Liaison Newsletter
April 2004
In this issue:

PMET 2004 WORKSHOP REGISTRATION STILL OPEN

The MAA's Preparing Mathematicians to Educate Teachers (PMET) project will offer eight workshops to help mathematics faculty become more informed about the mathematical issues that arise in school mathematics, and the special training that future teachers need to properly address those issues. While priority registration closed on April 9, there are still openings in some of the workshops, and we hope that you will alert your colleagues to this opportunity.

Participant's expenses for attending a PMET workshop, including lodging and meals (but not travel), are covered by the program. More details are available through the project website, http://www.maa.org/pmet.

PREP 2004

The MAA's PRofessional Enhancement Program (PREP) has scheduled a range of exciting workshops for this summer, from "Geometric Combinatorics" to "Mathematics meets Biology." Registration deadlines are approaching, so don't delay.
 
Participant's expenses for attending a PREP workshop, including lodging and meals (but not travel), are covered by the program. More details are available through the project website, http://www.maa.org/prep.

CUPM GUIDE 2004

In a recent bulletin, we alerted you to the arrival in your department of "Undergraduate Programs and Courses in the Mathematical Sciences: CUPM Curriculum Guide 2004" and the companion report from the Curriculum Foundations Project, "Toward a Collective Vision: Voices of the Partner Disciplines." Copies of both volumes were mailed to your department chair. If you have not yet seen them, we hope you'll take the time to review these reports and discuss them with your colleagues.

YOUR INPUT REQUESTED TO HELP ALIGN AP CALCULUS

A request from David Bressoud, Chair of the AP Calculus Development Committee, and chair of the MAA Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics

The College Board’s AP Calculus Development Committee is conducting a curriculum survey of mainstream calculus. In order to ensure that the content of the AP Calculus examinations remain aligned with the content of similar college courses, the Advanced Placement Program periodically surveys colleges to gather information on the courses that correspond to the AP Calculus Examinations. This will be the first curriculum survey in calculus since 1997 when the Development Committee completed a thorough revision of the AP Calculus syllabus. A full description of the current AP Calculus courses and examinations can be downloaded from the College Board website http://collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/calculus/ap_cd_calculus.pdf.

We particularly want to know to what extent differential equations, series, and topics of several variable calculus are now being taught in the first year of calculus. We also want to learn what methods of delivery are being used and when and how technology is employed.

The results of this survey will be shared with the MAA and made available to anyone who is interested. They will be useful to the MAA’s Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM) and its subcommittee on Curricular Renewal Across the First Two Years (CRAFTY) in helping to measure the current state of calculus instruction.

I invite you to fill out this survey or to pass this request along to someone in your department who is knowledgeable about the content of your calculus program. The survey is at http://ntis01.ets.org/onyx/APCalculus.htm and should take only a few minutes.

MATHFEST 2004

MathFest 2004 will be held in Providence, RI, on August 12-14. You can register online now. Complete meeting information is available at http://www.maa.org/mathfest/, or check out the complete MathFest guide in the April issue of FOCUS, which should arrive in the next few days.

HISTORY, ANYONE?

For you math history buffs, several recent MAA publications should be of special interest. A reprint of G. Waldo Dunnington's "Gauss: Titan of Science" with additional material by Jeremy Gray, an expanded edition of "Mathematics Through the Ages" by William P. Berlinghoff and Fernando Gouvêa, and "Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Mathematical Tales" edited by Marlow Anderson, Victor Katz, and Robin Wilson are available through the MAA Bookstore (click on the "Bookstore" link at MAA Online) as well as other online sources. Keep an eye open for an additional title, "Musings of the Masters: An Anthology of Mathematical Reflections," which should be available in early June.

DID YOUR DEPARTMENT’S NEW PH.D.S GET THEIR FREE MAA MEMBERSHIP?
 
The MAA welcomes new Ph.D.s and Ed.D.s into our profession by granting them an initial complimentary membership, followed by two more years of membership at significantly reduced rates. We try to reach the new Ph.D.s at the end of every year, but of course some will change their addresses and never receive our letter.
 
Please remind your new Ph.D.s that if they have not received their complimentary MAA membership they can e-mail us and still receive this special welcome, up to three years after their degree was conferred. All they have to do is e-mail us at member@maa.org with their: name, institution, degree date and mailing address. Their information will be verified and processed immediately. For any questions, please call 1-800-331-1622.