To: All Missouri Mathematicians

From: Ilene Morgan, Chair of the MAA Missouri Section

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Missouri-Rolla is looking forward to hosting the Spring Meeting of the Missouri Section of the Mathematical Association of America on April 6 and 7, 2001. We encourage you and your students to submit abstracts for contributed papers for the meeting.

The Sixth Annual Missouri MAA Collegiate Mathematics Competition will be held on Thursday evening, April 5^th, and Friday morning, April 6^th. Complete details appear later in this newsletter and on the Section web page.

I have received unofficial confirmation from Joe Gallian of the University of Minnesota-Duluth that he will be our Polya lecturer. David Stone of Georgia Southern University, Chair of the Committee on Sections, will be our featured MAA speaker. Ed Spitznagel of Washington University in St. Louis, as the recipient of the 2000 Missouri Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, will be our banquet speaker. There are several other potential events that are still in the works and cannot be announced yet; watch the web page for new information as it arises.

The Spring Meeting is held at various locations around the state. As part of its long-range planning, the Executive Committee is entertaining invitations for future meetings in 2003 and thereafter. The meeting sites for the past several years and the next three years are listed below for your convenience. If your campus would be willing to host a Spring Meeting, please contact Curtis Cooper, Chair.

1984 Southeast Missouri State University 1995 Central Missouri State University

1985 Central Missouri State University 1996 Southeast Missouri State University

1986 Southwest Missouri State University 1997 Missouri Western State College

1987 Truman State University 1998 Southwest Missouri State University

1988 Washington University 1999 Rockhurst College

1989 University. of Missouri-Columbia 2000 Central Missouri State University

1990 College of the Ozarks 2001 U. of Missouri-Rolla

1991 University of Missouri-Rolla 2002 Truman State University

1992 Northwest Missouri State University 2003 Washington University

1993 Westminster College 2004 Southeast Missouri State University

1994 Missouri Southern State College 2005 Missouri Western State College

You are invited to present a paper at the Spring Meeting. Papers are to be between 15 and 20 minutes in length and may be on research topics or expository in nature and may deal with any topic in mathematics or mathematics education. For example, papers may pertain to your current mathematical scholarly activity, new courses that you have developed, or successful techniques you have found useful in teaching. You may opt to design a presentation directed to the undergraduate and graduate students attending the meeting.

Also, faculty are urged to assist honors students in presenting papers at the meeting. MAA student memberships will be awarded as prizes for the top student papers.

Abstract forms are available on the web at http://momaa.math.umr.edu/forms/abstract.html. Abstracts should be submitted using one of the following two methods: Mail to:

Ilene Morgan

or e-mail to imorgan@umr.edu.

Please include all of the information requested on the abstract form: presenter’s name, title, affiliation, contact information, title of paper, abstract, AMS subject classification, and special accommodations needed (overhead projector, computer, etc.). Also please indicate if the speaker is a student and if the paper is directed toward a student audience. Deadline for receipt of abstracts is February 1, 2001.

The sixth Missouri MAA Collegiate Mathematics Competition will be held Thursday, April 5, 2001 and Friday, April 6, 2001 on the campus of the University of Missouri-Rolla in Rolla, Missouri. Any college or university in the state of Missouri can send up to two official teams of 1-3 undergraduates each to compete in the competition. Unofficial teams will be allowed to compete, depending on the amount of available space, but will not be eligible for awards. They will also be charged the normal registration fee. A one-person team will only be allowed in the competition if this person is his or her college's only representative in the competition. A completed registration form for each team must be sent one week before the competition begins. Late registration will be accepted only if there is room for the team in the competition. The registration form can be found on the MAA Missouri Section web page at http://momaa.math.umr.edu/forms/contest_registration_form.html.

No calculators or computers or reference material can be used during the competition. The contest will consist of challenging mathematical problems, comparable but not quite as difficult as the Putnam Exam. The Putnam Exam is a national exam sponsored by the MAA and given to outstanding college mathematics students. Previous Putnam Exams can be found in past October issues of the American Mathematical Monthly.

The first session will begin on Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 pm and last until 10 pm and will consist of 5 problems for each team to solve. The second session will begin on Friday, April 6 at 8:30 am and will end at 11 am. It will also contain an additional 5 problems. Each problem will be worth 10 points and will be scored by a committee of the MAA Missouri section. The committee consists of the following members: Mangho Ahuja (SEMSU), Jim Bruening (SEMSU), Hang Chen (CMSU), Curtis Cooper (CMSU), Joseph B. Dence (UMSL), Leon Hall (UMR), and Alvin Tinsley (CMSU). Some partial credit may be earned for substantially correct work toward a solution to the problem.

There will be a registration fee of $25 per team. A complementary continental breakfast will precede the Friday morning competition. Each team member and the faculty sponsor are invited to a Friday pizza party at 11:30 am. Each team member is also invited to be a guest at the MAA Missouri Section Banquet on Friday night. At that time, the results of the competition will be announced. A traveling trophy will be awarded to the first place team. In addition, each member of the first place team will receive a plaque. Certificates will also be given to each participant in the competition.

Any questions about the competition can be sent to

Curtis Cooper

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Central Missouri State University

Warrensburg, MO 64093-5045

(660) 543-8851

fax: (660) 543-8006

email: cnc8851@cmsu2.cmsu.edu

Nominations for the 2001 Missouri Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics are now being accepted. The award recognizes teachers of mathematics at the post-secondary level who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful.

The Section Selection Committee will review all nominations and determine which candidate, if any, best fulfills the guidelines given below. (If no nominated candidate is found to have outstanding qualifications, then the award will not be given.) The Missouri Section awardee will be honored at the Spring 2001 meeting of the Section and will be widely recognized and acknowledged within the Section.

The awardee will also be the official Section candidate for the pool of Section awardees from which the national recipients of the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics will be selected except that one of the national winners may be selected from another source. There will be at most three national awardees, each of whom will be honored at the national MAA meeting in January 2002 and receive a $1,000 check and a certificate.

Nominees must satisfy the following criteria:

• College or university teachers assigned at least half-time during the academic year to teaching a mathematical science in a public or private college or university (from two-year college teaching through teaching at the Ph.D. level) in the United States or Canada. Those on approved leave (sabbatical or other) during the academic year in which they are nominated qualify if they fulfilled the requirements in the previous year.
• At least five years teaching experience in a mathematical science.
• Membership in the Mathematical Association of America.

The nominees should

• be widely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching*
• have teaching effectiveness that can be documented
• have had influence in their teaching beyond their own institutions**
• foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics in their students.

*"teaching" is to be interpreted in its broadest sense, not necessarily limited to classroom teaching (it may include activities such as preparing students for mathematical competitions at the college level, for example, the Putnam Prize Competition or the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, or attracting students to become majors in a mathematical science or to become Ph.D. candidates).

**"influence beyond their own institution" can take many forms, including demonstrated lasting impact on alumni, influence on the profession through curricular revisions in college mathematics teaching with national impact, influential innovative books on the teaching of college mathematics, etc.

1. Nominations must be submitted on the "Nomination Form" found on the Missouri Section web page at http://momaa.math.umr.edu/forms/MAATeachAwardForm.pdf. Anyone may nominate an eligible candidate, but self-nomination is not permitted.
1. Please follow the instructions on the form precisely to assure uniformity in the selection process both at the Section and national levels. If a file on a Section awardee significantly exceeds the prescribed limits (as found at http://momaa.math.umr.edu/forms/teaching_award_guidelines.html), it will not be considered for a national award and will be returned to the Section.
1. Nominations for the Missouri Section Award should be sent to Robert Kennedy, Chair of the Selection Committee, at the address below so as to be received no later than December 1, 2000. Nominations for candidates who are not members of the Missouri Section should be sent to the Secretary of the nominee’s Section.

Ed Spitznagel received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago under the direction of Fields Medalist John Thompson. Thus Spitznagel was trained as a pure mathematician. But, very early on, he became involved with the applications of mathematics during a year-long leave spent at Litton Industries. When Spitznagel moved to Washington University, he was open to the notion of applying his talents in real-world venues and today his classroom teaching is enriched by his vast experience in areas such as: consultant at the Washington University Medical School, a member of the Quality Assurance Committee for Barnes Hospital, analysis of medical records for the Greater St. Louis Health Care Alliance, collaborator with Cancer Research Center in Columbia, Missouri, pharmacokinetic consulting (including statistical consulting on a protracted legal battle in the '90's between two of the largest drug companies in the country), and a myriad of other "data-mining" projects for the university

Edward Spitznagel is one of the most innovative and dedicated members of the mathematics department at Washington University. He has used his experience in the field as the basis for developing new curricular materials. Ed reconstructed an introductory probability and statistics course, writing a text for the course and introducing the use of SAS, with substantial amounts of real data, and thus turned a lightly subscribed course into one with enrollment of more than 200. More recently he has developed a "Calculus II with Statistics" course, replacing traditional topics with a significant amount of probability and statistics, all organized around a theme of pharmacokinetics. He also wrote computer software for use in a Differential Equations course, which students used across the college to solve problems in many different disciplines.

The impact of Ed's energy and vast experience is clear in the classroom. He has three times received the Teaching Award from the Council of Students of Arts and Sciences. He received the Burlington Northern Achievement in Teaching Award and one of the four annual Washington University Founder's Day Awards to recognize distinguished teaching, research and service to the University. Professor Spitznagel exemplifies the faculty member, who through his own passion for the subject, motivates students to study mathematics beyond what may be a general requirement. His courses receive outstanding recommendations from other students. His lectures are lively and packed with real-world applications, as well as interspersed with gentle and engaging humor.

The Business Meeting of the Missouri Section was held in the WC Morris Science Auditorium on the campus of Central Missouri State University. Chair Curtis Cooper called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m.

1. Susan Callahan presented certificates to all students who presented papers at the Meeting.

2. The minutes of the 1999 Business Meeting were approved as published in the Fall Newsletter.

3. Curtis Cooper reported on two decisions made at the Executive Committee Meeting.

4. Al Tinsley reported that the Governors are considering decoupling journals from membership. An industry/government membership with lesser dues but no journals and a new magazine are being considered. Executive Director Tina Straley would like to take a year to study the effects before a final decision is made. Al reminded everyone that the UCLA Mathfest is August 3-5, and the AMS's Mathematical Challenges for the 21st Century is August 7-12. He also thanked the Section for allowing him to serve as Governor.

5. Susan Callahan distributed the Treasurer's Report. The balance as of April 1, 2000, is $4,608.27. She also read letters thanking the Section for last year's donations to the James R.C. Leitzel Lecture Fund and IMO 2001 USA.

6. Jim Bruening encouraged people to receive the Newsletter via the web page because it reduces expenses. He thanked those who sent news from the campuses for the fall edition.

7. Mark Sand would like to hear what schools are doing for Math Awareness Week.

8. Rhonda McKee reported that there were five requests for high school lectures, and five lectures were given. She distributed information through the high school contest mailing and the MCTM. A web page for the High School Lecturers program was set up a couple of years ago.

9. Shing So distributed the report of the 2000 American High School Mathematics Examinations. The change of format to two exams and the fact that many students receive the same score necessitates a rethinking of the cash prizes. A motion to award a maximum of $400 in prizes, specifics to be worked out by Shing So, was approved.

10. Robert Roe, Junior High School Contest Coordinator, was not present.

11. Jerry Wilkerson noted that there is a list of summer workshops in the spring Newsletter and asked everyone to encourage people to attend. He is resigning as Public Information Officer after one more year. The Section expressed its appreciation to Jerry for his many years of service in this office.

12. Curtis Cooper said a new Web Page Administrator will be assuming responsibility for the web site. He has been happy to maintain it for the past few years. There have been some problems getting onto the site due to a hard drive crash, CMSU network problems, etc.

13. Curtis Cooper reported that 26 teams entered the Collegiate Mathematics Competition. A total of 72 students, 18 team advisors, and 8 committee members participated in competition activities. The winner was University of Missouri-Columbia Team A. Washington University Team A placed second, and the University of Missouri-Rolla placed third.

14. Edward Spitznagel of Washington University is the winner of the 2000 Missouri Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

15. The Nominating Committee consisted of Shirley Huffman, chair, Harold Hager and Lanny Morley. The nominees for Governor were Vic Gummersheimer and Ken Lee. Vic was elected in a mail ballot conducted by MAA Headquarters. The following officers were nominated by the Committee and elected by the Section:

16. Seven members and three students participated in the 5K Run/Walk. Due to hotel locations, some ran in Warrensburg and some ran in Higginsville. Prize winners were determined by a drawing. First prizes of one year of membership went to Harold Hager (member) and Ruth Potter (student). Second prizes of up to $15 toward an MAA book went to Mark Sand (member) and Lisa Bangerter (student).

17. Ilene Morgan said she looked forward to serving as Chair for the next year. UMR is looking forward to hosting the meeting next April.

18. Six items were discussed under Old/New Business.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Callahan

Secretary-Treasurer

The Board of Governors met on August 2 during Mathfest 2000 on the UCLA campus. I will highlight just a few of the items on the agenda of this meeting that ran from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Bruce Palka of the University of Texas - Austin was elected Editor-Elect of The American Mathematical Monthly for the year 2001 and will serve as Editor in 2002 through 2006.

Laura Chihara, Michael Monticino, and James Tanton were elected to the editorial board of Math Horizons.

The next joint meetings will be held in New Orleans (start January 9, 2001), San Diego (start January 5, 2002), and Baltimore (start January 14, 2003). Locations for other future meetings were discussed but no action was taken.

President Banchoff will appoint a Task Force on National Elections to study the timing and the manner in which we conduct elections to encourage more participation and reduce costs.

The USA team did exceedingly well at the 2000 International Mathematical Olympiad held in Taejon, South Korea on July 19 and 20, 2000. The top 12 teams and their scores out of a possible 252 points were: China (218), Russia (215), USA (184), South Korea (172), Bulgaria (169), Vietnam(169), Belarus (165), Taiwan (164), Hungary (156), Iran (155), Israel (139), Romania (139). This year's USA participation was a great success. The United States of America will host the 42nd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in the year 2001. The IMO was last held in the USA in 1981. The Olympiad will be held in Washington, DC, with opening ceremonies on July 4, 2001

Treasurer Gerald Porter reported on the 1999 Financial Year. He indicated that dues income increased by 3%, contributions decreased by about $32,000, journal income (other than dues) increased by $85,000, and meeting income increased significantly in large part because of the success of the Providence Mathfest meeting. The approved budget for 2000 is in place and projections indicate that the organization is doing well thus far in the 2000 Financial Year. The proposed budget for 2001 was discussed. Some significant new items include increased income from targeted giving campaigns and increased expenditures for association management software that is centered on a relational data base to comprehensively manage MAA information of all kinds.

Executive Director Tina Straley reported that the MAA has three critical issues to address: clarifying our mission for the next decade, increasing and diversifying revenues, and increasing the staff so as to be able to provide more programs, products, and services. New initiatives include negotiations with a consultant who matches donors to nonprofit organizations, a project involving the American Mathematical Archives, and the NSF funding for MathDL (an online resource and a directory of all materials, hard copy and electronic, in undergraduate mathematics). The NSF has funded a program of grant-writing workshops to be offered to Sections as mini-courses or workshops at Section Meetings.

Executive Director Straley also indicated that the MAA is leading a national study, under the direction of CUPM, to write recommendations on the undergraduate program in mathematical sciences for 2010. The MAA's number one operational priority is the conversion to an Association Management Software package that will give us a relational database system, transactions via the web, improved web communication and services, and better access to an improved membership database.

Associate Executive Director Donald Albers of the Publications and Electronic Services Department reported that 2000 is off to a great start.

• MAA Publications are strong; sales are up 15% over last year at this time.
• Bill Dunham's Euler: Master of Us All sold 3000 copies in 1999 and 1,300 copies in the first quarter of 2000.
• The MAA is broadening ties with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
• Two past presidents of the MAA become series editors; Ken Ross will edit the Carus series and Jerry Alexanderson the Spectrum series.
• The first book in the new series The MAA Problem Books is Olympiad Problems and Solutions by Andreescu and Feng.
• The Monthly, one of thirteen mathematics journals on JSTOR, continues to account for a full 1/3 of all mathematics articles viewed.
• FOCUS has a new look and improved content.
• MAA Online had almost a quarter million hits in March.
• In MAA Online Read This contains reviews of 120 books.

Director James Gandorf’s Report of the Membership Department showed that as of June 1, 2000, the MAA's Paid Membership is 19,577, 4.27% higher than last year. The total membership is 24,047, 7.5% higher than last year at the same time. The overall retention rate for paid members is up to 82%. The MAA staff is working on the Decoupling Plan to breakout fees for membership and journals.

The task force chaired by John Fulton to review the 1993 Guidelines for Programs and Departments in the Mathematical Sciences submitted its report. The Board of Governors accepted the new Guidelines for Programs and Departments in Undergraduate Mathematical Sciences. The Guidelines are to be used by mathematical science programs in self-studies, planning, and assessment of their undergraduate programs, as well as by college and university administrators and external reviewers. Mathematical sciences programs and their administrations can use the recommendations included in these Guidelines as a basis for allocating resources and planning. It is the joint responsibility of institutional administrations and mathematical sciences programs to provide and use properly the resources necessary to meet these Guidelines. The full text of the Guidelines is available on MAA Online.

We have a new hire, Dr. Suzanne Tourville, PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, and she previously taught for three years at Carnegie Mellon. We are starting a math degree to begin next fall.

Retirement: Mrs. Mary Elick retired after 26 years of service to the college. She was the faculty sponsor for KME and for many years she was a member of the KME board of directors (Historian).

New People: Dr. Richard Laird, PhD from Kansas State, was hired as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. He was at Emporia State University (Kansas) before coming to MSSC.

1. Dr. Linda Hand, Associate Professor of Mathematics, was selected the College's Outstanding Teacher of the 1999-2000 school year.

2. A reception for math majors is scheduled for the end of October.

3. Meetings of the Math Club are scheduled for the third Thursday of every month at noon. In addition to the business meeting there is a presentation and PIZZA.

Dr. Jawad Sadek was promoted to Associate Professor. Ms. Elaine Nichols was hired as an instructor. Dr. Terry King is now Director of Academic Programs for the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing.

Dr. Mangho Ahuja came to Southeast in 1968. He earned an A.M. degree from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. (Functional Analysis) from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He loves to travel and meet people from different countries.

Dr. William Ettling came to Southeast in 1969. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Columbia under the guidance of the famous Geometer Professor Blumenthal. Bill has continued in the Blumenthal tradition by describing the beauty of geometry to his students. Bill’s interests go beyond geometry. He is a master craftsman in woodworking. Also, he restores antique cars to shining works of art.

Dr. Wendell Wyatt joined Southeast as an Instructor in the University Schools in 1965, taught high school mathematics, and mentored over 60 student teachers during his 20 years in the school. In 1983-84, he served as Principal of the Elementary and High School. He received his Masters from Arkansas State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1985 when he joined the Mathematics Department. In 1999 he received the prestigious Leroy Sachs service award from the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Wendell plans to teach for a few more years at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Dr. James Bruening was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor beginning in Fall 2000.

Dr. Paul Deiermann: B.A. University of Missouri-St. Louis, Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis. He has taught at Louisiana State University-Shreveport and Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO. He will be teaching analysis, discrete mathematics, and differential equations.

Dr. David Richter: B.A. St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, Ph.D. University of Minnesota. He comes from Montreal, Canada, where he taught at McGill University for two years. He will be teaching a variety of courses including advanced geometry.

Stuart Swope: B.S. University of South Florida, M.A. Florida State University

Dr. Cheryl Wallgren is on medical leave during the Fall 2000 semester. Dr. Tom Wallgren of the Computer Science Department is teaching her courses. His B.A. is from Southeast and his M.A. and Ph.D. are from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Avelina Lichtenegger: B.A. and M.A. Immaculate Conception College and the University of San Carlos in the Philippines, M.A.T. Southeast Missouri State University

Sharon Schwarz: B.S. University of Illinois-Chicago Circle, M.A.T. from Southeast Missouri State University

Tenure-track assistant professorship beginning August 2001. Duties: teaching primarily mathematics content courses for elementary and middle education majors or secondary methods course, scholarly/professional activity, curriculum development, and in-service workshops. Complete details are available at http://www5.semo.edu/math

The Mathematics Department will sponsor three mathematics contests in the spring.

Math Field Day, April 24, 2001, jbruening@semovm.semo.edu

Elementary Contest, March 31, 2001, croberts@semovm.semo.edu

Great Plains-MCTM, Feb. 24, 2001. trandolph@semovm.semo.edu

(Submitted by Vic Gummersheimer)

(Submitted by Leon Hall.)