Minutes of the Kansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America

May 3, 2008

The ninety-third meeting of the Kansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America was held on the campus of Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, on May 3, 2008. The keynote speaker was Professor Steven Brams of New York University.

Professor Kirk Lancaster of WSU called the business meeting to order at 3:15 pm. The minutes were distributed and approved. The financial report was distributed and approved.

Andy Bennett, the section governor, gave his report. He said that the financial situation of the national MAA is stable, but there is some concern that the number of dues-paying members has decreased. This may be because the dues have increased recently. The dues next year will be the same as the dues this year. They are considering a dues structure for electronic-only journals. There was the largest Mathfest ever at San Jose last summer. This year it will be at Madison, Wisconsin. Project NExT is successful. MAA is working on something similar for community colleges. There is a new documentary out about the Math Olympiad called “Hard Problems”. There is some concern about the size of our section. We also do not submit nominations for the teaching award. We may consider holding a joint meeting with the Missouri section in Kansas City to explore the possibility of a merger.

Kirk Lancaster talked about some of the things that our section might consider doing. He reported on a meeting of the executive committee that took place in Emporia. One of the things that was discussed was the idea of having an awards committee to come up with nominations for awards. We talked about the idea of having a newsletter, having a joint meeting with Missouri, and to do something connected with undergraduate research. One of the biggest problems is institutional memory.

Lancaster proposed the creation of a new officer. The proposal is that we have a chair-elect-elect (or a chair in waiting?). There was a discussion about changing the by-laws to do this, but, in the meantime, we will informally agree to have a chair-elect-elect. It was also suggested that we consider splitting the secretary-treasurer position into two positions.

It was moved and passed that Cynthia Woodburn of Pittsburg State will be the chair-elect and that Jennifer Wagner of Washburn will be a nomination for chair-elect next year.

It was moved and passed that the student presenters be given $50 awards. It was also moved that the officers will be authorized to give awards at next year’s meeting totaling not more than $300 without having to wait for the vote at the business meeting. This motion was tabled while there was discussion of the possibility of having an awards committee. This awards committee would be in charge of soliciting and judging nominations for awards, including the student paper awards. There was discussion as to whether it would be better to separate the responsibilities of faculty awards from the responsibilities of judging the student papers.

The section requested the Chris Earles appoint an ad hoc committee to work on getting nominations for the teaching awards and to investigate the mechanism for giving awards for student papers. There was a vote to approve this request.

It was suggested that, in the meantime, Chris and Cynthia identify the judges for next year’s meeting at Pittsburg.

It was pointed out that, in years past, we have recognized people who have participated in the Putnam exam. It was moved that all students from Kansas who place in the top 500 be offered a one year membership in the MAA.

It was moved that we form a committee to look at the by-laws and investigate the possibility of creating a chair-elect-elect position and to split the secretary-treasurer position. There was discussion of the possibility of having a chair and a site coordinator. The chair would not necessarily be at the institution where the meeting was held. The motion passed.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted

Joe Yanik

Secretary/Treasurer