Wisconsin Section of the MAA Executive Committee Meeting Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 UW-Oshkosh Present: Ben Collins, Jayanthi Ganapathy, Jon Kane, Kristen Lampe, Andy Matchett, Kathy Muhs, Mark Snavely 1. The meeting was called to order at 4:15, Mark Snavely presiding. 2. Andy presented his treasurer's report, minutes of the Annual Business Meeting, and minutes of the April 26, 2003 Executive Committee meeting. Several corrections were offered to the minutes of both meetings. With those corrections, the minutes were approved. The treasurer's report was also approved. Andy noted that the Section savings account would have to be tapped to pay for the last NExT Workshop. This was approved in the hopes that the national office will offer a continuation of the generous support that it has given in the past. However, the consensus was that our NExT program is excellent and is good for the Section, and that it was appropriate to plan to subsidise it, as we will do this year, if necessary for 3 more years before cutting back. 3. The Governors report was largely a report on Mathfest, and a glowing report it was. We are looking forward to Mathfest 2008, because that will be in Madison. It was also learned that the MAA finances may be divided into 4 roughly equal pieces: MAA operating budget, Endowment, Grants, and Buildings. Each part is worth approximately 6 million dollars. And, in the recent Mathematics Olympiad, the U.S. placed third, China second, and Bulgaria first. 4. Mark and Jon reported on the Section Officers' Meeting at Mathfest. Items of note include - New Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award submission date. - A new math course for business students, which the MAA is supporting. - Financial reports are due from sections on 4/15. - Website issues. Importance of using good practice to avoid broken links. - Online membership renewal is coming. - A new teaching award is contemplated, this one for beginning teachers. The general opinion of the Committee was that the Wisconsin Section did not want to be involved with a teaching award for beginning teachers, for a variety of reasons. It was decided by the Committee that this year, to be nominated for the Section teaching award, what would be required would be the nomination form, the narrative, and one letter of recommendation. These are to be sent to Jon Kane. 5. Kristen Lampe introduced herself to the Committee and expressed her intention to handle the math contests pretty much as her predecessor, John Symms did. Her first actual report will come in January, 2004. 6. Kathy Muhs led a discussion of the Fall Newsletter. The secretary needs to send Kathy a letter documenting our nonprofit status. The deadline for articles for the fall newsletter will be Oct. 3. January 16 was suggested, tentatively, as the deadline for faculty abstracts of talks at the Spring Meeting. The student deadline will again be early in April. Jon reported that Titu Andrescu will have a position at UW- Whitewater this spring. The position will be a 1/2-time teaching position and 1/2-time outreach. Presumably he will participate in our Spring Meeging. 7. Jayanthi led a discussion of her plans for the spring meeting program. Invited speakers will be Carl Cowen from Purdue, whose talk may be in the area of mathematical biology, and Mary Ellen Rudin, who offered to give a talk on linearly ordered compact spaces. The consensus was that this would be great. A possibility for the banqet talk is math club students from Marquette High School, who have an entertaining performance they do about mathematics. Their sponsor/advisor is Griesbach. This year once again, student banquet tickets will be $5.00. Mark Snavely noted that Clare Hemenway could have been wearing a cape and a big letter "S" on her shirt for the super job she did with the local arrangements. 8. Ben Collins reported on the NExT program. The Speaker List is coming. We now have 34 to 36 members of Wisconsin NExT. One idea about what to do at the Annual Spring meeting this academic year was to see what initiatives the National program comes up with. Our previous panel discussions were 1)promotion and tenure, 2) grading/assessment without tears. 9. Mark Snavely led a discussion about the merits of having uncontested elections for chair elect. It seemed to those present like a good idea and in no way incompatible with section bylaws. The nominating committee this year is Mark Snavely, Jon Kane, and Jayanthi Ganapathy. 10. Future meeting sites for the Annual spring meeting are: 2004 UW-Platteville 2005 UW-Washington (in West Bend, WI) 2006 We have invitations from UW-Whitewater, Madison Area Technical College, and Cardinal Stritch University. The chair (Mark Snavely) noted that Sri, at MATC, has done an excellent job establishing an active mathematics club. Math clubs are quite rare at technical colleges. It would be nice to hold the meeting at MATC, but that will probably require somebody from that campus actively supporting the idea at the spring meeting in 2004. 11. The meeting adjourned at 6:20 to the Grainery, a local restaurant. Respectfully submitted, Andy Matchett, Secretary