Report on the Spring Meeting of 2004 April 16-17, UW-Platteville Each year the Annual Spring Wisconsin Section Meeting is organized by the Chair-Elect of the Section. This year the Chair-elect was Jayanthi Ganapathy, of UW-Oshkosh. At the meeting, there were 153 registrants. Friday Evening Banquet The banquet was attended by 109 persons. After dinner the recipient of the 2004 Wisconsin Section Distinguished Teaching Award was announced. The recipient was Alexander Nagel, University of Wisconsin - Madison. The award was presented by Chair Mark Snavely, who highlighted Professor Nagel's kindness toward his students, both undergraduate and graduate. Also in evidence in Alex's teaching is his deep respect for mathematical truth as evidenced by testimony from one of Alex's calculus students who remembered with pleasure an engaging class period entirely devoted to bridging the gap between the primitive idea of limit and the rigorous epsilon-delta definition. Professor Nagel graciously received the award and made his way back to his table joining there his wife, Yvonne, Mary Ellen Rudin, Frederick and Lois Gehring, and Andrew Matchett. The conversation that evening was filled with reminiscences about colleagues and their children, observations about mathematical families, and comments about the wonderful sessions that had been held that afternoon. The award for Distinguished Teaching of High School Mathematics was presented by Tony Thomas to Michelle Reed of Belleville High School. Frederick Tufte, of the host institution, made his way to the stage and thanked the many well-wishers who had lofted get well cards and telephone calls his way during his recent illness and subsequent recovery from surgery. All in attendance who have worked with Rick over the years were cheered to see that he is back among the living with his sense of humor intact. Mary Ellen Rudin gave the banquet address, "Women in Mathematics", which was very enjoyable and full of fascinating details about the lives and views of contemporary mathematicians of her generation. Panel Discussions Undergraduate Research in Mathematics: All You Want to Know Applying Advanced Distributed Teaching and Learning to Pre-Calculus Mathematics Graduate Studies in Mathematics: All You Want to Know (Funded in part by the Graduate Student Initiative, see accounting detail below.) What Is the Difference Between 'High School Calculus' and 'College Calculus'? Actuarial Careers The Past Present and Future of the MAA Invited Addresses Frederick Gehring, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Michigan, gave a beautiful and most illuminating talk on the Riesz - Fejer Theorem and four of its ramifications. Carl C. Cowen, Purdue University, President-elect of the MAA, gave an interesting talk, "Connections Between Mathematics and Biology". This talk was distinguished by including an actual experiment with the audience as experimental units. The purpose of the experiment was to elucidate in a delightfully indirect way the organization of neurons in the brain. Mary Ellen Rudin gave a talk, "What Is Topology", which revealed the breadth of that branch of mathematics and in which she shared valuable insights that will be particularly useful to the numerous students in the audience. Mary Ellen also gave a most enjoyable talk on "Women in Mathematics" at the Friday evening banquet. Discovery The Wisconsin Section has discovered an incredibly talented group of musicians and performers. They are a group of students at Marquette University High School, directed by Joe Griesbach. They performed a musical entitled "A Taste of Math Morsels & Mayhem". With catchy tunes, excellent instrumental accompaniment, delightful lyrics and a film clip, the group paid musical homage to Fermat, Gauss, Fibonacci, Pascal, Newton, and Andrew Wiles. It was an exceptionally entertaining and delightful performance. It is to be expected that we will be hearing more about this group in the future. General Meeting Accounting, not including the NExT Program. INCOME Grant secured from the MAA by Jayanthi Ganapathy for the Graduate Student Initiative $ 400.00 (*) meeting registrations Preregistrations 4 retired persons @ 10.00 3 invited speakers @ 0.00 1 award recipient (Alexander Nagel) @ 0.00 1 high school teacher @ 10.00 10 non members @ 17.00 2 publishers (Brooks/Cole, McGraw-Hill) @ 50.00 69 regular members @ 15.00 26 students @ 0.00 Total preregistrations: 116 $ 1355.00 Registrations at meeting 9 persons @ 20.00 28 students @ 0.00 Total on-site registrations: 37 $ 180.00 Banquet Reservations Preregistrations 7 invited guests @ 0.00 (Mary Ellen Rudin, Frederick and Lois Gehring, Alex and Yvonne Nagel, Carl C. Cowen, Michelle Reed) 81 Regular tickets @ 17.00 24 students @ 5.00 Reservations made at the door 4 @ 20.00 Total banquet sales $ 1577.00 Total income: $ 3512.00 COSTS Student reception (Park Inn) $ 155.22 (*) Regular reception (Park Inn) 113.23 110 dinners (Park Inn) 1700.97 (*) refreshments (UW-P) 169.80 Honoraria for speakers 300.00 Entertainment 100.00 (Joe Griesbach's performers in "Fibonacci to Wiles") Travel expenses for graduate 220.00 (*) student panelists (Swisher, Anderson, Fuhrman, Shomberg) Postage, Xeroxing (UW-Oshkosh) 130.05 (*) Costs (excluding Project NExT) 2889.27 _____________ Spring Meeting Profit: 622.73 Accounting for the NExT Program INCOME NExT Luncheon 18 participants @ 5.00 Total income from Project NExT $ 90.00 COST NExT Luncheon (UW-P) 221.25 Profit from NExT program - 131.25 Accounting for the Book Sale The total revenue for the sale was sent to the MAA. Jim Marty ran the book sale at this meeting. He sold 31 books for a total revenue of $753.55. INCOME Commission on sales of $753.55 $ 75.36 Accounting detail for the Graduate Student Initiative The amounts associated with the Graduate Student Initiative, both income and cost, are identified here. They are also included above in the amounts above marked (*). INCOME Grant from the MAA $ 400.00 COST Student reception $ 155.22 Travel expenses for graduate student panelists 220.00 Subsidy for one student dinner 12.00 Postage (est.) 14.00