Minutes of the
Kansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America
March 18, 2006
The ninety-first meeting of the Kansas Section of the
Mathematical Association of America was held on the campus of Cowley
College, Arkansas City, Kansas
March 18, 2006. The keynote speaker was Professor John Kenelly from Clemson
University.
The results of the 2nd Annual Kansas Collegiate
Mathematics Competition were announced by Professor Atanas
Stefanov. In
the individual competition Mike Higgins and Matt Burkemper,
both from Kansas State
University, tied for first
place. They will each receive a $200
award. Jeff Amos from Kansas
State University
was in third place. He will receive a
$100 award. Ryan Belinda of Cowley
College was the winner in the small
college category. He will receive $150.
In the team competition Team J from Kansas
State University
took first place with a score of 91 out of 100.
Second place went to Team M from Kansas
State University
with an 80 out of 100.
The team from the University
of Kansas got third place with a
score of 58 out of 100.
Professor Greg Nichols of Cowley
College called the business meeting
to order at 2:30 PM on March
18. The minutes of the previous meeting
were distributed and approved after a number of corrections. The Treasurer’s Report was distributed and
approved. It was noted that as of February 7, 2006, the Kansas Section
of the MAA had a balance of $9016.78.
$4,500.94 of this balance is in a CD at University National Bank of Pittsburg,
Kansas.
Betsy Yanik, Section Governor,
distributed her report. She brought two
things to the attention of the members.
First, she pointed out that there were currently no Project NExT fellows in the state of Kansas. She asked everyone to encourage any new
faculty members in their departments to consider applying for this excellent
program. She then reminded the section
that we had an opportunity each year to select someone for a Distinguished
Teaching Award. That person would then
be eligible for the national MAA Distinguished Teaching Award. In the past few years the Kansas
section has neglected to take advantage of this opportunity.
A committee had been formed to select the section nominee
for the Distinguished Service Award. It
announced the selection of Sister JoAnn Fellin from Benedictine
College. She was unanimously approved by the section.
Richard Rempel announced that he
was stepping down as the section liaison.
Virginia Naibo from Kansas
State University
was nominated to be the new section liaison and she was unanimously approved.
The following officers were elected for the 2006-2007
academic year. Chair – Greg Nichols of Cowley
College, Chair Elect – Kirk Lancaster
from Wichita State
University.
The following Kansas Section members are retiring: George Strecker of Kansas
State University, and Charles Himmelberg of University
of Kansas (retired at the end of
June 2005).
There were two undergraduates who presented papers at the
meeting: Jacob Magnusson from Emporia
State University
and Eric Lawrence from Kansas State
University. It was moved, seconded, and passed that each
of theses students be presented with a prize of $50.
There was some discussion about the idea of having a
historian for the section. It was
decided that this was to be considered by the executive committee.
The executive committee also will search for a replacement for the Associate Chair
for 2 year colleges.
The meeting was adjourned after 3 PM.
Respectfully Submitted
Joe Yanik
Secretary/Treasurer