Stephen Abbott and Bruce Torrence Named Next Editors of Math Horizons

The MAA's Board of Governors has confirmed Stephen D. Abbott of Middlebury College and Bruce F. Torrence of Randolph-Macon College as the next editors of Math Horizons. Their five-year term begins in 2009. Abott and Torrence will serve as Editors Elect in 2008.

Abbott is a graceful and engaging writer of mathematics, as exemplified in his book Understanding Analysis (2001). He served on the Editorial Board of Math Horizons from 1999 to 2003; has written for The College Mathematics Journal and FOCUS; and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library. Three articles that Abbott has written for Math Horizons have been about mathematics and the dramatic arts. "Turning Theorems into Plays" (September, 1999), for example, is about the mathematics in Tom Stoppard's works. Abbott is a graduate of Colgate University and obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Virginia.

Torrence has published in graph theory, combinatorics, topology, and recreational mathematics. His Math Horizons article "If Pascal Had a Computer" (November, 2001) demonstrated not only historical sensibilities but also expository skills. He is the co-author, with Eve Torrence, of the book The Student's Introduction to Mathematica: A Handbook for Precalculus, Calculus, and Linear Algebra (1999), which revealed an ability to write in a way that is sensitive to the needs of undergraduates. Torrence is a graduate of Tufts University and obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Virginia.

Abbott's mathematical interests — analysis and applied mathematics — complement Torrence's, which are in algebra and topology. Abbott and Torrence have stressed that reading Math Horizons should be a serious and significant experience of the culture of mathematics, delivered with an "inviting tone and playful informality."