Spring Meeting at the Ohio State University April 4
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HIO FOCUS The Ohio Section Newsletter Volume 7 Spring 2003 Number 2 Spring Meeting at The Ohio State University April 4 - 5, 2003 The Spring meeting of the Ohio Section of the MAA will be held at The Ohio State University, Columbus OH on Friday and Saturday April 4 - 5, 2003. The meeting starts at 1:30 P.M. Friday and continues through 1 P.M. Saturday. Dan McWhorter of the National Security Agency begins the meeting with the invited address “Introductory Coding Theory”. At 3:15, he is followed by Ravi Vakil of Stanford University who will present a talk titled “The Mathemat- ics of Doodling”. Dan McWorter will give a second presentation with an after- dinner address “Mathematics at the National Security Agency”. Whether you decide to attend Inside the banquet or eat elsewhere, you are encouraged to attend the after- Spring Meeting Details dinner address and the short busi- ness meeting that will follow. At Student Activities the business meeting elections for sectional officers will take place (see the report of the nominating Officers and Committees committee on page 3 to view the list of candidates) and the winner Governor’s Report of the prestigious Ohio Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Math- President’s Message Mathematics Building - OSU ematics will be announced. Mathematics Awareness On Saturday President Harold Putt from Ohio Northern will give the retiring Month president’s address on “Some Applications of Abstract Algebra”. Following Harold’s talk, Ann Ritchey of Mount Union will present an invited talk on “Math Connections”. Ravi Vakil will deliver the final talk of the meetings entitled “Why the Golden Mean”. Early Mathematics Placement Test Contributed paper sessions are scheduled for both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and students are especially urged to contribute talks. Further details about the Calender of Events meeting can be found on page 8. 1 Section Governor’s Report I attended my sixth and last MAA Board Our Section Governor is a member of our a Teaching Award for beginning college of Governors’ meeting in Baltimore on Section Executive Committee. The teachers. These awards will complement January 14. We accomplished much. Governor runs a meeting for departmental the Haimo Teaching Awards which are Under the able leadership of President Ann liaisons at the spring Ohio Section designated for those with more experience. Watkins, the meeting finished early, which meeting. A more public function of the These two large donations overshadow I think might be a record. This spring the Governor at our Section activities involves some large grants the MAA has been able national MAA office will run the presentation of to secure recently, and the programs the election between the two certificates to our 25-year and funded by these grants will help all of us very experienced and capable 50-year MAA members. We in our teaching, either directly or indirectly. candidates nominated to made the presentations at the PMET [Preparing Mathematicians to succeed me. banquet during our fall Educate Teachers] is one of the larger of Despite a small electrical meeting in Warren. This was these. This grant will make it possible for fire in the Sheraton Hotel the a very special event for me. the MAA to offer several workshops this day before we arrived and I presented two of the summer for college faculty who prepare weather almost as cold as certificates to faculty elementary teachers and for those who Ohio’s, Baltimore was a great members I knew very well prepare secondary teachers, so check out place for our winter meeting. during my years of doctoral WWW.MAA.ORG/PMET for details. All those great Italian studies at Case Western PREP [Professional Enhancement restaurants located in Little Reserve University; one of Programs] is a grant for workshops Italy, which is so close to the certificates was for one of throughout the country on 15 different Baltimore’s convention center, make this my former students at John Carroll, and topics scheduled for various weeks a great location for the meeting. many of the other certificates were for between March 14, 2003 and January 6, Attendance figures indicated this to be one friends I have worked with in the Ohio 2004, and these are listed at of the best-attended national MAA Section. I presented 50-year certificates continued on page 5 meetings. to Robert Clark and Ernest Leach, and 25- Some of us had to miss part of the year certificates to Constantine Kliorys, OHIO FOCUS Baltimore meeting because of interference Danny Otero, and Michael Zwilling. with the start of our spring semester. For Others who earned 25-year certificates but The newsletter of the Ohio Section those inconvenienced in that way this year, were not present to receive them at the of the Mathematical Association of some of our next winter meetings are meeting were Susan Colley, Todd Feil, America, which first appeared in scheduled earlier in January. No new David Trunnel, and Jeff Yoder. 1973, is published twice yearly in meeting sites were approved. They are In this, my final column as Section time to reach members before the actively investigating locations for summer Governor, I would like to thank everyone fall and spring meetings. Newslet- MathFests beyond 2005. These national in the Ohio Section for giving me this ters are sent using labels provided meetings help us in so many ways to opportunity to serve them and to work with by the MAA. become better teachers. We all owe it to them. It was truly a pleasure! ourselves and our students to attend as Co-Editors many as we can. I hope to see you in The following paragraphs are gleanings William Higgins 937-327-7859 Boulder this summer. from the topics covered at our Baltimore [email protected] These are the future MAA summer and Board of Governors meeting: Brian Shelburne 937-327-7862 winter meeting sites and dates approved [email protected] so far: Boulder, CO, July 31-August 2, Despite a dismal economy, preliminary Department of Math & Comp Sci, 2003 [Thursday-Saturday]; Phoenix, AZ, unaudited figures indicate that fiscally, our Wittenberg University January 7-10, 2004 [Wednesday- national MAA came out just about even Springfield OH 45501 Saturday]; Providence, RI, August 12-14, for 2002. The big financial news for the 2004 [Thursday-Saturday]; Atlanta, GA, MAA this year were two large donations Deadline for the next newsletter is January 5-8, 2005 [Wednesday-Saturday]; from well-known members from August 25, 2003 Albuquerque, NM, August 4-6, 2005 California. Professor and Mrs. Paul Email copy is preferred. [Thursday-Saturday]; San Antonio, TX, Halmos (retired from Santa Clara January 12-15, 2006 [Thursday-Sunday]; University) donated $3 million for the Please send copy to the Editors New Orleans, LA, January 4-7, 2007 renovation of the smaller building behind (above) for the newsletter and to the [Thursday-Sunday]; San Diego, CA, our historic MAA headquarters in Section Webmaster, Tom Price January 6-9, 2008 [Sunday-Wednesday]; Washington so that it can be used for ([email protected]), for the web. Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2009, meetings and small mathematics [Wednesday-Saturday]. Jim Tattersall is conferences. Professor Henry Alder, This information will also be posted our MAA Associate Secretary who works retired from the University of California and updated on the web page on selecting these sites, and he does a at Davis, died and left a substantial amount www.maa.org/Ohio tremendous job! of money to the MAA to be used to initiate 2 President’s Message Greetings everyone! I hope you had an duration.” Report of the Nominating enjoyable holiday season and that you are Committee surviving this classic Ohio winter. In any Also during the Baltimore meetings, Presi- case, I’m sure you are looking forward to dent-elect Dale Mugler and I met with Olaf The Nominating Committee presents the spring and our spring meeting at The Ohio Stackleberg of Kent State to discuss in more following slate of candidates: Mark A. State University. I know detail the MAA grant pro- Smith (Miami University) for President- that I am. The Program posal related to improving Elect and William J. Higgins (Wittenberg Committee (chaired by courses for pre-service University) for a three-year term on the Sherri Brugh) has arranged teachers. Initially, five Program Committee. The President-Elect for a very interesting meet- states will be directly in- subsequently serves as the Section ing. The details concern- volved in this PMET (Pre- President. The senior person on the ing the meeting appear paring Mathematicians to Program Committee is the chair. elsewhere in this newslet- Educate Teachers) pro- ter, so I won’t repeat them gram. Ohio is one of them. Mark Smith has been at Miami here. However, I do want Olaf is coordinating Ohio’s University since 1977 and is currently to offer my thanks to Sherri involvement. Olaf recently Department Chair. In the Ohio Section, and her committee for their informed me that the pro- Mark is a coordinator of Ohio Project fine work. posal has been funded and NExT. that he is planning a work- Those of you who attended shop for summer 2004 at William Higgins joined the Wittenberg the January 15 - 18 meet- Kent State. Olaf will share faculty in 1984. He serves the Section as ings in Baltimore can confirm that winter the details of the program with the mem- the Ohio Coordinator of the American was in full force there as well. Neverthe- bers of CONTEAC at the spring meeting. Junior High School Mathematics Exam less, the meetings were very well attended and as co-editor of the Ohio Section and the sessions that I visited very inter- As most of you know our section has done newsletter.