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2009 Summary

The purpose of this summary is to provide an archive of the activities of all of the Special Interest Groups of the MAA (SIGMAAs) for 2009. The following information is based on reports received from 8 of the 12 SIGMAAs, with further information to be posted as it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Reported SIGMAA Activity during 2009:

Events and Activities

Contributed paper sessions and panel, invited speakers, min-courses annual business meetings and receptions, atudent awards, joint events with other organizations.

Operations

Most SIGMAAs conduct their business via email or their listserv.

Significant Events

BIG:

  • quarterly e-newsletter

HOM:

  • JMM performance of Lewis Carroll in Numberland by Robin Wilson and friends.

MCST:

Math Fest 2009: SIGMAA MCST organized a Special Session on Math Circles

  • Demonstration Class for 31 middle school students by James Tanton: “Dots and Boxes”

  • Demonstration Activity for 31 middle school students by Phil Yasskin: “Map Coloring”

POM/HOM:

  • Joint POM/HOM JMM invited talk; Chandler Davis (University of Toronto) "The Role of the Untrue in Mathematics".

RUME:

  • Twelfth Annual Research Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education was held in San Diego, California in February 26, - March 1, 2009 and attracted 156 attendees.

  • The SIGMAA on RUME leadership made progress working with the MAA to develop a Collegiate Mathematics Education Research Journal (CMERJ).

Ideas to Share

HOM:

  • Our combined business meeting / social gathering (with food and cash bar) / guest lecture at the JMM is working very well. We recommend this format to other SIGMAAs with the caveat to be sure the business meeting and guest lecture are listed separately in the program, e.g. at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. This is so that those who wish to hear the lecture only don’t show up an hour early and so that the SIG doesn’t run out of food because those who showed up an hour early have nothing else to do but eat it! We would appreciate having the speaker, title, and starting time for the guest lecture listed in the JMM Program.

QL:

  • We continued to find the informal lunch gatherings to be a very effective way of connecting with SIGMAA-QL members at conferences.

Suggestions/Issue Bin

BIG:

  • (1) We need to be able to provide instructions to prospective new members of BIG SIGMAA on how to join the SIGMAA mid-year. We want to give them clear click-by-click instructions on how to join. It isn’t clear to us from the MAA web site.

  • (2) The BIG SIGMAA website is out of date, is hosted on an inaccessible server, and competes with our newsletter. We would like to replace it. Carla agreed to serve as a webmaster, possibly using her home institution as a server location, or looking into the MAA hosting it when that becomes available.

  • (3) Reception costs continue to be expensive.

  • (4) Making BIG SIGMAA a useful resource for those mathematicians in BIG and interested in BIG is an ongoing priority for BIG SIGMAA, and suggestions from the EC and the BIG SIGMAA membership are always welcome. Recruiting members may be possible with the help of MAA sectional conference organizers, and possibly Project NExT members (Phil and Carla may be able to pursue this).

BIO:

  • We became aware that some members that opt for multiple-year renewals with the MAA do not receive a separate notice to renew SIGMAA memberships, which may impact our membership numbers, and consequently our budget.

RUME:

  • Participation in electronic voting is low. Attendance at our annual meeting is high, but MAA membership is low. Can we have an affiliate MAA membership for SIGMAAs that is lower than the full MAA membership? Maybe without journals?

Stat-Ed:

  • There were problems with MAA taking over the mailing list. There were a number of people who were known members who were excluded from the list. A notice should have been sent to all these people to at least advise them of this action.

Dummy View - NOT TO BE DELETED