President's Report
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Volume 37, Number 4 NEWSLETTER July–August 2007 President’s Report AWM Members: In July, Anne Leggett will have completed thirty years as editor of this news- letter. AWM owes her a great debt of gratitude for her work. Those of us who have written articles for the newsletter know the energy that she gives to it, saving us from embarrassing mistakes by careful reading, and responding to delays in promised articles with good humor, tolerance, and firmness. Krystyna Kuperberg has won the Sierpinski Medal, an award given by the Polish mathematical community. She serves on the AWM Executive Committee as a member at large and is the Principal Investigator for AWM’s travel grant pro- IN THIS ISSUE gram—for which she deserves our thanks. Details about her award will (I hope) 6 AWM Searches for appear in the next issue of the newsletter. New Executive Director I did not attend the Snowbird meeting, but I heard that Lai-Sang Young gave a lovely Kovalevsky lecture and that the AWM workshop seemed to go par- 9 In Memoriam: ticularly well. Many, many thanks to the organizers Trachette Jackson, Mary Deborah Topper Haimo Silber, and Mary Lou Zeeman—and to the mathematicians who took the time and energy to mentor graduate students and post-docs at the workshop. 10 Emma Lehmer Dies at 100 In August, Katherine St. John will give the Falconer Lecture at Mathfest. 12 Book Review Her work concerns biology, and in her talk she will discuss related combinato- rial questions. I am also pleased to see that Jennifer Tour Chayes will be giving 16 Education Column the Hedrick Lecture Series and that Judith Grabiner will be giving an MAA Invited Address. I am pleased to announce that our Executive Director Jenny Quinn has accepted a position as a full professor with tenure—but very sorry that her ac- ceptance carries the implication that she will leave her position as executive A W M director of AWM. In her new position at the University of Washington at Tacoma, she will have charge of designing a mathematics curriculum, hiring new faculty, and helping to build a program at a place that intends to triple in size over the next ten years. Jenny has been a wonderful person to work with and has done much to help AWM implement its strategic plan, while at the same time maintaining its many programs—capably and creatively. We will miss her. The purpose of the Association for Women in A search for a new executive director is in progress. Please consider apply- Mathematics is ing and encourage others to do so. Details about the job and application pro- • to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathe- cess are on the AWM Web site; see also pages 6 and 29. I consider the execu- matical sciences, and tive director very important to our organization and will be happy to answer • to promote equal opportunity and the questions about the position. equal treatment of women and girls in the mathematical sciences. At the beginning of May, Jenny and I attended the Conference Board of AWM was founded in 1971 at the Joint the Mathematical Sciences meeting. Among other things, we heard about Meetings in Atlantic City. Using Statistics Effectively in Mathematics Education Research, a new report The Newsletter is published bi-monthly. from the American Statistical Association, which may be downloaded at Articles, letters to the editor, and announce- www.amstat.org/research_grants/pdfs/SMERReport.pdf. The report begins with ments are welcome. several quotes, including one from the 2001 RAND Mathematics Study Circulation: 3500. © 2007, AWM Panel: “The teaching and learning of mathematics in U.S. schools is in ur- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE gent need of improvement.” It continues with discussion of the “scientifically President based research” described in the No Child Left Behind Act as “research that Cathy Kessel involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures Apt. C 2627 Etna Street to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and Berkeley, CA 94704 programs.” What this means is of interest in the implementation of NCLB [email protected] and in current debates about the effectiveness of various curricula and instruc- Past-President tional practices. Barbara Lee Keyfitz After the CBMS meeting, I attended the Council of Scientific Society Treasurer Rebecca Herb Presidents meeting. Much concern was expressed about global warming, but At-Large Members also about education. In my mind, these two are linked. Had science educa- Fern Y. Hunt Alice Silverberg tion been better in the past, there might have been more demand for legislators Krystyna Kuperberg Abigail Thompson to attend to global warming. Had mathematics education been better in the Dawn Lott Ann Trenk Helen Moore Betsy Yanik past, it might have been easier to view the situation in terms of expected value, Clerk rather than waiting for certainty. Maura Mast The CSSP has approved a letter that encourages United States par- Meetings Coordinator ticipation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study Bettye Anne Case; [email protected] Advanced 2008 (TIMSS Advanced 2008), which will study the performance Newsletter Editor of students at the end of secondary schooling in mathematics and physics. Anne Leggett; [email protected] As of May, the U.S. intends only to participate in the TIMSS 2007, which Web Editor Holly Gaff; [email protected] will study the performance of students in grades 4 and 8. Previous U.S. parti- cipation in TIMSS and its predecessors has included grade 12 participation. 2 Newsletter Volume 37, Number 4 • July–August 2007 A W M Elsewhere in the newsletter, you will find information about congressional legislation intended to improve math- MEMBERSHIP AND NEWSLETTER INFORMATION ematics and science education: the America Competes Act Membership dues (Membership runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) (which, in addition to affecting education, would double au- Individual: $55 Family (no newsletter): $30 Contributing: $125 First year, retired, part-time: $30 thorized funding for NSF for the next five years); the “10,000 Student, unemployed, developing nations: $20 Friend: $1000 Benefactor: $2500 Teachers, 10 Million Minds” Science and Math Scholarship All foreign memberships: $10 additional for postage Act; and the Sowing the Seeds through Science and Engi- Dues in excess of $15 and all contributions are deductible from federal taxable income when itemizing. neering Research Act. Institutional Members: It’s interesting to contrast these acts with the recommen- Level 1: $300 Level 2a or 2b: $175/$150 dations of the Glenn Commission Report of 2000. The press See www.awm-math.org for details on free ads, free student memberships, and ad discounts. release for the latter says, “Elected officials, educators, and Affiliate Members: $250 business leaders cite urgent need to act ‘before it’s too late.’ ” Institutional Sponsors: Friend: $1000+ Patron: $2500+ The Glenn Commission report set out three goals: Benefactor: $5000+ Program Sponsor: $10,000+ See the AWM website for details. • Establish an ongoing system to improve the quality of Subscriptions and back orders All members except family members receive a subscription to the mathematics and science teaching in grades K–12. newsletter as a privilege of membership. Libraries, women’s studies centers, non-mathematics departments, etc., may purchase a sub- scription for $55/year ($65 foreign). Back orders are $10/issue plus • Increase significantly the number of mathematics and shipping/handling ($5 minimum). science teachers and improve the quality of their pre- Payment paration. Payment is by check (drawn on a bank with a US branch), US money order, or international postal order. Visa and MasterCard are also accepted. • Improve the working environment and make the teach- Newsletter ad information ing profession more attractive for K–12 mathematics and AWM will accept advertisements for the Newsletter for positions science teachers. available, programs in any of the mathematical sciences, professional activities and opportunities of interest to the AWM membership and other appropriate subjects. The Managing Director, in con- sultation with the President and the Newsletter Editor when Current legislation seems to focus on teacher preparation necessary, will determine whether a proposed ad is acceptable un- der these guidelines. All institutions and programs advertising in the and in-service professional development, but not to include Newsletter must be Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity designated. the systemic issues identified by the Glenn Commission. Institutional members receive discounts on ads; see the AWM web- site for details. For non-members, the rate is $100 for a basic four- Research presented to the Commission found that teach- line ad. Additional lines are $12 each. See the AWM website for Newsletter display ad rates. ers left teaching at an alarming rate; hence it is not surpris- ing that the Commission recommended that their working Newsletter deadlines Editorial: 24th of January, March, May, July, September, conditions be improved. Since 2000, teachers’ working November Ad: 1st of February, April, June, August, October, December conditions may have become even less attractive due to the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires testing in Addresses Send all Newsletter material except ads and book review material mathematics and reading in grades 3 to 8 and at least once to Anne Leggett, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Loyola University, 6525 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626; e-mail: in high school. This in turn has required a large increase [email protected]; phone: 773-508-3554; fax: 773-508- in the creation of tests. Making a good test is a labor- 2123. Send all book review material to Marge Bayer, Department of Mathematics, University of Kansas, 405 Snow Hall, 1460 intensive, time-consuming, and expensive task which some- Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045-7523; e-mail: [email protected]; fax: 785-864-5255.