Southeastern Section Newsletter

Fall 1998

Volume 12 Number 2

FROM THE CHAIR

On October 14, an email titled 'sad news' arrived. It was indeed, as it announced that John Neff had died suddenly the day before in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As a proud member of the Board of Trustees at Coe College, his alma mater, John had just attended a meeting of the trustees. When I read the news of his death, I walked across campus and soon found two colleagues who had also heard the news and we shared recollections of John for a time before returning to work. I expect that scenario was duplicated on campuses faround the section.

A patriarch of the MAA and particularly of the Southeastern Section, John Neff had long been recognized for his service to the mathematcial community at all levels. He served as the section's Governor, Chair, Secretary-Treasurer and Section Lecturer, recorded the section's history and served on too many committees to keep up with. Among the awards he received was theMAA Meritorious Service Award, presented in 1984 when the award was first instituted by the MAA Board of Governors and the 1994 MAA SE Section Distinguished Teaching Award. When the Neff's attended the annual section meeting in Charleston last spring, John noticed a Latin inscription on one of the archways at the College and later interpreted it for me. From Vergil's Aeneid, it read "It will be a pleasure sometime to have remembered these things." Mentor and advisor to many and friend to everyone, John Neff will be missed, but remembered with pleasure. The Section extends sympathy to his wife and our colleague, Mary Neff. A memorial service will have been held at Georgia Tech by the time this newsletter is distributed. Anyone wishing to make a contribution in his memory may do so to Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402-5008.

While rummaging through a file cabinet, I discovered a copy of the Spring 1987 Southeastern Section Newsletter. At the time, the newsletter was fairly young and much smaller than today's version. The entire Spring 1987 newsletter, excluding the cover, was 8 pages long. Just as the section meetings have expanded, new items have been added to the newsletter year by year, so that ten years later the Spring 1998 newsletter was 40 pages long. The expanded version of the newsletter is possible due to the hard work of our editor, Theresa Early, and the newsletter committee, Rudy Curd and Virginia Watson.

Ours is one of two MAA section newsletters that includes advertisements, keeping the cost of our newsletter to a minimum.

The following tidbits concerning the section come from David Stone, the 1987 SE MAA Newsletter Editor and the current Chair of the MAA Committee on Sections. With 2291 members of the total MAA membership of 24057, the Southeastern Section is the MAA's largest. Demographics of the section (national) membership are as follows: 50%(44%) are 4-year college or university faculty; 4.9%(5.9%) are 2-year college faculty; 8%(10%) are retired; 13.2%(10.7%) are students; 3.3%(8.5%) are in business or industry; 2%(3.6%) teach K- 12; and 18%(16%) gave no response or checked 'Other' on their membership form.

Plan to attend the March 12-13, 1999 Rhodes College meeting in Memphis next spring and bring your colleagues. Meeting information and abstract submission will be available through the section website at http:www.huntingdon.edu/MAA/. The full program includes three short courses and several special sessions. The plenary speakers will be Tom Bancroft, chair-elect of the MAA; Joel Brawley, 1998 Distinguished Teaching Awardee; and Suzanne Lenhart, Section Lecturer. And the Friday evening social will be at Graceland. Don't miss it! For those that can't make the spring meeting, look for your state MAA dinner meeting. W. Hugh Haynsworth

FROM THE GOVERNOR

Mathematics Faculty in the Year 2025

Recently, I had the opportunity to write a note to students who will study mathematics in the year 2025 and deposit it in a time capsule to be opened that year. My note anticipated changes that might take place in mathematics and pointed, in particular, to a possible evolution in the nature and role of linear algebra over the next two or three decades.

Changes in linear algebra, one of the most applicable and useful areas of mathematics, would more likely be driven by the demands of applications and new designs in computer hardware than by faculty desires. The time capsule activity focusing on the year 2025 has caused me to question what forces will shape the nature and composition of college and university mathematics personnel who will teach in 2025? As the student population becomes increasingly diverse, will the faculty population better reflect that diversity? The nature of future mathematics faculty is an important area for current concern--its composition, its education and training for the role of teacher, and its commitment to the education of the nation's students. As we who are involved in the mathematics education of today's student contemplate who will join us, or replace us, over the next few decades, we can also have an effect on the outcome by making a personal commitment to make that impact. Such a commitment can be exercised both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

My intent here is to focus attention on that last segment of the mathematics pipeline from which future faculty will emerge--the graduate student population. As I hear reports from graduate students about the numbers of minority students, women students, and American students who leave graduate programs after one or two years, without reaching their degree goals, I am compelled to seek a role that we, as current faculty, can play in shaping the graduate student population and, through it, the mathematics faculty of the future.

My plea to the MAA membership is to increase your concern for the graduate students in our Section -- both those who emerge from our Section's colleges and universities and those who enter our graduate programs. After spending the past summer working with minority and women students who subsequently entered graduate programs in mathematics this Fall, I am even more convinced of the need for mentoring and its crucial importance to many students. For women and minority students, the problems encountered in graduate school may be much less of an academic nature than one would think. There are many cultural adjustments and issues that arise out of the socialization of people in America. The effects of these factors can often be diminished by a mentor so that academic concerns can get primary attention. Whether you have a graduate mathematics program at your institution or not, there may be an opportunity to mentor a graduate student somewhere. Graduate departments which intend to create a more supportive environment may get ideas from others who have given special attention to this task, such as the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln which recently received a Presidential award for its graduate mentoring program. (See Newsletter, Association for Women in Mathematics, Nov.-Dec., 1998, p.13)

As the Executive Committee planned the SE Section 1999 Spring meeting, to be held in Memphis, there was an unresolved question. What can we do for the graduate students who want an opportunity to network with faculty of the Section, discuss their concerns, receive career advising and mentoring? The Executive Committee is open to ideas from the membership to address this need for future meetings. Beyond that, I encourage each member of the section to become a committee of one in mentoring our graduate students. In this way we may have some impact on the nature of the faculty in the year 2025.
Sylvia T. Bozeman

IN MEMORIUM

Members of the Southeastern Section of the MAA were very saddened to learn of the sudden death in October of John Neff, a long-standing and extremely active member of our section as well as the national organization. A memorial service for John was held on Nov. 11 on the Georgia Tech campus. Our sympathy is extended to his wife M.F. Neff who is also our friend and colleague. A longer memorial for John will be included in the Spring 1999 issue of the newsletter.

SECTION CALENDAR

Jan. 13-16, 1999	MAA/AMS Annual Meeting,San Antonio
February 4-6, 1999	NCTM Regional Conference, Charlotte
March 12-13 , 1999	Southeastern Section Annual Meeting, Memphis
April 22-24, 1999	NCTM Annual Meeting, San Francisco
July 31-Aug.2, 1999	MathFest, Providence, RI
Oct. 15-17, 1999	AMS Southeastern Regional Meeting,Charlotte
Jan. 19-22, 2000	MAA/AMS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
March 10-11, 2000	Southeastern Section Annual Meeting, Charlotte

WE'RE GOING TO GRACELAND

MARCH 12-13, 1999

Rhodes College and the Mathematics and Computer Science Department cordially invite all members and friends of the Southeastern Section of the MAA to attend and participate in the 78th spring meeting of the section, to be held on our campus, Friday and Saturday, 12 and 13 March 1999. This will be the first time that the section has met in Memphis, and we are looking forward to making that inaugural visit an enjoyable one for all who come. Besides the usual excellent program, gatherings, and student activities, there are three unique opportunities at this meeting. The first two have to do with the citizenry and cuisine of the city; the third with the city's proximity to other MAA sections.

Known the world over, and intimately linked with Memphis in the minds of many people, Graceland is one of the most visited residences in the country. Also, Memphis is a destination for people from around the country who love good barbecue. We are combining these two unique experiences in a very special event for those who attend the 78th Southeastern Section Meeting at Rhodes. On Friday evening, 12 March, after contributed and plenary sessions are completed, there will be a social hour, with snacks, soft drinks, and cash bar at GracelandÕs visitorÕs center. Starting at 6:30, those who have purchased tickets through preregistration may tour Elvis Presley's mansion. Following the tour, Pig'n Whistle Barbecue, one of Memphis' premier barbecue establishments, will provide dinner. It promises to be an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Because of the proximity of Memphis with the Mississippi/Louisiana, Oklahoma/Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky sections of MAA, we are extending an invitation to their members to attend this meeting. This would provide splendid opportunities for members of the Southeastern section to become acquainted with their counterparts from neighboring regions. If you have colleagues near Memphis in these sections, encourage them to attend the meeting.

All in all, the 78th meeting is shaping up to be very special. Make plans early and reserve yourself a spot at the Graceland event; the number of tickets is limited. Point your web browser at http://www.mathcs.rhodes.edu/MAA99
to get full information about preregistration, Rhodes, accommodations, travel, Graceland, and the Memphis area. We look forward to seeing many folks from all over the Southeastern Section!

Tom Barr
Local Arrangements Chair

Preliminary Announcement

View the Preliminary Announcement for the 78th Meeting of the Southeastern Section of the MAA at
http://www.huntingdon.edu/maa/99prelim.html

Call for Papers

Both research papers and papers in the area of the teaching of mathematics and mathematics education are solicited for the program of the seventy-eighth annual meeting of the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America which will be held on Friday afternoon, March 12, and Saturday morning, March 13, 1999 at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee. . Titles and abstracts may be submitted via the section website at http://www.huntingdon.edu/MAA/ or by email to Joe Wimbish. Submissions through the section website are encouraged.

Executive Committee Meeting

Section officers held their annual fall meeting on September 25-26, 1998, in Charleston, SC. The central focus of the meeting was planning for the March 1998 meeting at Rhodes College in Memphis. Features of the meeting include plenaries by MAA President-Elect Thomas Banchoff, 1998 Distinguished Teaching Award Recipient Joel Brawley, and Section Lecturer Suzanne Lenhart; short courses led by Doug Hardin, Colm Mulcahy and Jeffrey Ehme, and Todd Will; Career Fair and TA Rush; Student Poster Sessions; and the MAA Liaison Breakfast. Student travel to the Career Fair is partially supported by a $500 grant from the Exxon Foundation, supplemented by $250 from the Section. The Committee budgeted $1000 for expenses incurred from the Career fair, the student pizza lunch, and the Liaison breakfast.

In other business, State Directors reported on plans for their respective MAA State Dinners during the next year. The Secretary-Treasurer reported a balance of $13,747. Section Governor Bozeman reported on MAA concerns at the national level. The Committee also discussed the prospect of an updated section history for 2002 and the relationship of this update to the existing 1992 history and its supplement on minority pariticpation in the section.

Stephen Davis

Subscribe to Section Listserve

An e-mail listserve has been established for news of the section; subscribe by sending the message
subscribe sesmaa Your Name
(where "Your Name" is your real name; your e-mail address is obtained from the header of your message) to listserv@huntingdon.edu.

Section Award for Meritorious Service

Nominations Sought

The Southeastern Section bestows a Section Distinguished Service Award at the annual spring meeeting each year. A member of the Section will be so honored at the March 1999, meeting in Charleston.

The Section Distinguished Service Award Committee now solicits your nomination of any Section member for the 1999 award. The committee members are John Kenelly, M.F. Neff, Ben Klein and Tina Straley, with committee chair David Stone.

Please send your nomination, along with a brief statement supporting your nomination to David Stone at the address below. If any member of the Selection Committee is a nominee, that person will be replaced on the committee by someone appointed by the Section Chair. Previous Section Service Award recipients are not eligible. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: January 15, 1999.

Submit nominations to:
David Stone
Dept. of Mathematics
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460-8093
drstone@gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu

Previous Service Award Recipients

The section has awarded its Award for Meritorious Service in even-numbered years, beginning in 1990, then annually, beginning in 1997. The recipient list is:

Apr 1990 Trevor Evans, Emory University
Apr 1992 Billy F. Bryant, Vanderbilt University
Apr 1994 James G. Ware, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Apr 1996 Marcellus Waddill, Wake Forest University
Mar 1997 John Kenelly, Clemson University
Mar 1998 David Stone, Georgia Southern University

SECTION LECTURER VISITS

As 1998-99 MAA SE Section Lecturer, Suzanne Lenhart, University of Tennessee-Knoxville is available to visit a limited number of institutions within the bounds of the Section and present lectures on mathematical topics to the faculty and students of those institutions. Professor Lenhart has a wide variety of interests on which she is willing to lecture including partial differential equations, optimal control, population models, environmental models, AIDS modeling, and waste management models. She is currently the president of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Association for Women in Science, the chairperson of the AMS/MAA Committee on Teaching Assistants and Part-Time Instructors, an elected member of the SIAM Council and the site director of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer program at UTK. She is also interested in talking with students about the REU program and opportunities in applied mathematics.

Colleges should make arrangements for lecture visits directly with Professor Lenhart. The cost of a visit may include transportation and accommodations and the Section requires that all financial arrangements should be clearly understood and agreed to before the visit. To keep costs low, she is willing to drive to cities within 250 miles of Knoxville. Payment for expenses should be made directly to the Section Lecturer in accordance with the policies of the host institution.

Leaman Dye and Jack Levine

Editor's note: In the Spring 1998 issue of the Newsletter, I noted that two gentleman, Leaman Dye and Jack Levine, have been members of our section for many years - Dye for 73 years and Levine for 70 years. I ask for information about these gentlemen and heard from several of you. Here is a brief biography of each.

Leaman Dye

Living life to the fullest may be an understatement for the 98 year-old Leman A. Dye. Upon entering the sun-lit atrium at the Bishop-Gadsden retirement home on James Island, Charleston, S.C., we found Professor Dye sitting with his new bride (of a few weeks) Winiferd. Now entering his 64th year in Charleston, Dr. Dye's memory and eyesight have begun to fade, but he still remembers some of his students at The Citadel and some of his experiences with the MAA.

Born May 21, 1900 in Canandaigua, New York, Professor Dye became a member of the MAA in 1926 when he was an instructor at Universityof Rochester, the school where he received his Bachelor (1921) and Masters (1925) Degrees. He remained at the University of Rochester as an instructor until 1927 when he went to Cornell where he received his PhD in 1930 and remained as instructor until 1935.

Dr. Dye joined the faculty at The Citadel in 1935 and taught there until his retirement in 1968, serving as department head 1955-66. In recognition of his service, The Citadel presented him with a "Superior" teaching award in 1968. Colonel (as he was known at The Citadel) Dye had a reputation of pushing students to reach their potential. When asked about this, Dr. Dye commented "It was part of my duty to push students along." He further stated "Talent is not always recognized, but when it is, it should be fully developed." One of his many students, William (Tom) Trotter, Regents' Professor of Mathematics at Arizona State University, gives credit to Dr. Dye for generating his interest in mathematics. In a senior project, Dr. Dye assigned Tom to investigate the four color problem which excited Tomso much that he decided to go to graduate school. In addition to teaching, Professor Dye maintained research activity as evidenced by the fact he presented 12 papers at professional meetings, published 10 articles and co-authored one book, "Selected Topics in Algebraic Geometry."

During Professor Dye's tenure at The Citadel, the school hosted the Southeastern Section meeting three times, 1939, 1948, and 1964. Professor Dye still remembers the 1939 meeting when he was in charge of the evening meal. This was at a time when gourmet food was not easily attainable even if you could afford it, but the president of the college, General Summerall, through his connections provided an 'extraordinary' banquet with several courses. A regular attendee of MAA section meetings, Professor Dye often drove by himself because he was known to travel over 100 miles per hour (no interstates) on some occasions. He was Chairman of the Southeastern Section in 1948 after being Vice-Chairman in 1947.

The days of driving fast and motivating students are gone, but life still seems to bring excitement for Leman A. Dye. About his recent marriage he said, ""This was a love affair and emotions still respond even when you are 98 years young." Yes, hope springs eternal.

Charles Cleaver
The Citadel

Jack Levine

Jack Levine was born in Philadelphia but by the time he was 12 he was living in Long Beach, California. He went to UCLA and helped the math department in their move to Westwood about 1930. He did his graduate work at Princeton from 1931 until 1935. Jack wrote his dissertation in differential geometry under the direction of T. Y. Thomas. Classmates included Nathan Jacobson and Neil McCoy, A.A. Albert was on a post doc and the faculty included Weyl, Wedderburn and Einstein. Preliminary exams were handled in a rather casual fashion. Exam members were often selected from those in the office that day. For Jack, one of those was John von Neumann. Imagine!!!

He came to North Carolina State College in 1935, leaving only to help break codes during World War II for which he was honored by the government. Jack then returned to State, remaining until his official retirement in 1973. However, he continued to teach for free until 1995.

When Jack came to State College he was told that he could continue to do research as long as it did not interfere with his teaching responsibilities which were about 18 hours a semester. Continue to do research is exactly what he did as he wrote over 100 articles, continuing up until 1995. He worked in math-physics, geometry, and algebra but especially in crytography which was his first interest. State started a PhD program in about 1964 and Jack directed 12 doctoral students. Many of these students have had distinguished careers. One of them, Joel Brawley, recently received the distinquished teaching award from the Southeastern Section of the MAA.

Jack continues to have good health and warmly welcomes old friends when they come to see him.

Ernie Stitzinger
NC State University

Many Thanks!

The Section wishes to express appreciation to the hard-working members of the State Committees.

North Carolina:
Todd Lee, Elon College
Paula Young, Salem College
Rob Harger, High Point University

South Carolina:
Jane Upshaw, USC Beaufort
Richard Robinson, Wofford College
Laurie Hopkins, Columbia College

Georgia:
Jack Sharp, Floyd College
Virginia Watson, Kennesaw State University
Curtis Herink, Mercer University

Valdosta State University Mathematics
Technology Conference
February 26, 1999
Additional information can be found on the web at http://www.valdosta.edu/~dboyd/mtc.html

News From The Campuses

Appalachian State University (Boone, NC)
It has been a nice year at Appalachian. We were pleased to welcome two new permanent faculty members. Mark Ginn (Ph.D., Emory Univ, 1994) comes to us after having taught for four years at Austin Peay State University. Sarah Greenwald (Ph.D., Univ. of Penn., 1998) is beginning her first year of full time teaching. We also welcome Phil Johnson, who comes to us from UNC-Charlotte.
Our department has a new chairperson. Bill Bauldry has taught at ASU since 1986, and we are delighted to have him as chair. Stepping down as chair is Jimmy Smith. Jimmy returns to full time teaching after having served as chair for six years.
Several faculty members retired at the end of the academic year. Ron Ensey had taught at Appalachian since 1969, Billie Goodman since 1983, and Ted Goodman since 1981.
Holly Hirst has been appointed Acting Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She teaches part time in our department.
Jeff Hirst received the Graduate School's "100 Scholars Award."
Advanced Calculus: A Friendly Approach, a text by Witold Kosmala, was published by Prentice Hall.
Our department will host its annual Math Contest on March 24, 1999. This contest is for junior high and high school students from across our state.
On April 16, 1999, our department will host the Fourth North Carolina Mini-Conference on Graph Theory, Combinatorics and Computing. (Submitted by John Harris)

Armstrong Atlantic State University (Savannah, GA)
Our chairman Ed Wheeler was named the Regents Distinguished Professor for Teaching and Learning this year.
Dale Kilhefner is on sabbatical this fall in Estonia. Dr. Hazma Ahmad has joined us for the next year. Dr. Ahmad comes from the United Arab Emerirates University.
On February 13 Armstrong will host its twentieth annual High School Math Contest. (Submitted by Tim McMillan)

Auburn University (Auburn University, AL)
The Department assumed a central role in campus leadership when Jo Heath was elected Faculty Senate Chair for the 1998-99 academic year. Another long term department member, John Hinrichsen, retired after 31 years of service.
Graduate students who completed Ph.D. degrees included Alex Clark, who is now an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas, and John Davis, who now holds an Instructorship at Auburn University. John Davis also gave invited talks in Special Sessions of the AMS at both Louisville and Winston-Salem. Among new graduate students joining the Department in Fall 1998, are Samuel Cartwright (B.S., Bahamas), John Colson (B.S., Auburn), Charles Dolberry (B.S., Alabama-Tuscaloosa; M.S., Alabama-Huntsville), Kathleen Goeden (B.S., Buena Vista), Jennifer Howard (B.S., Auburn), Kevin Meadows (B.S., Troy State), Elizabeth Williams (B.S. LaGrange), and Shenglan Yuan (B.S. and M.S., China).
Several Department members gave talks at mathematics meetings and in special sessions. Pat Goeters spoke in two Special Sessions of the AMS in Winston-Salem, one session of which was organized by Ulrich Albrecht. Johnny Henderson gave talks in Special Sessions of the AMS in Baltimore and in Winston-Salem, and he gave a plenary address for the Centennial Celebration of 100 Years of Doctoral Education in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska. A. J. Meir gave invited talks at the SIAM Annual Meeting in Toronto and at a conference in honor of Olga Ladyzhenskaya hosted by Iowa State University.
A. J. Meir and Paul Schmidt organized a minisymposium, "Analysis, Computation, and Control of MHD Flows," at the SIAM Annual Meeting in Toronto. Ulrich Albrecht and Pat Goeters have recently initiated a research seminar with two faculty members at the University of West Georgia. The seminar meets twice per month, alternating between Auburn and West Georgia. Also, A. J. Meir has been successful in obtaining funding for the Auburn Inter-Disciplinary Seminar, a seminar encouraging collaboration betweeen researchers from different disciplines and different departments.
Johnny Henderson was invited to Kuwait to serve as an evaluator on the University of Kuwait Advisory Committee for Graduate Programs.
The Department hosted the 18th Annual Southeastern-Atlantic Regional Conference on Differential Equations, October 16-17, 1998. (Submitted by Johnny Henderson)

Auburn University at Montgomery (Montgomery, Alabama)
AUM hosted the annual meeting of the Alabama Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ACTM) on November 7 - 8; and the Statewide Mathematics Contest, first round on March 21, finals on April 25.
General James Kays, recently retired from USMA, West Point, is the new department head. His Ph.D. in applied mathematics is from Rensselaer Polytechnic. Dr. Janet St. Clair has been appointed to a one-year Instructor position. She recently completed a Ph.D. in mathematics education at Vanderbilt. Dr. Rob Underwood was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.
Former department head Dr. Carlton Woods ("Woody") and Professor Chester Palmer ("Chet") both retired this year and have started second careers in private industry. Woody is now employed by Systems and Computer Technology Corporation, and is currently providing training and consulting to institutions that have adopted the Banner system for student records and registration. Chet is affiliated with Economic Research Services in Tallahassee, a firm of labor economists and legal consultants. Professors Woods and Palmer had between them 50 years of service to AUM. (Submitted by Rhodes Peele)

Augusta State University (Augusta, GA)
Dr Cornelius Stallmann joined our faculty in August after spending one year at Birmingham-Southern College. Cornelius received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee in 1996. Dr. Christopher Terry joined our department in a temporary position in January and will continue in this position through this academic year. Chris received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia in August. Dr. Peter Blanched left Augusta State to assume a position at Denison University in January. Linda Crawford has returned to the Department after a years leave pursuing graduate studies at The University of Georgia. Dr. Kenneth Hoganson received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Auburn in December. Ken was also granted tenure. (Submitted by Gerald Thompson)

Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN)
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Samuel Jator (Ph.D. from University of Ilorin in Ilorin, Nigeria) and Mr. Andrew Wilson (currently working on his doctorate in mathematics education at Vanderbilt University) to our staff.
The following faculty members have been promoted to Associate Professor: Dr. William Glunt, Dr. Kirk Menser, Dr. Mary Lou Witherspoon, Dr. Xudong Yu. Additionally, Dr. Glunt, Dr. Menser, and Ms. Nancy Smithfield were granted tenure.
APSU hosted the TMTA (Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association) Annual Conference last April as well as the Middle Tennessee Region Mathematics Contest for high school students in March. We will again be a host site for the TMTA mathematics contest for high school students this March. Dr. David Cochener was elected the State Examinations Director for this examination by the executive committee of TMTA.
APSU also hosts the annual APSU middle school mathematics contest in April of each year to reward and encourage young students to study mathematics.
We are very pleased to announce that the department's petition for a honorary Pi Mu Epsilon chapter, a national honorary mathematics fraternity, was unanimously approved by the council of that organization. (Submitted by Jim Vandergriff)

Belmont University (Nashville, TN)
Mike Johnson received his PhD in mathematics from Vanderbilt University in May 1998.
The department hosted the annual Middle Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Conference on the Belmont campus in late September. Over 300 teachers (K - college) attended. Mike Pinter, from Belmont, presented a talk entitled "Portfolios in Mathematics Courses". Glenn Acree and Joyce Blair met with some local high school teachers after the meeting to develop ideas for a mathematics/computer science workshop for students (and possibly teachers) from area schools. Tentative plans are being developed for a spring workshop and a summer workshop.
Glenn Acree participated in a graph theory workshop at DIMACS (held at Rutgers) during the summer of 1998; he also gave a presentation entitled "Cycles in Locally Connected Graphs". Ginger Holmes Rowell was selected to participate in the MAA and NSF sponsored Statistical Thinking with Active Teaching Strategies (STATS) workshop held at Emory and Henry College in June 1998. The workshop focused on teaching statistical thinking and reasoning by using more data, concepts, and simulations.
Mike Johnson was selected to be a Project NExT Fellow for 1998-99. Mike attended the Toronto Mathfest to begin his year as a fellow.
The department is off to a successful start with its Mathematical Musings and Munchings (which began during Spring 98) series of presentations. Mike Johnson presented "Resonances in Periodic Chemotherapy Scheduling" at the September meeting, and Sharon Crumpton will present "Mathematical Toys" at the October 2 meeting. A presentation is scheduled for the first Friday of every month. M&Ms are a standard part of the refreshments provided (since the series is titled MM&Ms).
Stephen Campbell is serving as an officer for 1998-99 in the statewide organization Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association.
Mike Pinter is serving as Interim Dean for the School of Sciences at Belmont during 1998-99. (Submitted by Mike Pinter)

Berry College (Mt. Berry , GA)
Dr. Blayne Carroll and Dr. Eric McDowell have joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences as assistant professors. Dr. Peggy Lane has accepted an appointment as associate professor of Decision Science. Dr. Patrick Eggleton has been appointed as the department coordinator. (Submitted by Bobby Wilder)

The Citadel (Charleston, SC)
Leslie Crabtree retired after 30 years of service to the department.
Andre Deutz resigned to take a position in his native country, The Netherlands.
Charles Cleaver has replaced Steve Comer as department head as the latter completed his five-year term. Steve will have a sabbatical year in 1998-99.
Charles Cleaver won The Citadel's Clint Medbery Award for outstanding teaching of science to freshmen students.
Deborah Herrman is serving in an adjunct position for one year.
Hughes Hoyle has done an excellent job of reviving the Math Club. Attendance, especially that of students, has jumped significantly in the past year. The key attraction seems to be that a fairly substantial dinner is served at the monthly meetings.
Dave Trautman is assisting with the training of the state high-school mathematics team. (Submitted by Dave Trautman)

Coastal Carolina University (Conway, SC)
The spring mathematics contest at two levels was hosted by Coastal. It was sponsored by GTE and Coastal. Aynor High won for the small schools, and Dobyns Bennett won for the Large schools. At level 2, North Myrtle Beach won for the small schools, and Governor's School in South Carolina won for the large schools. Once again, Dobyns Bennett of Tennessee was the overall winner.
This year Coastal has two new tenure track faculty. They are John Stadler who got his Ph. D. in Combinatorics (and juggling ?) from Ohio State, and Olkay Akman who got his Ph. D. from the University of Maine and had a 2-year stint at Utah State University. Deborah Vrooman got promoted to Associate Professor. Subhash Saxena and Rebecca Snyder received a grant from the State Commission of Higher Education for implementing Technology in Georgetown and Williamsburg County High Schools. (Submitted by Subhash Saxena)

Davidson College (Davidson, NC)
Donna Molinek received tenure, with promotion to Associate Professor, and is on sabbatical this year. John Swallow was named the first J. T. Kimbrough Assistant Professor of Mathematics. Over a busy summer, John worked with two advanced undergraduates in connection with an NSF grant, John's wife had a baby girl, and they packed the family for a year in Israel. This year he is on an NSF sponsored sabbatical, visiting the Technion--Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Todd Will received an ACS/Mellon grant for developing web materials for his course that is helping to develop the new text "Matrices, Geometry & Mathematica," an innovative approach to linear algebra based on the singular value decomposition. Todd continues as the Project Next moderator of Math Archives on the WWW.
Ben Klein and Irl Bivens are the new editors for the problem section of the College Mathematics Journal. Stephen Davis has been named the new Chair of the department. Ben & Stephen again served as leaders during the AP Calculus Reading at Clemson.
We are welcoming back an alumna Julie Clark as a Visiting Professor this year. Julie is taking a sabbatical year from Emory & Henry, where she is chair of the Mathematics Department. Also helping us out teaching this fall is Betty Reiter, wife of Harold Reiter. Betty isfinishing a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education at South Carolina and is on leave from Central Piedmont Community College.
Our Bernard Lecturer this fall was Maynard Thompson, Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Mathematics at Indiana University. We continue to hold "math coffees" almost weekly (talks for Davidson students and faculty); check out the Math Coffees link from our home page www.davidson.edu/math/ and join us. At the 1998 Spring Convocation, senior Dom Talvacchio and sophomore Sandy Bishop won our departmental awards. (Submitted by Richard Neidinger)

East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, TN)
Dr. Robert Gardner received the University Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching at the Annual Opening Banquet in August. He had previously received the College of Arts & Sciences Award in Teaching last spring. The University Award was accompanied by a check for $5000.
ETSU Department of Mathematics has one new faculty member this year - Dr. Edith Seier, who recieved her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Wyoming.
The Department also has two longtime faculty members retiring this semester - Drs. Alvin Tirman and Vishwa Sakhare. They will be sorely missed!
The Department hosted an international conference last May: the 11th Annual Cumberland Conference on Combinatorics and Graph Theory.
One of our faculty members, Dr. Debra Knisley, was promoted to Associate Professor of Mathematics, and two of our faculty, Drs. RobertGardner and Janice Huang were tenured this year.
Wu Aidi from the University of Petroleum in China will be a visiting researcher on our campus for six months this year, and Dr. Michael Henning for the University of South Africa will be a Visiting Professor in the Spring semester. (Submitted by Janice Huang)

Erskine College (Due West, SC)
Dr. Ann Bowe attended the IHMT (Institute in the History of Mathematics and its use in Teaching) in Washington DC this summer. It was a two-week sesson sponsored by NSF and the MAA, for both high school teachers and college professors. She reported it was "really, really, REALLY great!" She enjoyed the contact with other attendees as well as the wonderful lectures and presentations. (Submitted by Susan Patterson)

Floyd College (Rome, GA)
Richard Trimble, Professor of Mathematics, has retired after 27 years of service at Floyd College. He served as Chair of the Division of Developmental Studies (Learning Support) for more than 20 years and as acting president of Floyd College for 18 months during this time.
Laura Ralston has been hired as Temporary Assistant Professor of Mathematics. (Submitted by Jack Sharp)

Furman University (Greenville, SC)
Bob Fray has stepped down as department chairman after thirteen years of service and Doug Rall is the new chairman.
Hamp Sherard is on sabbatical for a year and Lisa Markus is in leave of absence for a year. (Submitted by Mike Hammett)

Gainesville College (Gainesville, GA)
We have a new department chair joining us this year. Dr. Danny Lau has a doctoral degree in mathematics from Washington State University.
Susan Smith received tenure and Ellen Rehak was promoted to assistant professor.
The department hosted The Fourth Annual Gainesville Mathematics Tournament. The Fifth Annual Mathematics Tournament will be on April 10, 1999. (Submitted by Gina Reed)

Georgia Perimeter College (Decatur, GA)
NAME CHANGE: As of July 1, 1998 DeKalb College has a new name: GEORGIA PERIMETER COLLEGE.
Promotions: Dr. Kouok Law was promoted to Associate Professor. Georgia Perimeter College Awards:
Award for Outstanding Teaching: Virginia Parks, Clarkston Campus; Dennis Russell, Rockdale Center;
Award for Outstanding Service: Emily Whaley, Clarkston Campus;
Cole Fellow: Pat Zrolka.
Sabbatical: Linda Exley, formerly Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs is on sabbatical for the academic year 1998-1999.
Department News:
Honor: Won the 1998 Regents Teaching Excellence Award for an outstanding academic program in a Regents school in the state of Georgia.
Announcement: Virginia Carson is serving on the statewide Council on General Education.
MAA Grant: Project Bowtie (Building Opportunities through the Women and Teens Idea Exchange) is a joint project with the DeKalb County School System that is funded by a MAA Tensor grant. Twenty-five tenth grade girls will participate in calculator/data analysis workshops and be mentored by a professional woman that uses mathematics in her profession.
Events for the Calendar: 12th Annual Georgia Perimeter College Mathematics Conference, March 26 and 27, Keynote Speaker: Dr. John Downes.
Other: Virginia Carson is the incoming editor of the AMATYC Review; Jackie Thornberry is the incoming Production Editor of the AMATYC Review. (Submitted by Virginia Parks)

Georgia College & State University (Milledgeville, GA)
The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at GC&SU has more new majors this year than ever before. We look forward to working with these students. Also, as part of the University System of Georgia, our calendar has changed from quarters to semesters as of Fall 1998. As part of this transition, the number of required courses in mathematics to complete the core has increased from one to two. We are nearing the middle of our first semester. Our URL is
http://www.gcsu.edu/acad_affairs/coll_artsci/mathcomp_sci.
Dr. Hugh A. Sanders has been here at GC&SU for 20 years teaching developmental studies mathematics courses, but as of Fall 1998 holds a position in this department. We are delighted to have him as a colleague. Dr. Dave Hawkins, director of Academic Computing Services, joined this department during Spring Quarter 1998. Dr. J.F. Yao completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University in August of 1998. He has joined us as Assistant Professor of Computer Science, holding a one year appointment during the search for this position.
Ms. Gita Williams has returned to this department after two years in residence at UGA. She is continuing her doctoral studies (having completed coursework) in Computer Science. Dr. Mae Carpenter has returned to us after three years as Assistant Dean and one year as Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Peter Jarvis and Dr. Craig Turner were promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Paul Schuette and Dr. John S. Robertson were granted tenure.
Dr. Paul Schuette has returned from Georgia Tech where he was a participant in a special faculty development program for both Winter and Spring Quarters during the 1997-98 academic year. During this time, he worked with Dr. Carl Spruill on problems in probability involving Zipf's law and regularly varying distributions.
Dr. Peter Jarvis will be involved in this same faculty development opportunity during Spring Semester 1999. He plans to apply wavelet analysis to brain wave data and will be working with Dr. Geronimo at Georgia Tech and Dr. Phil Olivier at Mercer University.
Ms. Mary Pratt-Cotter is nearing completion of her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education which she is pursuing at Georgia State University under the direction of Dr. Hiram Johnston.
Dr. David J. DeVries has been involved with the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Community (RUMEC) for the last few years. At the Joint Meetings, the "Association for Research in Undergraduate Mathemematics Education "(ARUME) is being organized and we invite participation of all interested in this area.
Dr. John S. Robertson was awarded a grant for $37,500 for an interdisciplinary curriculum proposal from Project Intermath. Project Intermath is funded by the National Science Foudnation. Robertson's grant will cover the development of two courses at the junior-senior level: "The mathematics and art of digital imaging" and "Goedel, Escher, and Bach," which will explore artifical intelligence from a variety of perspectives.
On Saturday, April 25, 1998, the department formally chartered the Georgia Beta chapter of Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national mathematics honor society, initiating sixteen students. (Submitted by Craig Turner)

Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, GA)
New faculty: Edward Arroyo (Temporary Assistant Professor, Ph.D. City University of New York), Fangjun Arroyo (Temporary Instructor, Ph.D., City University of New York), Keith J. Barrs (Temporary Instructor, M.S., Georgia Southern University), Reggie A. Becker (Temporary Instructor, M.A.T., Miami University), Chase V. Brady (Temporary Instructor, M.S. Miami University), Michael L. Dowell (Temporary Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of South Carolina), Jacalyn M. Huband (Temporary Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Old Dominion University), Serpil Kocabiyik (Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Western Ontario), Grzegorz Michalski (Temporary Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame), Angelia G. Rowe (Temporary Instructor, M.S., Georgia Southern University), Kumud Singh-Altmayer (Temporary Assistant Professor, C.Sc., Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Gale A. Watson (Assistant Professor, Ph.D. The Ohio State University).
Arthur Sparks stepped down as department chair effective August 1after ten years in the position. Replacing him is Dr. Donald W. Fausett, Ph.D. (Univ. of Wyoming).
Earl Lavender retired in March after 32 years of service to Georgia Southern as both Professor and Department Chair.
Lila Roberts was honored by the University for Excellence in Contributions to Instruction. This is one of two annual university-wide awards. In conjunction with receiving the award, she will present "Moving Beyond Concept Definition: Issues, Examples, and Experiences" on November 17. Last year's GSU Distinguished Professor of Teaching and Learning, Pam Watkins, is spending this year as Assistant Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching.
Last year the department received a donation from one of our alumni sufficient to endow the Karl Peace Chair of Mathematics with $1,000,000, due to a matching grant from the Board of Regents. We will be searching this year for an eminent scholar to fill this chair.
The Tenth Annual Mathematics Tournament was held on January 24, 1998 with a record 772 junior- and senior-high students participating. Next year's tournament will be held on February 6, 1999.
Martha Abell is the Georgia state Governor this year for the MAA-SE. She is also president of the Southeastern Atlantic section of SIAM.
Construction has finally begun on the addition the the Math-Physics-Psychology building. Early in the year 2000 we plan to finally have the entire department under one roof! (Submitted by Patricia B. Humphrey)

Guilford College (Greensboro, NC)
Rudy Gordh is the new Mathematics Department chair. Elwood Parker will be on study-leave during the spring semester, 1999.
Two of our female mathematics majors participated in summer research projects this past summer: Gwyneth Cliver - Summer Program for Women in Mathematics at The George Washington University; and Lada Dimitrova - research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. (Submitted by Rudy Gordh)

High Point University (High Point, NC)
Nelson Page has steped down as chairman of the department after serving for twenty-five years in this position. The department certainly thanks Nelson for all his hard work (and for hiring each of us) during his time as chairman. Rob Harger has assumed the duties of chairman of the department.
Lisa Carnell was granted tenure.
Jeff Butera is one of the university's directors for the Habitat For Humanity student chapter.
The department has received a charter for a chapter of Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national mathematics honor society. (Submitted by Rob Harger)

Jacksonville State University (Jacksonville, AL)
Beginning this year, the department will conduct the Alabama Statewide Mathematics Contest, with Jeff Dodd serving as contest director. The contest, sponsored by the Alabama Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ACTM) and the Alabama Association of College Teachers of Mathematics (AACTM), is both an individual and team competition and involves two rounds: a written round administered at eight locations, and a ciphering tournament hosted here at JSU. It draws participation from about 1350 students representing 80 schools. The department will also host two other math tournaments this spring: the local MATHCOUNTS tournament and the Calhoun County Math Tournament. To complete a very busy spring, the 1999 meeting of the AACTM will be held here at JSU, with Edwin Smith planning and coordinating the conference.
Edwin Smith has had his paper "A Density Bound for Efficient Packings of 3-space with Centrally Symmetric Convex Bodies" accepted by Mathematika. Jeff Dodd and Edwin Smith are participating in the 1998 version of Project NExT-SE. Jeff Dodd won a Dean's Award for Institutional Service to the JSU College of Arts and Sciences. Daniel Smith, one of our Spring 1998 B.S. Mathematics graduates, was accepted into the graduate program in mathematics at Texas Tech with a teaching assistantship.
Finally, we acknowledge the retirement of Professor Chris Horsfield, who was with the department for 32 years and also served as Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences; we mourn the sudden death of John Van Cleave, Professor of Mathematics from 1969 until his retirement in 1995 and an influential member of the Jacksonville community; and we welcome to the department Tom Leathrum, who joins us this year on the tenure track as Assistant Professor of Mathematics. (Submitted by Jeff Dodd)

Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, GA)
The Department has hired three full time temporary faculty members for the 1998-99 academic year, Dr. Mary L. Garner, Ph.D. from Emory University in Mathematics Education; Dr. Kathleen M. Krzastek, Ph.D. from Emory University in Computational Real Algebraic Geometry; and Susan Calvin-O'Connor, M.S. from the University of Alabama at Huntsville.
Don Sparks retired after 30 distinguished years of service at KSU. Dr. Lewis VanBrackle replaces him as assistant to the chair.
Dr. Joshua Du received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Sean Ellermeyer received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Barbara Ferguson was promoted to Assistant Professor. Dr. Pamela Drummond was promoted to Professor. (Submitted by Virginia Watson)

Lander University (Greenwood, SC)
We have had a great measure of stability during the last school year - no one came or left - no promotions. (It's been a quiet week in my home town.) Bruce White has stepped down after many years of doing a superb job as Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science. Pattie Blitch is now our new chair.
The Lander University Division of Mathematics and Computer Science is currently implementing a National Science Foundation Grant to develop a "data-driven statistics course." The project co-directors are Andre' Lubecke and Bruce F. White. Information about the project can be found at project web site: http://www.mathcs.lander.edu/statproject
We are slowly making progress on the move into our new building. Every week something new in the way of supplies, computers, or furniture appears. Although slow, we are all happy with our new digs and hope you will come and see them.
Joe Cabri continues his dual role as math professor and highly successful tennis coach. His team has once again (six years in a row) won the national championship (NCAA, Div II). Our men's tennis team has been ranked in the top ten every week for 18 years now. I wonder what Joe does in his spare time? (Submitted by Walter Patterson)

Lenoir-Rhyne College (Hickory, NC)
The Lenoir-Rhyne College Mathematics department has had some recent personnel changes. We are pleased to welcome Dr. David Gebhard as a new Assistant Professor. Dr. Gebhard completed his undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton. He joins us this year fresh out of graduate school at Michigan State University, where he completed his dissertation in algebraic combinatorics with Dr. Bruce Sagan. He is currently attempting to publish selected results, in addition to his new teaching duties.
On a related personnel note, we would like to announce the re-retirement of Professor Lloyd Smith next semester. We were glad to have him come out of retirement to teach another semester for us, while Dr. Jeannie Hollar is on Maternity Leave. Dr. Hollar was blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Blair Conrad Hollar, on July 30, 1998. We look forward to her resuming her duties here next semester.
Dr. Vicki Schell and Dr. Hollar both plan to attend the Annual Meeting (North American Chapter) for the Psychology of Mathematics education at NCSU in Raleigh, from Oct.31-Nov. 3. Dr. Hollar will also be presenting at this meeting. Dr. Gebhard plans to attend the AMS sectional meeting at Wake Forest on Oct.9-10. (Submitted by David D. Gebhard)

Mercer University (Macon, GA)
Dr. Hope McIlwain is a new Assistant Professor of Mathematics. Her B.S. is from Furman University, her Ph.D. is from Rice University, and she specialized in spectral graph theory.
Dr. Curtis Herink is the new Chair of the Mathematics Department. There are two new members of the Computer Science Department. Mr. Jason Jennette, B.A., M.S. from Mercer University, is a Visiting Instructor. Dr. Andrew Digh, B.A. from University of North Carolina, Asheville, M.S., Ph.D. from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a Visiting Assistant Professor.
The date for the Fourteenth Annual Mercer University High School Mathematics Contest is November 14. (Submitted by Curtis D. Herink)

Meredith College (Raleigh, NC)
While Virginia Knight is on sabbatical leave, Jo Guglielmi is the Acting Head. Gwen Clay has joined the department as a Professor of Mathematics. Mark Rosso is a duPont fellow for the 1998-1999 academic year. Vivian Kraines received the 1998 Perry Award for research and publications.
Jo Guglielmi spent the summer traveling in Italy, the Czech Republic and the U.K. with Meredith's Summer Abroad. She taught a course entitled "The Evidence of Engineering in Europe" which allowed students to study structures that they visited during their travels.
Last year while on sabbatical, Gwen Clay worked with the Jones County Public School System helping classroom teachers improve their teaching of mathematics. The project, Teaching Mathematics for Learning, is supported by funding from the Teacher Enhancement Division of the National Science Foundation. Gwen will continue her work with this project through 1999. (Submitted by Vivian Kraines)

North Carolina A&T University (Greensboro, NC)
Dr. Wanda Patterson was hired as Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, beginning Fall semester 1998.
Dr. Giles Warrack and Dr. Janis Oldham were both tenured and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor effective July 1, 1998.
Dr. Joseph Greundler retired after the Spring 1998 semester after 29 years of service to North Carolina A&T State University.
Dr. Dominic Clemence served as faculty coordinator for NCA&T NASA SHARP PLUS program. The program involved 22 high school students, 16 faculty research mentors from 9 academic departments, as well as several other A&T and industry researchers as seminar presenters. Dr. Errol Rowe and Dr. Guoqing Tang served as research mentor and seminar presenter, respectively.
A&T Mathematics Volunteer Peer Mentoring Program: Last semester, 35 A&T students from most all disciplines, served as mentors and tutors for about 80 students in 4 area middle schools, as well as 1 elementary and 1 high school.
Dr. Alexandra Kurepa received a grant from the National Security Agency and Association for Women in Mathematics in the amount of $3,500 for the ÒNorth Calolina A&T Sonia Kovalevsky Mathematics DayÓ. The event took place on September 17, 1998.
The Mathematics Department at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&TSU) conducted its 3rd annual Mathematics Awareness Day in conjunction with mathematics faculty at Wake Forest University (WFU). The celebration consisted of two morning sessions of graduate student talks given by students in Masters programs in mathematics or applied mathematics from NCA&TSU and WFU. In the early afternoon there was a panel discussion: ÒFrom Calculus to Analysis - Does It Have To Be So Difficult?Ó After the panel discussion came the Differentiation and Integration Contest, coordinated by Dominic Clemence. There were 100 participants in the two contests, the largest yet, and including some high school students from Southern Guilford High School. Dr. Alexandra Kurepa is the organizer.
Janis M. Oldham and Dr. Robert Mers were awarded a grant from the National Security Agency for three years (7-1-98 through 6-30-01) for $450,000. The title of the proposal was ÒDeveloping a Mathematics Culture Among Undergraduate Mathematics Majors at North Carolina A&T State University.Ó The grant is supporting enrichment activities for thirteeen undergraduate mathematics majors.
Janis M. Oldham , Guoqing Tang, Gregory Gibson, of the NCA&TSU Mathematics Dept., Bala Ram, DeRome Dunn, Clinton Lee of the NCA&T College of Engineering, and Neil Sigmon of the Chowan College Mathematics Department were awarded a National Science Foundation grant for two years, $100,000 (7-1-98 through 6-30-00). The title of the project : ÒEnhancing Mathmematics Courses Through Engineering Applications.Ó
Dr. Mers, Dr. Esterline, and Ms. Brown participated in the NSF funded MATC (Mathematics Across the Curriculum) grant to Dartmouth College. They have developed supplementary enrichment materials for Discrete Mathematics II, part of the mathematics / computer science component of MATC.
Dr. Gilbert Casterlow is the Conference Chair for the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference to be held in Greensboro, Oct. 29-30, 1998. Dr. Kathy Cousins-Cooper is the Commercial Exhibits chair of the conference. Dr. Robert Mers is the Newsletter Chair for the conference.
On April 23, 1998 the Math Department once again hosted high school students participating in the state high school math contest. NCA&TSU is a regional site. Dr. Gilbert Casterlow coordinates the effort. Assistance comes from the NCA&T chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, and faculty voluteers. (Submitted by Janis M. Oldham)

North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
The Mathematics Department has three new faculty members this year. Jean-Pierre Fouque joined our faculty as an associate professor Fall 1998. Jean-Pierre obtained his Ph.D. in 1979 from the Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, France. He works in the areas of applied probability theory and financial mathematics. Ralph Smith joined our faculty as an associate professor Spring 1998. Ralph obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 from Montana State University and his research interests include the mathematical modeling of smart material systems, numerical analysis and scientific computation for physical systems, and control of systems modeled by partial differential equations. Hoon Hong also joined us as an associate professor Spring 1998. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 from Ohio State University. His research interests are in the development of mathematical theories, algorithms and software libraries for efficiently and reliably solving non-linear constraints.
Two members of our department received awards in 1998. Professor Ronald Fulp was named an Outstanding Teacher for 1997-1998, and he was elected to the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers. Professor H. Thomas Banks won the 1998 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Purdue University School of Science.
Christopher Ryan Vinroot was a winner of the Richard V. Andree Award for the best paper written by a student that appeared in the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal in 1998. The paper, "Mauldin-Williams Graphs with Unique Dimension," was written jointly with Johanna Miller, a student at Duke University, and was based on research done during a 1996 REU at Hope College under the direction of Dr. John Stroughton. In addition, Ryan and fellow May 1998 graduate John David Storey were awarded NSF fellowships for graduate study. Both Ryan and John started graduate studies at Stanford University Fall 1998.John Franke, Xiao-Biao Lin, and Ilse Ipsen were all promoted to the rank of Professor this year. Professors Tim Kelley and Michael Singer are on leave of absence Fall 1998.
A conference funded by NSA and NSF on Affine and Quantum Affine Algebras and Related Topics was hosted by Kailish Misra and Naihuan Jing May 21-24, 1998. Invited speakers were J. Beck (University of Chicago), G. Benkart (University of Wisconsin), S. Berman (University of Saskatchewan, Canada), V. Chari (University of California at Riverside), J. Ding (Kyoto, Japan), C. Dong (University of California at Santa Cruz), O. Foda (University of Melbourne, Australia), E. Frenkel (University of California at Berkeley), R. Griess (University of Michigan), Y.-Z. Huang (Rutgers University), S.-J. Kang (SNU, Korea), Atsuo Kuniba (Tokyo - Phys), J. Lepowsky (Rutgers University), H. Li (Rutgers University at Camden), D. Melville (St. Lawrence University), T. Miwa (Kyoto, Japan), T. Nakashima (Osaka, Japan), M. Okado (Osaka, Japan), A. Ram (Princeton University), and W. Wang (Yale University and Max-Plank). (Submitted by Robert T. Ramsay)

Pellissippi State Technical Community College (Knoxville, TN)
Pellissippi State has two new faculty members, Carolyn Renier and Robert Rhea. Carolyn has a B.A. in math from Vanderbilt University and the M.M. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She previously worked as a systems analyst and has served as an adjunct faculty member for eight years at Pellissippi State. Robert Rhea completed the B.S. in mathematics from Emory and Henry College (VA) and the M.S. in Statistics from Virginia Tech. He has nine years of teaching experience at Mountain Empire Community College and Southside Virginia Community College.
Neera Mannar was promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor. Judy Ahrens and Beth Long were awarded tenure.
Associate Professor Cheryl Slayden was recipient of the 1998 Outstanding Faculty Award for her leadership as president of the Faculty Council. She was selected by her peers.
Dr. JoAnne Thomasson and Bob Pesut have completed their first textbook, "Experiencing Algebra". Their developmental math textbook was published by Prentice Hall in August, 1998. The department has adopted the textbook for Introductory Algebra and Intermediate Algebra.
Pellissippi State celebrated Mathematics Awareness Week on April 25-May 1, 1998 with a plethora of activities for students and faculty. Seminar speakers were Ms. Beth Long and Dr. Ray Booth of Pellissippi State and Dr. David Sylwester of University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Other activities included a math film festival and special posters on math history and humor. The highlight of the week was the announcement of the winners of the Math Bowl, which had five levels of competition for students. (Submitted by Catherine W. Williams)

Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL)
Daniel S. Cyphert, Ph.D., chair of the department, was promoted to Professor and given a sabbatical semester during which he will study computer algebra systems and their use in the mathematics curriculum. He will not be spending exorbitant amounts of time on his sailboat as is rumored. Charles Cheney, Ph.D., will assume his duties as department chair during his absence in the fall semester.
Jeanette Monroe was appointed as an instructor in the department. She has a B.S. and an M.S. in mathematics, both from University of Tennessee at Knoxville. (Submitted by Daniel S. Cyphert)

Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, TN)
Rafal Ablamowicz (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University) was appointed Professor and Chairperson, effective July 1, 1998. He comes to us from Gannon University, Erie, PA, where he served as Chairperson for 8 years.
Alice Mason, our former Chairperson for 12 years, has returned to full-time teaching. She is developing a web course at http://mason.math.tntech.edu/math101/101.htm
Pertti Lounesto is a Visiting Professor (1998-99) coming to us from Helsinki Institute of Technology in Helsinki, Finland. This fall he is giving a seminar on his specialty, Clifford algebras and spinors
Brian O'Connor received one of TTU's campus-wide Outstanding Teaching Awards. Nizam Uddin was tenured and promoted to Assoc. Professor.
Matthias Eller (Ph.D. Wichita State Univ.), Alexander Shibakov (Ph.D. Auburn University), and Shubhada Mahajan (Ph.D. candidate at TTU) were appointed to 1-year terms as Assistant Professor for 1998-99. We have three tenure-track openings at the asst. prof. level to be filled for Fall 1999. Look for an announcement on our web page [http://www.math.tntech.edu/]
Asst. Professor Evelyn Brown retired after many years of service.
Mike Breen attended the SIAM Northeast Regional Mathematics in Industry Workshop held at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA in May, 1998, for the purpose of getting information on applied math projects for our students and finding out what industry wants from our students.
Annie Selden will serve as Co-chair of the Working Group, "Future Directions of Research in Tertiary Mathematics Education" at the ICMI Study Conference on Teaching University Mathematics, Singapore, December 8 - 12, 1998. To access the conference discussion document and the pre-conference papers, consult http://www.nie.ac.sg:8000/~wwwmath/icmi/. She continues to expand the Research Sampler portion of MAA Online's Teaching and Learning Section [ http://www.maa.org/t_and_l/sampler/research_sampler.html.
The department has the following regular seminars: topology, education, graduate and is revitalizing its Mathematics Club. (Submitted by Annie Selden)

University of Georgia (Athens, GA)
David Benson was awarded the Creative Research Medal and John Hollingsworth received the Meigs Award.
Valery Alexeev was promoted to Associate Professor in September of 1996. David Benson was granted tenure in September of 1997. Gordana Matic was promoted to Associate Professor in September of 1997, as were Mitchell Rothstein and Qing Zhang.
Francois Ziegler is visiting this year. His specialty is representation theory; his home department is at the Universite de Provence.
Postdoctoral Fellows are numerous: Pierre Giguere, from the University of Michigan, specializing in number theory and algebraic geometry; Eugen Ionascu, from Texas A & M University, specializing in operator theory; David Roach, from Vanderbilt by way of Sandia National Laboratory, specializing in applied mathematics; Daniel Shiu, from Oxford University, specializing in number theory; Thomas Tucker, from Berkeley, specializing in number theory; Luis Valero-Elizondo, from the University of Minnesota, specializing in modular representation of finite groups; Rongwei Yang, from SUNY, specializing in operator theory.
Retirements: C. Henry Edwards, Jr.; Julie Horne; John Runningwolfe.
Malcolm Adams has left the position of Associate Department Head to return to full-time teaching and research. Leonard Chastkofsky has taken over Malcolm's former duties.
Ken Johnson has taken over Will Kazez's duties as our new graduate coordinator. (Submitted by David E. Penney)

University of Montevallo (Montevallo, AL)
Dr. Nathan Ponder, a recent graduate of Tulane University has joined us as an assistant professor.
The highlight for our department last year was the chanceto serve as host for a mini-conference for undergraduate math majors from here at UM as well as from the University of West Alabama. (Submitted by Gene Garza)

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
Francine Blanchet-Sadri received a $50,000 National Science Foundation grant to study "decipherability of codes and applications."
After serving in our department for many years as a part-time lecturer, Madeline Bradley has joined the ranks of our full-time lecturers. Madeline received her MA degree in mathematics from UNCG.
Richard Fabiano received a three-year grant of $56,341 from the National Science Foundation to support his research on distributed parameter systems. These systems are mathematical models of complex physical phenomena such as vibrating elastic structures.
Gary Gadbury joined our statistics faculty this fall as an assistant professor. Gary received his PhD in the statistics program at Colorado State University . His research area is "Causal Influence in Randomized Experiments and Observational Studies." Gary has performed research on behalf of the US Forest Service on data analysis methods for tree growth data. Both Gary and his wife Carol are natives of Illinois.
Grace Kissling is co-recipient (with Mary Sandford in the Department of Anthropology) of a three-year grant of $171,000 from the National Science Foundation to support an innovative undergraduate research program created to provide undergraduates with research opportunities in the study of ancient bones and diseases.
Sue Lea continued her summer work on image processing of satellite images at the Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS, on an ASEE-Navy Summer Faculty Fellowship.
Jerry Vaughan presented a paper, titled (with Richard E Hodel) "Dow's reflection theorem without elementary submodels," at the 32nd annual Spring Topology Conference, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, March 1998. Vaughan also presented a paper, titled (with Richard E. Hodel) "Point-weight reflects all cardinals in compact T-2-spaces," at the 13th Annual Summer Topology Conference at the National University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, June 1998. Vaughan gave a sequence of three invited lectures, titled "An introduction to reflection theorems for cardinal functions," at the Galway-Oxford Conference, Oxford University, September 1998.
Jie Wang presented a paper, titled "Efficient minimization of numerical summation errors," at the 25th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming, Aalborg, Denmark, July 1998. Wang presented a paper, titled "A graph optimization problem in virtual colonoscopy," at the 4th International Computing and Combinatorics conference, Taipei, Taiwan, August 1998. Both papers have been published by Springer-Verlag in its Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.
Our department began offering a Master of Science degree in computer science this fall. The program will focus on the fundamentals of computers and software development. Students will take courses from five core areas: computer architecture, operating systems, computer networks, theory of computation and algorithms.
Jared Karro (BS computer science, UNCG), a first year graduate student in our new computer science Master's degree program, is co-author (with Jie Wang) of a paper titled "Protecting Web Servers from Security Holes in Server-Side Includes." The paper has been accepted by the 14th Annual Computer security applications conference, which will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, December 1998. As part of the process in learning classical encryption and decryption algorithms, Jared developed a Java applet to implement the VigenÂre encryption and decryption scheme. According to Jie Wang, "he did it cleverly and beautifully," and with this applet Jared became a third prize winner in the ACM/IBM International Java Contest (Quest for Java'97). (Submitted by Linda Kilgariff)

University of North Carolina at Pembroke (Pembroke, NC)
The Mathematics Department at UNCP held it's 17 th. annual Mathematics Contest during March, 1998. Nearly 400 area school children and 100 teachers participated in the contest.
Dr. Laszlo Zsilinszky, Dr. Michael Hardy and Dr. James Harris are new additions to the department. Dr. Cliff Tremlay retired after 15 yrs service to UNCP.
The Summer Bridge Program sponsored by the North Carolina alliance for Minority participation was conducted on campus. The five week program was held for entering minority students who will major in science, mathematics and engineering. (Submitted by Don Beken)

University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Wilmington, NC)
On July 1, 1998, the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington was divided into the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Computer Science. Twenty-six full-time faculty now reside in Mathematics and Statistics while eight full-time faculty moved to Computer Science. Dr. Douglas Smith is continuing as Chair of Mathematics and Statistics while Dr. Barbara Greim was appointed Interim Chair in Computer Science.
Drs. Xin Lu, Paul Shotsberger, and Matthew TenHuisen were promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure. Dr. Mark Lammers was reappointed as Visiting Assistant Professor.
Dr. Ibrahim Sadek has extended his leave of absence at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Yaw Chang is on research reassignment at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Jenna Elder resigned effective December, 1997, and is now Biostatistician at PharmaResearch Corporation in Wilmington.
Dr. Kenneth Gurganus is serving as Undergraduate Coordinator and Dr. Wei Feng is Assistant Chair in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Dr. Dargan Frierson is now the MAA Liaison for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics replacing Dr. David Berman who moved to the Department of Computer Science. (Submitted by Dargan Frierson)

University of South Alabama (Mobile, AL)
The Department of Math/Stat at the University of South Alabama is pleased to have two visiting faculty members this year. They are: Dr. David Krebes, PhD from Chicago, and Dr. Vasiliy Prokhorov, PhD and Dr. Sc. from Steklov Mathematical Institute.
There were two retirements in June: Ms. Mary Helen Capell, who had been on the faculty here for 32 years, and Dr. Istvan Kovacs, who had been on the faculty for 19 years.
The University is in its first term of the semester system, which has caused a major revision of the course offerings. There is a new major being offered by the Department, beginning next year. This will be a major in Math-Stat. (Submitted by Richard Vinson)

University of South Carolina-Spartanburg (Spartanburg, SC)
Dr. M.B. Ulmer completed a three year term as the Chairman of the Division of Mathematics and Computer Science. Dr. James Spencer is beginning his initial year as the Chairman of the Division. Dr. Ulmer will be taking a sabbatical in the spring to construct a web-site for project-based instruction in mathematics for the liberal arts.
Dr. Ed Wilde was selected as the UniversityÕs NationsBank Teacher of the Year and is a finalist for the South Carolina teacher of the year. Ed plans to retire at the end of the spring semester. Ed first served USCS as the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. He has served the University and profession in an exemplary fashion.
Converse College, Wofford College, and USCS jointly sponsor the Spartanburg Collegiate Mathematics Colloquium Series. The purpose of the series is to promote interaction among students and members of the local mathematics community outside of the traditional classroom setting.

University of Tennessee-Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Joining us this fall is Neil Portnoy (Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire), whose area is mathematics education.
Our visiting faculty for this year includes Ayman Badawi (academic year) in algebra from Birzeit University in West Bank, Palistine; Valerii Berestovskii (fall) in differential geometry from Omsk State University in Russia; Jones T. Doss(academic year) in applied math; Bernadette Mullins (fall) in algebra from Youngstown State University; Zhenghui Xie (academic year) in applied math from LASG, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in China.
Stefan Richter was promoted to full professor in July, 1997, Charles Collins was promoted to associate professor in July, 1998, and S.B. Mulay was promoted to full professor in July 1998.
Jan Rosinski accepted the responsibilities of Associate Head of the Mathematics Department for Graduate Studies when Sam Jordan relinquished these duties in June, 1997.
Retirees for the mathematics department include Gene Doss (May '96), Tom Mathews (May '97), Harvey Carruth (Dec. '97), Kusum Soni (Dec. '97), and Hank Frandsen (May '98).
Faculty members on leave during this academic year include Nick Alikakos (fall) at the University of Athens, Garth Baker (fall), Ohannes Karakashian (academic year) at University of Texas at Austin, and Mark Kot (spring) at the University of Washington.
A Research Experience for Undergraduates will be held at UTK during the summer of 1999.

University of the South (Sewanee TN)
Anne Katherine Jones, salutatorian of the class of 1998 and a double-major in mathematics and chemistry, has been named Sewanee's 23-rd Rhodes Scholar and is now studying chemistry at Oxford University. Anne also won a National Science Foundation fellowship. Two of her 1998 classmates, Chris Hammond and Matt Cathey, are now studying mathematics in graduate school at the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee, respectively.
Catherine Cavagnaro is working on knot theory and group theory at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana on a post-doc taken for the 1998 calendar year. In addition, she and Will Haight are among the associate editors of a proposed new dictionary of mathematics.
Mac Priestley has a paper on Markovian semigroups in a recent issue of The Semigroup Forum. A second edition of his elementary textbook, re-titled "Calculus: A Liberal Art," was published by Springer-Verlag this spring. Laurence Alvarez has been elected treasurer of EDUCAUSE, the association resulting from the consolidation of Educom and CAUSE.
Stephen Puckette, recently retired, was awarded an honorary D.Sc. degree by the University of the South for his distinguished service to the college as professor of mathematics and as dean. An avid outdoorsman, Steve also served as coach of Sewanee's Canoe Club for some twenty years, during which time his team consistently won the Southeastern championship in trials on the Nantahala River, except for one year when they finished a close second.
The 1998 Annual Mathematics Lecture was given by Tommy Wright, chief statistician of the U. S. Bureau of the Census, who spoke about using statistical methods as an aid in taking the census for the year 2000.
Ciprian Foias, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Indiana University, will visit Sewanee in late November as a Phi Beta Kappa lecturer. (Submitted by William Priestley)

Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
We continue to have an active seminar and colloquium schedule; it can be seen on our calendar web page at http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/events/calendar.html. Mathematicians at other nearby universities are welcome to join us for any of these activities.
Our visitors this year are Karlheinz Grvchenig (University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT), Seok Yoon Hwang (Taegu University, South Korea), Jaroslav Jezek (Charles University, Praha, Czechoslovakia), Kee Hwan Kim (Yeungnam University, South Korea), Serge Lawrencenko (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong), Jim Snodgrass (Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH), and Hendrika Swart and John Swart (both from University of Natal, Durban, South Africa).
The 15th Southeastern Analysis Meeting will be held here at Vanderbilt, from May 20 to May 23, 1999. In conjunction with it will be the annual Shanks lecture. This year's Shanks lecturer will be Bill Arveson, of the University of California at Berkeley. (Submitted by Eric Schechter)

Wofford College (Spartanburg, SC)
Prof. Curtis Bell will retire in May, 1999 after 36 years of dedicated, effective teaching at Wofford. He will be missed.
Prof. Angela Shiflet worked during the summer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She investigated formal methods in software assurance. This is the eleventh summer that she has had a research appointment at a government laboratory. Prof. Shiflet also helped three Wofford students get summer internships at JPL. Although she continues to teach some mathematics courses, Prof. Shiflet has recently been appointed chair of the Computer Science department at Wofford. Finally, she will be the speaker at both the South Carolina State Mathematics Dinner at Wofford on Oct.30 and the North Carolina State Mathematics Dinner at UNC-Asheville, Nov.5. Busy woman! (Submitted by Richard L. Robinson)