NES MAA

Let me begin by saying it is an honor to serve as governor of the Northeastern Section. As I begin my term, on behalf of the section I would like to thank Laura Kelleher for her excellent service as governor—the latest in a long history of service to the section and the MAA.

At the Governor’s meeting before Mathfest, a number of items were presented or discussed that I will briefly report. Carl Cowen, our MAA President, spoke of his participation in the International Conference on Teaching Mathematics in Istanbul. He found the focus of that conference to be very well aligned with the mission of the MAA and would like to increase our involvement in coming years. It was good to hear from our Treasurer, John Kenelly, that our finances are in good order and that our investments did relatively well in a tough market.

From our Vice Presidents, Carl Pomerance and Deanna Haunsperger, we received an update on the MAA’s strategic planning initiative. A key point was that this is arising not from any crisis, but from a desire to look critically at what we are doing to affirm what we are doing well, improve what we are not and focus on what is essential to our mission. Reports from the first set of subcommittees, on the American Mathematical Competitions, Revenue and Professional Development are due this fall. The second set of subcommittees, on Governance, Membership and Students, are currently busy at work and will report next year. At Mathfest, both the governors and the section officers spent time during their meetings discussing governance issues.

Our own Jim Tattersall will be stepping down as Associate Secretary of the MAA soon, but in order to allow sufficient time to find and train his successor, the Board of Governors voted to extend his term by one year. Jim’s shoes are certainly very big ones to fill, but if anyone is interested, let me or Jim know. I’m sure Jim will be happy to describe what the position entails. The MAA is also trying to fill two new open positions Director of Publications and Journals (part of Don Albers former position, he’ll continue to do the rest) and Associate Director for Student Activities.

Our Executive Director, Tina Straley filled us in on some of the lobbying activity of the MAA. One issue of concern was that administration efforts to support science and science research did not acknowledge the vital role that mathematics and mathematics research plays in Science. The MAA has been working to correct that on Capitol Hill.

On the programming side, there is a lot of excitement about the Euler tour next year in honor of Euler’s 300^th birthday. (I’m sure that Ed Sandifer would be willing to give a sales pitch for that as well as the upcoming MAA publications on Euler.) The other exciting news is the renovation of the Carriage House at MAA headquarters, made possible by a generous gift from Paul and Virginia Halmos. The space will be used for various programs and rented out when not being used by the MAA. Use of the facility will begin this fall with a grand opening celebration in the spring.

There was a plea for members to serve on national committees of the MAA. If any of you are interested in serving on a committee please let me know and what kinds of committees you are interested in. In the spring I hope to have a list of committees most in need of new members.

This year three Project NExT fellows are in our section: Joseph Fox, Salem State College, Christopher Hardin, Smith College, and Matthew Horton, Wellesley College. We welcome them and all other new and relatively new faculty to our section. I hope that many of you will be able to attend our fall meeting, give a talk at the New Colleague’s paper sessions and/or attend the Section NExT activities prior to the meeting. I also hope that senior faculty will encourage and facilitate the participation of their new colleagues in section activities.

I hope to see many of you at the upcoming Northeastern Section meeting at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and at the Joint Meetings in New Orleans. (I visited New Orleans this summer and while major parts of the city and surrounding area are still suffering badly from Hurricane Katrina, the French Quarter and nearby hotel and convention area was largely untouched and is full of life and activity.) If anyone has any issues or concerns they would like me to share at the January Board of Governor’s meeting, please let me know.