total of 10 students. The banquet drew 24 students. It was decided to keep the banquet price at $5.00 for students. 9. The committee received Ben Collins's report on Project NExT. The Fall Workshop for this year was in progress at the time of the executive committee meeting, which was why Ben was not present himself. Ben reported that the national Project NExT has approved a continuation of funds for Project NExT - Wisconsin. The amount is $2140. Ben has plans well under way for a fall workshop in 2003. The speakers are, tentatively, Allan Rossman and Beth Chance of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. There is also a plan for a Project NExT-Wisconsin Speaker Series. This fall Project NExT - Wisconsin accepted seven new members, bringing the total to 36, an all-time high. 10. Aaron Trautwein reported on the visits to the three Ph.D. granting universities in the state. He has decided to put the three on a three year rotation, visiting one campus each year. The purpose of the visits is to inform graduate students about the advantages of membership in the MAA. Math Clubs are invited to send Aaron information about their activities, that he might publicize some of these as the opportunity arises. 11. The nominating committee for chair-elect shall be Jon K., John K., and Mark S. 12. Jon Kane led a discussion of the pros and cons of having local WI Section meetings at various location around the state. There are promising possibilities here and we will revisit the topic in January after perhaps consulting with colleagues. 13. Jon also led a discussion of an internet based math contest for undergraduates. What would be needed would be a committee of 5 or 6 to plan the contest. The format is a big question. It could be that the contest appears on the web at a certain time and students have a weekend to work. Or it could be more flexible and more open. It could be team oriented or not. The comment came up that we might re-allocate some of the math contest prize money to winners of this contest. College students are likely to have a greater appreciation for money than high school students. The whole concept of a web-based mathematics contest for college students seems exciting. Jon may include something about this in his Newsletter article. 14. The next meeting will be January 31, at 4:00 p.m., at UW- Baraboo. Jon will reserve the room. Respectfully submitted, Andy Matchett Secretary/treas.