CALL FOR STUDENT PAPERS
The LA-MS Section of the MAA will hold its annual Student Paper Competition on March 1, 1997, at the section meeting in Jackson, MS. Papers are solicited in two categories; graduate and undergraduate. Presentations at the meeting will be limited to 12 minutes.
A written paper of 6 pages or less must be received by January 31, 1997 and include the author's name, institutional affiliation and faculty advisor. If available, an e-mail address should also be provided. Late entries will not be considered. Papers must be sent to Michael Pearson at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, PO Drawer MA, Mississippi State, MS 39762 or by fax 601-325-0005.
Prizes will be awarded in each category separately, with no more than 3 prizes in each. The number of prizes awarded shall be at the discretion of the judges, and shall be determined depending on the number and quality of the entries in each category. The amount of the prizes shall be as follows: first prize, $75.00, second, $50.00, and third, $25.00.
Each entry will be judged on the basis of both the written and oral presentation, with equal consideration given to both.
STUDENT TEAM COMPETITION
The Seventh Student Team Competition will be held on Friday, February 28, 1997 from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. Each school is invited to enter one or two teams. Please encourage your students to attend the meeting and to participate in this competition. A team must have a faculty sponsor and shall consist of at most 4 students. Team members must be undergraduate students and must be currently enrolled at the institution they represent.
An application form for this competition will be included in the registration information which will be mailed to department chairs in January. If more information is needed, or if a faculty member is interested in assisting in judging the competition (including submitting problems and grading), please contact the chair of that committee, Dr. Darren Wick, Millsaps College, Box 150387, Jackson, MS 39210. His e-mail address is wickdd@okra.millsaps.edu and his phone number is (601)974-1374.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The annual Louisiana-Mississippi Section Meeting will be held on the campus of Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, Friday, February 28 - Saturday, March 1, 1997. Sessions of ten to twelve-minute papers will be held on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Anyone wishing to submit a paper for one of these sessions should send the information requested below to: Dr. Connie Campbell, Section Chair, Department of Mathematics, Box 150069, Jackson, MS 39210. The deadline for submission of this information is January 24, 1997. The required information is:
Deadline for submission of abstracts is January 24, 1997
Meeting Preliminaries
The 74th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana-Mississippi Section of the Mathematical Association of America will be held on the campus of Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi February 28-March 1, 1997.
Underwood Dudley of DePauw University will be our Invited Speaker. Professor Dudley is a Polya Lecturer and is the author of several MAA publications including Mathematical Cranks. Connie Campbell, our Section Chair, will send registration forms to department chairs in January, but asks that you please go ahead and mark this weekend on your calendars.
We are planning a reception at the Cabot Lodge Millsaps on Thursday evening February 27 and a student luncheon, free of charge to team competitors, following the team competition. The speaker at this luncheon will be announced later.
There will be a luncheon on Friday for Department Chairs and a dinner/social at the Mississippi Agricultural Museum on Friday night for everyone. There will be a fee for both of these.
We will offer two short courses on Friday morning, one on the Internet and the other one on the TI-92. Tommy Leavelle has agreed to teach the short course on the Internet and John Travis will teach the short course on the TI-92.
We are hoping to have panel discussions on:
(1) Accreditation issues: Capstone courses and student profiles
(2) Incorporating writing into mathematics courses.
If you know of someone in our section who would be a knowledgeable panelist, write or e-mail Connie Campbell. Her e-mail address is campbcm@okra.millsaps.edu, and her address is given in the Call for Papers paragraph.
Cabot Lodge Millsaps is within walking distance of the college. See attached sheet for registration information for this hotel. Please note that they only accept group reservations by mail or fax, not by phone. Some other hotels close by (but not within walking distance) are the Red Roof Inn on Larson Street (1-800-THE-ROOF) and Days Inn on Larson Street (1-800-329-7466).
Any department which has had a faculty member pass away since our last meeting in March 1996, is encouraged to contact Professor Joseph Smith, Chairman of the Necrology Committee with that information. His address is 1000 ASU Drive #30, Alcorn State University, Lorman, MS 39056. His e-mail address is jsmith@academic.alcorn.edu.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR 1997 SECTION AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS
Nominations for the 1997 Louisiana-Mississippi Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics are now being accepted. The Section Selection Committee will choose one of the nominees for the Section Award. The awardee will be honored at the 1997 Annual Meeting in February/March. The awardee will also be the Section's candidate for the national award. There will be at most three national awardees, each of whom will be honored at the national MAA meeting in January 1998 and receive a $1000 check and a certificate.
Anyone is entitled to make a nomination, but nominations from chairs or MAA representatives in departments of mathematical sciences are especially solicited. Self-nomination is not permitted.
MAA urges you to submit a nomination if you have someone eligible and qualified in your department in order that your candidate has an opportunity to be considered for the Section Award and, if so selected, also for the national award. Even if not selected this year, it is an honor for someone to have been nominated, your department will receive recognition for its commitment to excellence in teaching, and the work done in preparing a nomination folder for your candidate is not wasted since your candidate can be nominated again in a future year.
Eligibility
College or university teachers assigned at least half-time during the academic year to teaching a mathematical science in a public or private college or university (from two-year college teaching through teaching at the Ph.D. level) in the United States or Canada. Those on approved leave (sabbatical or other) during the academic year in which they are nominated qualify if they fulfilled the requirements in the previous year.
At least five years teaching experience in a mathematical science.
Membership in the Mathematical Association of America.
Guidelines for Nomination
The nominees should
* "teaching" is to be interpreted in its broadest sense, not necessarily limited to classroom teaching (it may include activities such as preparing students for mathematical competitions at the college level, for example, the Putnam Prize Competition or the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, or attracting students to become majors in a mathematical science or to become Ph.D. candidates)
** "influence beyond their own institution" can take many forms, including demonstrated lasting impact on alumni, influence on the profession through curricular revisions in college mathematics teaching with national impact, influential innovative books on the teaching of college mathematics, etc.
Nominations must be submitted on the enclosed "Nomination Form" in order to be considered for the Section Award and the national award. Be careful to precisely follow the instructions on the form. In particular, award files that exceed the prescribed limits will be rejected at the national level and thus are ineligible for the section award.
The Section Selection Committee will select the Section awardee during January and communicate its selection to the National Selection Committee no later than February 1 so that the national committee can then make its selection.
Note from the Chair: Let me strongly encourage you to select an appropriate nominee from your school. With so many good teachers in our section, we ought to take this opportunity to honor one of them. I realize it will take some effort on your part to complete the nomination forms. Note, however, that the nomination packets will be kept on file. If your nominee is not selected for the sectional award this year, you can nominate the same person again in future years by just updating the information.
Completed nomination packets can be sent to:
to be received no later than December 5, 1996.
Thank you very much for your cooperation. Please contact Professor Strahan for an application form.
Committee Assignments for 1996-97
Mathematical Concerns Committee
Vic Scheider (97), Chair
Connie Campbell, Millsaps (97)
Judith Covington, LSU-Shreveport (98)
John Travis, MC (98)
Joe Thrash, USM (99)
Kathleen Lopez, USL (99)
Keith Alford, ASU (2000)
Stephen Richters, NLU (2000)
Outstanding Teacher Award
Rose Strahan, DSU, Chair
Executive Committee Members
Necrology Committee
Joseph Smith, ASU, Chair
Student Competition
Darren Wick, Millsaps, Chair
Mark Lynch, Millsaps
Resolutions Committee
Doreen Fox, LSU Alexandria, Chair
Location and Nomination Committee
Karen Thrash, USM, Chair
Glenn Hopkins, UM
Judith Covington, LSU Shreveport
Student Paper Committee
Michael Pearson, MSU, Chair
A. J. Roques, LSU Eunice
James Reid, UM
John Travis, MC
NEWS FROM AROUND THE SECTION
Alcorn State University
Faculty News:Dr. Sri-Krishna Aditya has joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in May 1996 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette.
Delta State University
Faculty News:Retired:
William Ray Wilson, Assistant Professor of Mathematics has retired after 36 years at Delta State.
Additions:
Dr. George Clifton Wingard, Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1995. He came to DSU from Oklahoma Baptist University.
Mrs. Stella B. Wear as Assistant Professor of Mathematics. She came to DSU from the University of Alabama where she taught and pursued a doctorate in mathematics.
Wilma Louise Rodgers completed her Ph.D. in mathematics education at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
East Central Community College
Faculty News:
Ms. Corinne Hayes has been hired as a part-time Mathematics instructor. Other Items:
This Fall showed a record enrollment and a record number of sections of Mathematics offered.
Itawamba Community College
Faculty News:
Claude Hood - Retired
Bobby Caples - new Math instructor - Tupelo Campus
Emery Gary - new Math instructor - Fulton Campus
Cindy Wilson - new Math instructor - Fulton Campus
Meridian Community College
Faculty News:Wanda Dixon was named the 1996 Mississippi Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Millsaps College
Faculty News:Gayla Dance has completed her second Master's Degree and has been promoted to Assistant Professor.
Mississippi College
Faculty News:Dr. Tom Bennet has joined our faculty in Computer Science. He was most recently on the faculty of the University of Missouri - Columbia.
Tommy Leavelle was promoted to Professor.
Teresa Floyd was promoted to Associate Professor.
Mississippi State University
Faculty News:Additions:Professor Shamim Ansari
Professor Zhilin Li
Professor Gregory Miller
Professor John Neuberger
Title Changes:
John Graef, Interim Head and Professor
Zhijun Liu, Associate Professor
Ratnasingham Shivaji, Head and Professor to Professor
Mississippi University for Women
Faculty News:
Dr. Jane Wenstrom, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook, joined the Mathematics faculty in the fall of 1995 as Clare Booth Luce Professor of Mathematics. Her research specialty is Conservation Laws.
Dr. Shavchen Yang, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, was promoted to full Professor of mathematics effective Fall, 1996.
Pearl River Community College
Faculty News:
Francis Robicheaux has retired.
Elaine Byrd has been added to the faculty.
Ms. Carolyn Ruegger is president of the Mississippi Teachers of College Mathematics.
University of Southern Mississippi
Faculty News:
Jiu Ding will be on sabbatical leave during spring 1997. He and his colleague Aihiu Zhou will write a research monograph entitled The Frobenius-Perron Operator and Its Numerical Analysis. The work will take place at the Academia Sinica.
Virginia Entrekin retired last spring. She was an instructor in this department for 15 years. Virginia was very active and well known in mathematics education circles and long involved with both preservice and inservice teacher training. Our mathematics certification program keenly feels her loss.
Professor Jose Contreras joined the department this fall. He is ABD in mathematics education from the Ohio State University and expects to complete his dissertation by spring 1997. He will provide much needed help in developing and teaching courses for the preservice teachers.
Michael Mascagni will become a member of this department starting spring 1997. He comes to us from the Center for Computing Sciences, Institute for Defense Analysis at Bowie, MD, where he is a research staff member. Michael received his Ph.D. in 1987 from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He will assume the position of Coordinator of Scientific Computing and be 1/3-time in the department.
Professor Jiu Ding received tenure effective fall 1996.
Other Items:
Professor Gaston Smith suffered a broken hip on the first day of class this fall. The accident happened while teaching. He fell off the raised platform at the front of his classroom. The same day Gaston underwent surgery. The next day he began physical therapy. Believe it or not, three weeks fro the day of his accident, Gaston had resumed his teaching duties!
Professors D. James Caveny and Temple H. Fay conducted another "winter school" during June and July at the Technikon Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. There were eight returning "second year" students and four new "first year" students. This program, in its second year, leads to a Master's Degree in Mathematics after successful completion of three "winter schools" and a thesis. Each such winter school is eight weeks long and the students experience total immersion with the latest mathematical software and computer algebra system.
The 6th Annual USA/USM Mini-Conference on Undergraduate Research in the Mathematical Sciences will be held in Southern Hall on the USM Hattiesburg campus February 14, 1997. Undergraduates who have done research in the mathematical sciences (such as computer science, mathematics, physics, or statistics) are invited to submit abstracts for presentation of approximately 20 minutes in duration. Interested faculty are also invited to submit abstracts for presentations of approximately 30 minutes. The 5th Annual Mini-Conference was held at the University of South Alabama in Mobile on February 16, 1996. There were four faculty and fifteen student presentations, with an audience of approximately 50. Students and faculty alike are invited to attend, speaking or not.
Tougaloo College
Faculty News:
Addition:
Dr. Yousef Raffoul, Assistant Professor, received his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University.
New Chair:
Dr. Nimr Fahmy was approved as the new Department Chair.
Death:
Hendrik Angadgaus died on January 14, 1996. Born on 7/21/47, he was a member of AMS.
Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge
Faculty News:
Sabbaticals:
Professor J. Oxley
Professor P. Wolenski
Professor W. Hoffman
Promotions to Full Professor:
G. Ferreyra
J. Madden
G. Olafsson
F. Neubrander
G. Goldstein
Promotions to Associate Professor:
G. Ding
A. Sengupta
Other Items:Professor J. Koske from Moi University, Kenya is visiting LSU to observe college teaching and college students in the U.S.
Louisiana State University at Eunice
Faculty News:
Bill Dean has been hired as an Instructor. He received his MS from Syracuse University.
Sharon Clark has been hired as an Instructor. She received her MS from USL.
Dr. Ray Robicheaux will be on sabbatical in the Spring semester.
Other News:
We are currently requiting a graphing calculator in College Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus.
Delgado Community College
Faculty News:
Aimee Buckel is a new Mathematics Faculty member.
Promotions to Assistant Professors:
Jeanne Gagliano
Pat Cox
Milton Vavasseur
Pat Roux and Mary Lawrence received NISOD Excellence Awards.
Louisiana Tech University
Faculty News:
Dr. Edgar P. Kelly, Jr. passed away on Sunday, April 7, 1996. He was Director of the Graduate Program in Mathematics and advisor to undergraduate math majors. he will be missed by his many students and colleagues.
Dr. Margaret W. Maxfield, Professor, retired on February 29, 1996 and was awarded the prestigious appointment of Professor Emeritus.
Promotions and Title or Position Changes:
Dr. W. Mark Countryman, promoted to (full) professor.
Dr. Barry L. Kurtz, Academic Director,
Mathematics and Statistics Program.
Dr. Jenna P. Carpenter, Program Chair,
Mathematics and Statistics Program.
Other Items:
As of May 15, 1996 the College of Engineering and the School of Science (Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics) are officially merged into the College of Engineering and Science. The School of Science anticipates reaping the benefits associated with their new alignment in a college whose mission is centrally located within the main mission of the University.
James P. Marion, Assistant Professor in the Louisiana Tech Mathematics & Statistics Program was recently awarded the 1995-96 College of Engineering and Science Faculty Award for Instruction.
Dr. Raja Nassar, Professor in the Louisiana Tech Mathematics & Statistics Program was recently awarded the 1995-96 College of Engineering and Science Faculty Award for Service.
Northwestern State University
Faculty News:Richard DeVault has been newly hired as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. His Ph.D. is from the University of Rhode Island.
David Goloff left NSU to enter private business.
Stan Chadick, Leigh Ann Myers, Frank Serio, and Lisa Galminas received funding for a Technology Enhancement Grant of $78,000.
Ben Rushing, Jr. completed his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in May 1996 and has been appointed as Coordinator of Mathematics.
Other News:
All NSU core mathematics courses require use of graphing calculator technology.
Southern University at New Orleans
Faculty News:
Additions:
Dr. Heath, Professor of Mathematics
Ms. Cynthia Singleton, Instructor of Mathematics
Dr. Robert Perry, Interim Chairperson for Mathematics/Physics
Retirement:
Mr. Lawrence Singleton, Spring 1996
Dr. Matthew Causey has been named Interim Dean of the College of Science.
Other Items:
Dr. Henry L. Hardy, Professor of Mathematics has received a Department of Energy grant which he utilized in starting a Mathematics, Engineering and Science Lab here at Southern University at New Orleans. He is the site coordinator.
Southeastern Louisiana University
Faculty News:
Dr. Wayne Stevens of LSU and Dr. Terence Liu of USL have been appointed as visiting assistant professors for 1996-97.
Dr. Randall Wills and Dr. Tena Golding were granted tenure and promoted to associate professors.
Other Items:
The department requires the use of TI-82 or TI-83 calculators in the teaching of Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra.
Tulane University
Faculty News:
Professor Frank D. Quigley died in August, 1996.
Retirements:
Professor Arnold Levine
Professor Ronald Knill
Associate Professor Jian-Jian Ren was hired.
Professor Morris Kalka became Chairman of the Mathematics Department.
Promotions to Associate Professor:
Assistant Professor Ian Dinwoodie
Assistant Professor Xuefeng Wang
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Faculty News:A. S. Vatsala was promoted from Associate to Full Professor.
Other News:
USL Conference on Abstract Algebra to be held October 25-27, 1996.
1997 Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference to be held April 10-12, 1997. Host: University of Southwestern Louisiana
Section Officers
Section Chair: Newsletter Editor:
Connie Campbell Wanda Dixon
Millsaps College Meridian Community College
Past Chair: Secretary - Treasurer:
Phil Quartararo Rose Strahan
Southern University Delta State University
LA Vice Chair: MS Vice Chair:
Mohamed Marous Keith Alford
University of New Orleans Alcorn State University
Section Governor:
Charles Alexander
University of Mississippi
Spring
1996 Newsletter
Spring
1995 Newsletter