Governor’s Report

Andrew Bennett

Kansas Section Meeting

March 31, 2007

 

The MAA has improved its situation over the last few years.  Until recently, the finances were stretched tight with operating expenses equal to revenues and no contingency fund to provide a safety net.  A primary goal of the Board of Governors and of the Executive Committee has been to stabilize our situation, while continuing to move forward as a mathematical community.  This is proceeding steadily, but will still require some years of adjustments.

 

Financially, the association is in good and improving shape.  For the last fiscal year we had $7.2 million in operating expenses on $10 million in revenues.  We have $6 million in investments (and overall assets of $14 million including the value of MAA headquarters in DC).  The association is working to build both a reserve fund (to provide a safety net) and also a contingency fund (to provide funding for unexpected opportunities).  The old dues structure had evolved over time to a point where the dues did not reflect costs, particularly for journals.  A new dues structure is now in place that rectifies this.  This involved increasing dues more for some categories of members than others, which has led to some complaints, but so far membership is only down slightly under the new structure.  As part of strategic planning, the Board is in various stages of work on professional development activities; revising the organization of the American Mathematics Competition; student activities; governance issues; membership; issues that cut across science, technology, engineering and mathematics; sections; and meetings.

 

The joint meetings this year in New Orleans were the largest meetings ever.  Last year’s MathFest in Knoxville was about average in attendance.  This summer, MathFest will be held in San Jose and the joint meetings in 2008 will be in San Diego.  Note that, like the New Orleans meetings, these meetings will not be held in the usual Thursday-Saturday/Sunday times, but later meetings are set to return to the traditional schedule.  The 2014 winter meeting in Baltimore was bumped to a week later after we received an offer to halve the fee for facilities (from $140,000 to $70,000) if we changed to make room for another convention.

 

Some highlights of the association’s activities over the past year are the following.  This is the 300th anniversary of the birth of Leonhard Euler, and to mark the occasion the MAA is publishing several books on Euler, along with offering a Prep Workshop and an Euler Study Tour this summer.  The old AMC system of state chairs has been replaced with a new system of “links,” who can be responsible for smaller areas, providing more personal contact.  The MAA now has a grant that will help departments fund undergraduate research conferences.  If you are interested in any of these activities, or other activities of the association, check http://www.maa.org for details.

 

One major project that is drawing to a close is the renovation of the Carriage House at MAA headquarters, which was funded largely by a donation from Paul Halmos.  The renovation is now completed and several conferences are already scheduled for the facility.  The NSA is also sponsoring a lecture series at the Carriage House.  The association hopes that renting out the facility will provide another source of income for the future, though I’m a bit skeptical about some of the projections.