AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES MAY 17-18, 2002 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN MINUTES A joint meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council (EC) and the Board of Trustees (BT) was held Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, 2002, at the Campus Inn Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The following members of the EC were present: Hyman Bass, Robert L. Bryant, Robert J. Daverman, David Eisenbud, David R. Morrison, Hugo Rossi, and Karen Vogtmann. The following members of the BT were present: Roy L. Adler, Hyman Bass, John B. Conway, John M. Franks, Eric M. Friedlander, Linda Keen, and B. A. Taylor. Carol S. Wood was unable to attend. Also present were: Gary G. Brownell (Deputy Executive Director), John H. Ewing (Executive Director), Ellen H. Heiser (Assistant to the Executive Director [and recording secretary]), Jane E. Kister (Executive Editor/Mathematical Reviews), James W. Maxwell (Associate Executive Director/Meetings and Professional Services), Donald E. McClure (Associate Treasurer Designate), Constance W. Pass (Chief Financial Officer), and Samuel M. Rankin (Associate Executive Director/Government Relations and Programs). Donald G. Babbitt (Publisher) was present for the Friday-afternoon session. President Bass, President Elect Eisenbud, and Board Chair Keen each presided over certain portions of the meeting. Items occur in numerical order, which is not necessarily the order in which they were discussed at the meeting. 0 CALL TO ORDER AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 0.1 Opening of the Meeting and Introductions. President Bass convened the meeting and everyone introduced themselves. 0.2 Housekeeping Matters. Executive Director Ewing informed the ECBT about several housekeeping matters related to the present meeting. American Mathematical Society May 2002 ECBT Minutes Page 2 1C EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CONSENT ITEMS 1C.1 Resolution for Martin Gardner. In late January 2002, the Executive Director (ED) was made aware of an informal gathering that is held every few years in early April to celebrate Martin Gardner and his work for mathematics. The ED contacted the Secretary, and they agreed that it would be appropriate for the AMS to formally recognize Gardner’s achievements over the years. The Secretary therefore asked the EC to approve the following resolution by email. Ronald Graham presented the resolution to Gardner on behalf of the AMS. The EC affirmed the action taken by email approving the following resolution: During more than half a century Martin Gardner has written books about mathematics, educating and enticing both amateurs and professionals with over 65 books and hundreds of articles. His monthly columns in Scientific American drew many professional mathematicians into their careers. His books have been read by thousands of mathematicians around the world. For all that he has done for mathematics and for mathematicians, the American Mathematical Society expresses its deep appreciation and sincere gratitude, and hereby awards Martin Gardner an honorary lifetime membership in the Society. 1I EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE INFORMATION ITEMS 1I.1 Secretariat Business by Mail. Att. #3. Minutes of Secretariat business by mail during the months October 2001 - April 2002 are attached (#3). 2 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES ACTION/DISCUSSION ITEMS 2.1 Report on Long Range Planning Committee. LRPC Chair Robert Bryant reported on the May 17, 2002, LRPC meeting as follows: • The LRPC had a preliminary discussion on focused planning (see item 2.2 below) and looked with favor on the focused planning documents and look forward to seeing the information that is generated as a result of this planning process. American Mathematical Society May 2002 ECBT Minutes Page 3 • The LRPC had a brief discussion (because of time limitations) of the concerns that have been expressed by Council members and others that Council members don’t feel deeply involved in the important decisions of the Society. The new type of discussion session (on the topic of the AMS role in graduate and postdoctoral mathematics education) that took place at the April 2002 Council meeting was also briefly discussed. The LRPC plans to discuss this topic again at its next meeting in November and hopes to make a definite proposal to the November 2002 ECBT. • The LRPC considered whether to look into the governance issue of how various (mostly ex officio) committees are formed and decided to do so at its next meeting. While the LRPC is considering ways to involve Council members more deeply in the important decisions of the Society, the ECBT asked that, as an experiment, the Secretary arrange for there to be a “featured” policy committee at the January 2003 Council meeting (i.e., an in- depth report from one policy committee and time for questions and discussion by Council members). 2.2 Focused Planning. Att. #1 and Att. #2. Strategic planning had been discussed (once again) at the May 2001 meetings of the Long Range Planning Committee and the ECBT. At that ECBT meeting, the Executive Director proposed engaging in a different kind of planning focused on specific parts of the Society's operations. The ED also proposed that staff would consider which areas were most important for planning and bring the list to the May 2002 ECBT. Att. #1 contains five “planning documents,” each describing the importance of one area as well as an outline of possible planning. Att. #2 contains last year's document discussing strategic planning. The ECBT reviewed the process that led to these planning documents and had an extended discussion about setting priorities for carrying out the planning over the coming years. In general, the ECBT was very pleased with the planning documents, although some members were of the opinion that the volunteers should have been more involved in this initial preparation. It was the consensus, however, that the first areas of focus should be membership and meetings. The ECBT requested that the focused planning documents be forwarded to the relevant policy committees. 2.3 Report on Committee on the Profession (CoProf). The ECBT was informed that CoProf held its most recent meeting in September 2001, and a report on that meeting was included in the November 2001 ECBT minutes. CoProf’s next meeting is scheduled for September 21, 2002 in Chicago. The 2001 Annual Report on CoProf activities has been filed with the Council and is also posted on the AMS website (http://www.ams.org/ams/cprof-home.html). American Mathematical Society May 2002 ECBT Minutes Page 4 2.4 Report on Mathematical Reviews Editorial Committee (MREC). The ECBT was informed that the MREC has not met since the last ECBT meeting. At this time, there is nothing new to report. The next meeting is scheduled for September 23, 2002. 2.5 Report on Committee on Publications (CPub). The ECBT was informed that CPub has not met since September 2001 and consequently there is little new to report. A subcommittee will review the electronic-only journals during the current year and report to the full Committee at its meeting on September 14, 2002. 2.6 Report on Committee on Meetings and Conferences (COMC). Att. #4. The ECBT received the attached report (#4) on the April 6, 2002 COMC meeting. 2.7 Report on Committee on Education (COE). The ECBT was informed that the next COE meeting will be held October 25-26, 2002, in Washington, DC and received the following report on some activities since the last COE meeting: • COE Chair Roger Howe, Herb Clemens and Judy Roitman -- as a result of their testimony on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2004 draft framework, presented by Clemens in public session to NAEP in September 2001 -- were invited to rewrite the introductions to the sections of the framework dealing with Number, Algebra, and Geometry (three of the five subject areas for NAEP). COE commented on the rewrites via email discussions. • COE sponsored an address at the January 2002 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego by Lee Stith, President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. • The Chair of COE, the President, and staff are currently discussing a grant-supported project to foster consultation between K-12 policy makers and the mathematical research community. 2.8 Report on Committee on Science Policy (CSP). Att. #26. The ECBT received the attached report (#26) on the April 26-27, 2002 CSP meeting. 2.9 Washington Office Report. Att. #5. The ECBT received the attached report (#5) on Washington office activities. American Mathematical Society May 2002 ECBT Minutes Page 5 2.10 Report on the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. The Executive Director reported that the next meeting of JPBM will take place on June 24, 2002. This meeting will be organized by the Mathematical Association of America (the previous meeting was organized by SIAM, and the AMS organized the one before that). Meetings now involve more than just discussion of Washington affairs and policy, including an exchange of information about current activities of all three member organizations and their future plans. 2.11 Report from the President. Att. #7. The ECBT received the attached report (#7) from President Bass. 2.12 2003 Journal Pages and Prices. The ECBT approved the following numbers of pages, and the BT approved the following prices, for 2003 journal subscriptions: # of pages list price Abstracts of Papers Presented to the AMS* 620* $112 Bulletin of the AMS 640 $357 Conformal Geometry and Dynamics 200 $25 (individual) Current Mathematical Publications* 3,794* $588 Electronic Research Announcements 200 free Journal of the AMS 1,000 $246 Mathematical Reviews* Issue pages 9,887* Annual index pages 5,088* Total MR pages 14,975* MR Products Paper $501 MR Sections $143 Data Access Fee $6,509 MathSciDisc $1,921 MathSciNet $1,921 MathSciNet & MathSciDisc $2,678 Mathematics of Computation 2,000 $411 Memoirs of the AMS 3,200 $555 Notices of the AMS 1,550 $382 Proceedings of the AMS 3,720 $909 Representation Theory 500 St.