Volume 34 Number 3 August 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE President’s Message 2 AMATYC Opportunity: Professional Development 3 AMATYC Elections 3 Student Leagues 4 NEWS Conference News 5, 7 ISSN: 0889-3845 Meet John Urschel 6 StatPREP 6 Grants 8 Committee and Traveling Workshop News 8-11 New Webinar Coordinator 10 th 45 AMATYC Annual Conference — Calendar of Events 11 Highlights of the Spring Board Meeting 11 A Great Adventure in Milwaukee Focus on Affi liates: TexMATYC 12 by Turi Suski, Milwaukee Local Events Coordinator ocated on the scenic shore of Lake Michigan, Mil- L waukee offers an exceptional blend of stunning natu- ral beauty, big city arts and entertainment, and Midwest charm. Built at the confluence of three rivers, Milwaukee is a place where people come together. Milwaukee by Rita Ralph, Liaison cherishes its varied history and diversity, and the “City of Festivals” celebrates all cultures and welcomes everyone. u Alpha Theta is a national mathematics With its many attractions, warm hospitality, and afford- Mhonor society for high school and two-year ability, you’ll have a great time in Milwaukee. colleges. Benefits of Mu Alpha Theta include recogni- Located downtown, the Wisconsin Center is a wonderful convention center with beautiful tion for your talented math students, honor cords architecture and its own collection of commissioned and integrated art. Connected to both for graduation ceremonies, scholarships, grants, conference hotels by convenient skywalks, the Wisconsin Center’s straightforward layout will awards, free competitions, and an annual national make it easy to find your sessions. It’s an excellent space in which to learn, be inspired, and convention. Since November 2018, the following two- make new connections. The unique Wisconsin Center’s Palm Garden will host our Profes- year colleges have chartered new Mu Alpha Theta sional Networking and Hospitality Area. Come relax chapters: Southwest Tennessee CC (TN), Kilgore between sessions with AMATYC friends old and new. College (TX), El Paso CC (TX), Florida State College And when you’re ready to head out on the town, Mil- in Jacksonville (FL), Pearl River CC (MS), Saint Paul waukee offers so many options. College (MN), and Austin CC (TX). Welcome! The charming Milwaukee RiverWalk is just From January to April, Mu Alpha Theta received blocks from the Wisconsin Center. Take a stroll five applications for four two-year scholarships of through this picturesque area before choosing one $4,000 each. The recipients were: of its many restaurants. Be sure to get a group Ali Akbarian, Prince George’s CC (Largo, MD) picture at the Bronze Fonz, and then find the Harmoni L. Ashley, Copiah Lincoln CC (Wesson, statues of Gertie the Duck and her ducklings and MS), learn about their story of hope during World War Shelby R. King, Tarrant County College — North- Aerial Skyline of Milwaukee/Photo courtesy of east Campus (Hurst, TX) II. Stroll along the RiverWalk to the Historic Third Visit Milwaukee and JMKE Photography Ward neighborhood. This six-square block, con- Brittany N. White, Tarrant County College (Hurst, verted warehouse district contains the city’s highest concentration of art galleries, as well as TX). many theaters, specialty stores, restaurants and nightlife, and is anchored by foodie paradise Additionally, Elizabeth Sharrock, from Columbus Milwaukee Public Market. State CC (Columbus, OH), was awarded the presti- Milwaukee has many walk-around, character-filled neighborhoods. The city’s German her- gious Andree Award. Eliza- itage is celebrated along cobblestoned Old World Third Street. The emerging Walker’s Point beth is pictured with Greg area is nationally acclaimed for its locally made cheese, chocolate, ice cream, coffee, and craft Goodhart, Columbus State beers. In the East Side neighborhood, old school meets new school; this creative, trend-set- Mathematics Department ting area is must for ardent foodies. Riverwest is Chair. The Andree Award, a diverse, artsy, and eclectic community that will named in honor of Mu make you feel like a local. For more information Alpha Theta founders Rich- about all of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, explore ard and Josephine Andree, www.visitmilwaukee.org/amatyc2019. is awarded to deserving Take some time to enjoy a few of Milwau- students interested in be- kee’s many attractions. The one-of-a-kind Harley- coming mathematics teach- Davison Museum includes an Experience Gallery ers. One high school senior with motorcycles you can sit on, touch, and ad- member and one former or mire up close. The Discovery World Science and current member now in college are selected for this Milwaukee Art Museum/Photo courtesy of Technology Museum sparks curiosity and wonder award every year. Each Andree Award winner receives Visit Milwaukee Continued on page 5 $2,500 as a cash prize or college scholarship money. Continued on page 4 Opening Doors Through Mathematics President’s Message The Lesser-Known Pathway Jim Ham Delta College University Center, MI For more than a decade, mathemat- syllabi, some of the topics that appear in these resources include the ics departments, statewide college systems, following: Finance, Logic, Probability, Combinatorics, Statistics, Linear and other advocacy groups and organizations across the country Programming, Voting, Apportionment, Game Theory, Geometry, have been developing new mathematical pathways. Specifically, Mathematical Modeling, Mathematical Problem Solving, Mathematics statistics pathways and quantitative reasoning (QR)1 pathways have of Economics, History of Mathematics, Set Theory, Graph Theory, Al- been created as alternatives to the long-standing STEM or algebra-to- gebra, Number Theory, Measurement, Ratios and Proportions, Tilings calculus pathway. and Polyhedra, Planning and Scheduling, Coding Theory, Symmetry A mathematical pathway can be defined as the sequence of and Patterns. In our course, we give faculty some flexibility in the top- courses, including developmental mathematics courses, that most ics selected for inclusion in the course. efficiently leads to a student’s final college-level mathematics course, Nationally, work continues on mathematical pathways and the and also links appropriately to the student’s field of study. creation of new QR courses. In the recent Conference Board of the This article is about the QR pathway and the corresponding Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) survey, about 59% of two-year college college-level QR course students will take at the end of the pathway. I departments developed a QR pathway over the period from 2010- will start with a vignette. 2015 [2]. In some cases, entire state systems have developed, or are About 12 years ago, my college revised the general education developing, this new pathway [3]. However, there are still many two- outcomes and degree requirements for its transfer degrees. Part of year colleges that have neither a QR pathway nor a QR course. this review included an investigation of the mathematics course- AMATYC continues to offer support and professional develop- taking patterns of our students. Among other things, we found ment for colleagues interested in creating a QR course or developing that students were overwhelmingly ending their mathematical a QR pathway. The AMATYC Pathways Joint Subcommittee and the study with an algebra course (elementary, intermediate, or college AMATYC Mathematics for Liberal Arts ANet, free for all to join, offer algebra). In other words, a version of algebra-before-calculus forums for discussions, conference sessions and webinars related to was the preferred capstone mathematics class for most students, QR. AMATYC traveling workshops are available to assist departments regardless of major or program of study. This realization led the in developing the QR course or pathway. IMPACT Live!, the compan- mathematics department to create a new course, Mathematical ion website to AMATYC’s recent IMPACT publication, is collecting Explorations, to give students an alternative mathematics course resources relevant to pathways and QR courses.2 option more useful and relevant to their future educational and AMATYC, along with several other national organizations, career goals. advocates for the new QR pathway [4]. A new position statement on In the first few semesters, the enrollments were lean; a QR courses is being created and will, most likely, be considered for single section of the course typically had fewer than ten students. approval this fall [5].3 This position statement will give national sup- Eventually the course grew in enrollment. Today the college offers port to colleagues who are interested in making a case for a new QR about 20 sections per year to approximately 400 students. These course and/or pathway at their college. Components of the position sections are offered in two formats, a 4-credit version and an statement under consideration include the following: extended-hour, 6-credit alternative with corequisites included. • Every student should have access to a QR course and pathway. More recently, after additional curricular changes at the col- • QR courses, like other mathematics courses, should require a high lege, including the elimination of the traditional developmental level of student interaction and engagement and enhance the math course sequence and a revision of prerequisites and initial quantitative reasoning skills of students. placement criteria, mathematics students, particularly those • While specific topics of the course may vary, problem solving and who would have been