LA/MS Concerns Committee
2003 Meeting Minutes
Committee Chairman : Clifton Wingard, Delta State University
Members Present : Stan Chadick, Melinda Gann, Mark Schlatter, Clifton Wingard,
Shaochen Yang
Members Absent : Phil Quartararo
Also Present: Connie Campbell, Section Governor, and Ann Watkins, former
MAA President
The committee met on February 22, 2003, and began by discussing concerns
of the committee members.
The discussion of the committee centered around work issues and the issues
of attracting and retaining faculty. Because the national MAA organization
has no interest in forming a national accreditation agency, the Concerns
Committee recommended the formation of a committee to study the current MAA
guidelines concerning teaching load versus research and other activities.
The outcome of this study would be the creation of a document containing
specific criteria for mathematics departments in this section concerning
these issues. The committee would include the section governor and
several members representing a range of institutions within this section.
Another possible outcome would be to have individuals designated to communicate
with college or university administrators of institutions who are not in
compliance with the criteria developed and publish in a written format and
electronically (to be posted on the web) a list of those institutions within
the section who are in compliance and those
who are not in compliance. This would allow possible applicants
for positions within these institutions to have this sort of information
prior to interviews.
The concerns committee would like to see some sort of initiative within institutions
in this section to educate PhD candidates in the application process and
in ways of negotiating the teaching contract with the college or university
administration. It is believed that the informed job candidate would
be more satisfied with the employment
package and more easily retained by the hiring institution.
Respectively submitted,
Clifton Wingard, Chair