Special Interest Groups of the MAA

Annual Report Form - Special Interest Groups of the MAA

Summary of Reports from the SIGMAAs

for Calendar Year 2003

---

The purpose of the Annual Report is to collect information about the operation and activities of all the SIGMAAs (Special Interest Groups of the MAA) in an effort to establish a record for archival purposes.  This information will be maintained by the MAA Department of Programs and Services and shared, in a variety of forms, with the SIGMAAs, with various MAA administrative units, and with the MAA general membership.  This effort will enable the Department of Programs and Services, along with the MAA Committee on SIGMAAs, to better serve the needs of SIGMAAs and their members as well as provide SIGMAAs an opportunity to share best practices, new ideas, and concerns.

The report form was sent to a representative of each SIGMAA Executive Committee as an electronic template to be completed and submitted to the MAA Director of Programs and Services by March 1, 2004.  Of the eight SIGMAAs approved as of the distribution of this form, six were considered “established” while the remaining two, WEB SIGMAA and SIGMAA QL, were considered “new” with minimal activity for 2003.  The new SIGMAAs were not required to file the form for 2003. 

---

REPORT SUBMISSION FROM SIGMAAs:

Reports were received from five of the six established SIGMAAs and also from one of the new SIGMAAs, WEB SIGMAA, which reported its limited SIGMAA activity during 2003.  Of the six reports filed, five used the electronic template and one provided a condensed written report.  The reports were submitted by the following SIGMAA officers:

BIG SIGMAA:             Michael Monticino, Chair

SIGMAA EM:             Ben Fusaro, Coordinator

HOM SIGMAA:          Amy Shell-Gellasch, Secretary/Treasurer

POM SIGMAA:          Joe Auslander, Secretary

SIGMAA RUME:        Eric Hsu, Secretary

WEB SIGMAA:           Kirby A. Baker, Chair

 

Reported SIGMAA Activity during 2003:

EVENTS AT NATIONAL MEETINGS:

(Please provide a list and brief description of activities sponsored by or associated with your SIGMAA at the Winter Mathematics Meetings held in January 2003 or at Math Fest held in August 2003.  If activities were jointly sponsored or supported by another group (e.g., an MAA committee), please note.  Please attach a copy of minutes of your annual business meeting, if available.)

 

BIG SIGMAA: 

• Hosted annual reception for BIG mathematicians at 2003 Winter Meetings.
• Held contributed paper session on applications of mathematics in business, industry and government at 2003 Winter Meetings.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• Hosted a Reception and Talk by William Rundell,  NSF Math Sciences Director at 2003 Winter Meetings
• At MathFest 2003:
• Sponsored an Environmental Walking Tour
• Held Invited Paper Session – Modeling the Environment (Joint with MAA Committee on the Environment)
• Held a Round Table Discussion – Conversations on the Environment, preceded by two presentations (Joint with MAA Committee on the Environment)

 

HOM SIGMAA:

• Held Annual Business meeting and sponsored a preliminary viewing of Vickie Hill’s documentary on Carathéodory at 2003 Winter Meetings

 

POM SIGMAA:

• Held a contributed paper session followed by a Business Meeting at the 2003 Winter Meetings
• Held a directed discussion – What is Mathematics? at MathFest 2003

SIGMAA RUME:

• At  the 2003 Winter Meetings:
• Held two contributed paper sessions
• Held a Business Meeting, which included a special address by Professor Rina Zazkis of Simon Fraser University

• Held a contributed paper session at MathFest 2003

 

WEB  SIGMAA:

• Held an organizing session, prior to SIGMAA approval at 2003 Winter Meetings

 

EVENTS AT SECTION MEETINGS:

(Please describe any known involvement of your SIGMAA at meetings of Sections of the MAA during 2003.  If none, please indicate.)

 

POM SIGMAA: 

• Held a directed discussion "New Directions in the Philosophy of  Mathematics" at the Fall 2003 New Jersey Section meeting

 

 

SIGMAA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE/BOARD ACTIVITY/MEETINGS:

(Please indicate the process by which your SIGMAA officers met and/or did business, including frequency success of your process.)

 

BIG SIGMAA:

• Officers hold discussion frequently, primarily through e-mail.
• Annual Executive Committee meeting held at Winter Meetings

 

SIGMAA EM:

• Several Council members met at MathFest 2003 to plan future activities. (First “official” Council meeting was held at January 2004 Winter Meetings)

HOM SIGMAA:

• Executive Board business is conducted via email.
• The Executive Board meets as a group at the Winter Meetings prior to the annual meeting of the SIGMAA.

 

SIGMAA RUME:

• Executive Committee meets at Winter Meetings and at the RUME annual research conference (in October of 2003).
• The Executive Committee conducts the bulk of its business by e-mail

WEB SIGMAA:

• The Executive Committee meets via e-mail to discuss issues and do business.

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:

(Please describe your SIGMAA’s nomination/election process for selecting officers during 2003.  Include dates and an estimate of the level of participation by SIGMAA members.)

 

BIG SIGMAA:

• Nomination committee was formed and approved by the EC in October 2003, and nominations were solicited from (paid) membership via e-mail for all officer positions.  (Roughly half – 243 of 566 –  of the paid BIG SIGMAA members provided e-mail addresses to the MAA and about 30 of those were invalid.)
• Two nominations were received and accepted – both for the position of Vice Chair for Services.  An e-mail ballot for the position of VC for Services was sent to members in December 2003.  A total 24 members voted (meeting charter quorum requirements), and a new VC of Services was elected.
• The EC hopes that the new BIG list serve will promote stronger member participation.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• No election was held in 2003 because the SIGMAA was not yet well organized.

HOM SIGMAA:

• No election of officers took place in 2003.
• The first official board was elected in 2002 to start terms in 2003.  The next election will take place in the fall of 2004 for three board positions to start in 2005.
• A three-member nominating committee, composed of one former or non-running out-going board member, one continuing member of the committee, and one new member, selects a slate to be presented to the membership.  The new member of the nominating committee is selected by the chair.

 

SIGMAA RUME:

• The Executive Committee appoints a Nominating Committee of three members, designating one as Chair. No more than one member of the Executive Committee may serve on the Nominating Committee.
• The Executive Committee notifies the membership regarding the composition of the Nominating Committee at least two months prior to the meeting at which elections are to be held and requests suggestions for nominations be sent to the Chair of the Nominating Committee.
• The Nominating Committee proposes and publicizes a slate of more than one officer per position, if possible, at least one month before the January business meeting at which the election is to occur. Additional nominations may be made from the floor at that annual meeting.
• Voting for all officers is by secret ballot at the appropriate January business meeting, provided a quorum is present. If there is only one nominee for a given office, that person is deemed elected. For all other offices, the person receiving the most votes is elected. If a quorum is not present, current officers serve until the next business meeting at which there is a quorum and an election can be held.
• The last election was held in January 2004 when approximately 41 attendees were present. (Required quorum is 25 members including 2 officers.)
• The possibility of an electronic vote has been discussed, but a satisfactory plan has not yet been worked out.

 

WEB SIGMAA:

• No election was held since, during the first year, officers were automatically those named in the SIGMAA charter.

 

ELECTRONIC SIGMAA SERVICES:

(Please describe electronic services, such as e-mailing to the SIGMAA membership, web page development, list serve activity, electronic newsletter, etc.  Comment on the success of such activities or problems encountered.)

 

BIG SIGMAA:

• Periodic informational e-mail messages are sent to membership by Chair and VC for Services.
• A list service was implemented in February 2004 and promises to be a great success.
• A website exists and the new VC for Services has begun updating the site.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• Currently only the Coordinator and Associate Coordinator may send e-mail to the SIGMAA membership or approve the sending of e-mail to the membership.
• The e-list has proven valuable when for announcing and publicizing SIGMAA activities through the MAA Headquarters Office.
• A web page, formally operated jointly with the Committee on the Environment, now belongs only to the Committee.  The SIGMAA is working to have its own web page up prior to MathFest 2004.

 

HOM SIGMAA:

• The SIGMAA listserve is used to communicate information and inquiries to, from and among the membership and the Executive Board.
• The SIGMAA web page provides a rich source of information for members or prospective members

SIGMAA RUME:

• The SIGMAA mailing list has approximately 800 subscribers. On the whole, the mailing list is productive.  A change from use of the MAA’s ListServ service to Mailman software was made in summer of 2003 in order to rectify accidental e-mail address problems that caused discontent among many users.  The new list, which is moderated, is under control of the SIGMAA.

• From its inception in 2001, the SIGMAA RUME Website committee has provided a number of services on the web that the membership has found useful in their own work and in educating their peers and supervisors about the enterprise of RUME. The SIGMAA has decided to host the site elsewhere and have an MAA On Line link redirect to it in order to allow timely posting of RUME-related information by the SIGMAA itself.

WEB SIGMAA:

• E-mailings through the charter member lists to membership and others has worked well.
•  A list server and electronic newsletter are in the planning stages.

 

ACTIVITIES THAT BENEFIT SIGMAA MEMBERS AND THE BROADER COMMUNITY

(Additional category added to the Report Form by one SIGMAA)

SIGMAA RUME:

• The SIGMAA Publication Committee has initiated a project to publish an MAA Notes volume, Making the Connection: Research and Practice in Undergraduate Mathematics.
• The Publication Committee continues to assist the editors of the RCME Volumes as needed.
• The group undertook the production of Guidelines for Programs and Departments in Mathematical Sciences Concerning Mathematics Education and Specialists in Mathematics Education: The Undergraduate Program.

 

OTHER BENEFITS OF SIGMAA MEMBERSHIP PROVIDED:

(Please describe any services, other than electronic services, provided to your SIGMAA’s membership.  Examples might be hard copy mailings of welcome letters to new members, a mailed newsletter or journal, etc.)

HOM SIGMAA:

• Organize sessions at meetings.

SIGMAA RUME:

• The SIGMAA held its seventh Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education in October of 2003.

 

BUDGET/EXPENSE ISSUES:

(Please describe your SIGMAA’s experience during 2003 relative to preparation of a budget for the upcoming year (2004) and processing expenses for 2003.)

 

BIG SIGMAA:

• Budget has been relatively straightforward to prepare.  Primary expense is annual reception at winter meetings.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• Initially the group was naïve with respect to what to expect in terms of quantity/quality of the food relative to the cost receptions. Experience will enable better decisions in the future.

 

HOM SIGMAA:

• We had no concerns or issues.

 

SIGMAA RUME:

• The budget submission and review process for 2003-2004 proceeded smoothly.

• The SIGMAA has a somewhat complicated budget due to the fact that it has two revenue sources - membership dues and an externally funded grant. Thus, it is necessary to maintain both combined and separate accounts for these two funding sources. Overall, the group has found the MAA to be responsive to its budget needs and careful in their tracking while working toward making the reporting process more systematic and more flexible in understanding our varied spending needs.

 

WEB SIGMAA:

• Sample budgets provided by MAA leadership were adapted to our needs.  For 2003 there were no expenses.

 

SUMMARY FOR 2003:

SUCCESSFUL IDEAS TO SHARE:

(Please list several of the most successful activities (events, services, etc.) of your SIGMAA during 2003 that other SIGMAAs might adopt or emulate.)

 

BIG SIGMAA:

• The list serve has been a great way to help BIG members connect. 

• The contributed paper sessions at the winter meetings have been very well attended.  Attendees have been enthusiastic about the talks and have encouraged enlarging the session.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• The technical sessions went very well, and the campus Walking Tour at the Boulder MathFest was very popular.

 

SIGMAA RUME:

• The (normally) annual conference has been a very important and central activity for the SIGMAA membership.

• With the help of outside funding the group has been able to maintain a Mentoring mini-grant program for grouping experienced RUME researchers with people wishing to develop expertise in RUME research -- usually mathematicians or early career math educators.

• The SIGMAA’s Committee on Guidelines is engaged in a broad program of establishing expectations for specialists in mathematics education in math departments and recommendations for undergraduate and graduate programs that train such specialists. Having a written set of guidelines is proving useful for our members and their colleagues alike. Other SIGMAAs may find it useful to produce an analogous document.

 

 ISSUE BIN:

(Please list any issues that arose during 2003 that should be considered by the Department of Programs and Services and/or the Committee on SIGMAAs.  Thank you for your input.)

BIG SIGMAA:

• Find any ways to encourage members to provide valid e-mail addresses.

 

SIGMAA EM:

• Warn new SIGS about the danger of large quorums if they intend to carry out official business at MathFest.

 

HOM SIGMAA:

• The MAA periodically gave people of its choosing complimentary membership to the SIGMAA. We found that in some cases these people were not aware or interested in such a membership.  It made us look like we were soliciting them, since they did not know how they became members.
• How does a life time member join a SIGMAA?
• Can new information such as membership and financial be sent on a quarterly basis TO THE TREASURER? This information seems to only come out sporadically.

 

SIGMAA RUME:

• We are still working towards finding a good comfort level with the data management by MAA.  We are now getting quarterly reports on membership and budget, which is a good thing. However, there is hesitation to trust the accuracy of the list, in membership accounting, in member data (addresses, etc.) and in being up-to-date (we have been warned there is a lag of several months before a member is entered). We should continue to work towards a smooth relationship on this front.