Report on the 74-th Annual Meeting
of the Wisconsin Section of the
Mathematical Association of America
Report submitted July 04, 2006
The 74-th Annual Spring Meeting of the MAA-Wisconsin Section was hosted
by UW-Whitewater the weekend of April 21-22, 2006. Registration began at
noon, Friday, in the Horicon Lounge, in the building called Campus Center
on the UW-Whitewater campus. Talks began at 1:00 p.m. Friday, and the
last talk was an invited address from 11:00 a.m. until noon on Saturday.
From 5:30 til 6:30 there was a reception and cash bar and, concurrently,
a student competition, Face-Off, which had been organized by Ken Price
and Steve Szydlik and their student Adam Bremberger, all from UW-Oshkosh.
The banquet followed the reception and competition, Friday evening,
with a serving line offering salad,
rolls, a choice of vegetable, and a choice of entrees. A beverage and
desert were served by the wait staff. The banquet was
attended by 153 persons. After the meal came awards.
First there were awards for "Face Off -- The Math Game Show". These were
presented by John Koker, UW-Oshkosh. UW-Platteville (Team Newton)
finished first, followed closely by St. Norbert College (Team Byron) and
UW-Rock County (Team La Grange). Other teams came from Carthage College,
UW-Rock County, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-Whitewater. Seven teams competed
since two came from UW-Rock County. Teams ranged in size from two team
members to four. No more than four students are allowed on a team, and
the competition is for students only. Here are several sample questions:
Bad Math Puns: What do you call an attractive 3-sided polygon?
Big Ideas: How many zeros are there at the end of 100! ?
Face Book: A simply connected polyhedron has 6 vertices and 12
edges. How many faces does it have?
Thinking Cap: What is the largest denomination that cannot be made
using 6 cent and 7 cent stamps?
Final Challenge: Write 800 as the sum of two or more consequetive
integers. Each solution was worth 25 points. No
team came up with more than one.
The competition was lots of fun and was very popular. The Chancellor of
UW-Whitewater attended the competition and was very supportive, earning
UW-Whitewater top honors for being a gracious and supportive host
university for a mathematical evet.
Four local teachers received the Wisconsin Section Award for
Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching. The teachers and
presenters, who made tastful award speeches, were
1. Diana Callope, Whitewater Middle School, Whitewater;
award presented by Julie Letellier
2. Michael Tamblyn, Whitewater High School, Whitewater;
award presented by Geetha Samaranayake
3. Gayna Gabor, Watertown High School, Watertown;
award presented by Joan Stamm
4. Joan Fitzgerald, Jefferson High School, Jefferson;
award presented by Manasi Sheth
After the teaching awards to high school and middle school teachers came
the presentation of the 2006 Wisconsin Section Award for Distinguished
University Teaching in the Mathematical Sciences. This year the award
went to Professor Robert Calcaterra, UW-Platteville. Andy Matchett
presented the award, and then Rob came to the podium and said a few well-
chosen words. Matchett's presentation speech and Calcaterra's response
are appended to this report.
Next, Andy Matchett, Secretary/treasurer since April, 1985, was surprised
when he was presented with a beautiful plaque commemorating his 21 years
of service to the section. He thanked the Section for this honor, and he
commended all those very fine people on the Executive Committee that he
has worked with over the years. Matchett also wished his successor well,
Mark Snavely, of Carthage College.
After the awards came the after-dinner-address by Thomas Banchoff, Brown
University on leave at the University of Georgia. Banchoff gave a most
entrancing talk on the fourth dimension, the Spanish painter Salvadore
Dali, and on the relationships among that painter, that dimension, and
himself. The technology performed flawlessly. Memorable quote on
the occasion of a little spinning wheel remaining on the computer screen
for perhaps thirty seconds: "My wife calls this the wheel of death and
has instructed me not to touch the keyboard until it is gone." But the
technology did perform flawlessly and the talk on the Dali dimension was
enjoyed by all.
BOOKSALE
Jim Marty could not be at the meeting to run the book sale, so it was run
by Jon Kane. A total of 9 books were sold for gross sales of $ 247.75.
Of this total, $27.00 was a credit card purchase of 2 books, while the
rest was in cash and checks. Gross proceeds from the booksale are
sent to the national office. In return, the national office gives the
section a 10% commission.
Wisconsin Project NExT
There was a special luncheon on Saturday for members of Wisconsin Project
NExT. The cost to the section was $ 123.94.
INCOME
Meeting Registrations Amount
58 students $ 0.00
4 School teachers receiving awards 0.00
33 regular registrations at meeting @ 20.00 660.00
1 retiree registered at meeting @ 10.00 10.00
6 retirees pre registered @ 10.00 60.00
1 high school teacher pre registered @ 10.00 10.00
6 invited or supported speakers 0.00
18 non members pre registered @ 17.00 306.00
7 publisher exhibits @ 50.00 350.00
76 regular members pre registered @ 15.00 1140.00
Total number of participants: 210 $ 2536.00
Miscellaneous income $ 120.25
Banquet Reservations by category
48 students @ 5.00 240.00
8 School teachers and guests (Teaching awardees) 0.00
12 reservations purchased at the meeting @ 20.00 240.00
4 retired persons pre registering @ 17.00 68.00
5 invited or supported speakers 0.00
10 non MAA members preregistering @ 17.00 170.00
1 publisher representative @ 17.00 17.00
65 regular members, pre-registered @ 17.00 1105.00
Total banquet sales $ 1840.00
Total income (excluding book sales) $ 4496.25
COSTS
153 dinners (Buffet style) 2092.50
Before dinner reception
3 dozen mini quiche 40.47
3 dozen stuffed celery 14.97
spinach dip 27.99
Refreshments at student competition
4 gallons lemonade 35.96
4 dozen cookies 23.96
2 lb pretzels 10.98
2 lb potato chips 10.98
2 lb party mix 13.98
Refreshments for Friday afternoon
6 dozen cookies 35.94
2 gallons of iced tea 17.98
3 gallons of coffee 32.97
Refreshments for Saturday morning
5 gallons of coffee 54.95
4 dozen tea breads 27.96
3 dozen small sweet rolls 26.97
Subtotal (total bill from Chartwells dining services) $2468.56
Travel expenses and honoraria for speakers 867.90
Bus transportation for the theater group 245.00
Total costs (excluding Project NExT) $ 3581.46
Spring Meeting Profit: $ 914.79
The accounting for the NExT program and the accounting for the Book Sale are
treated separately.
Julie Letellier was the chair of the orgainzing committee for the
meeting. She had lots of help from Geetha, Joan, and Manasi. Other
members of the UW-Whitewater Math Department pitched in as well. Also
Mohammad was responsible for finding the monies to bring Tim Pennings to
campus. To all these good colleagues at UW-Whitewater, thank you for a
wonderful meeting.
Of course accolades are also due to J. Sriskandarajah, chair elect for 2005-
06.
Publishers representatives:
Anita Bartelson John Wiley & Sons
Ruth M. Baruth Freeman & Worth
Larry Granec Prentice Hall
Timothy Maruna McGraw-Hill
Lisa Miller Thompson Higher Education (Includes Brooks/Cole)
Bob Ross Houghton Mifflin
Shannon Schaefer Addison-Wesley, Benjamin Cummings
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Matchett
Secretary/treasurer
APENDIX
The presentation of the 2006 distinguished teaching award
The 2006 award for distinguished college or university mathematics
teaching goes to Robert Calcaterra of UW-Platteville. I first noticed
Rob at the Wisconsin Section annual spring meeting at UW Green Bay in
1995. Rob had brought several students to that meeting to give talks. I
remember one talk in particular. The young man was a little nervous, but
stated his result clearly and developed the proof. He finished with 3 or
four minutes to spare. After questions were answered,
Rob in his laid back, matter of fact way, said something like
"Well, you skipped the main lemma and left out the Chinese Remainder
Theorem, but that's ok."
So the student had left two gaping holes in the proof he presented but
Rob pronounced it ok. I knew then that I was in the presence of a very
special teacher. He had the charisma to get that kid to sign up to give
a talk in the first place, then he had the grace and respect for the
audience to lay the flaws of the
talk bare, but the sensitifity to do so in a way that did not hurt any
feelings or make for any awkwardness in that room,
and then to top it off he had the ... authority .. to say that it was
OK. And, his saying it made it OK. There is a deep lesson there in
how you give honest feedback to students without devastating them.
Paul Erdos said that there are no authorities in mathematics.
However, that day I felt that I was in the presence of an authority
on how to make students take to abstract algebra.
Rob was nominated for the distinguished teaching award by the chair of
his department, and I want to quote from the narrative she wrote.
"Dr Calcaterra has high standards and makes his students work very
hard, but they seem to really apresiate it. His students continually
comment on his enthusiasm toward teaching mathematcs, his ability to
make hard things simple, and his support and interest in their
academic development. "
She also says:
"Dr. Calcaterra is always willing to help out when needed. If a
faculty member is ill, Dr. Calcaterra is one of the first peole to
lend a helping hand. He is an extremely competant mathematician and
can teach almost any mathematics class at a moment's notice. He has
also done extensive curriculum revision at UWP over the years,
including classes such as statistics and modern algebra."
Another colleague says this:
"Rob is not an entertainer. He does not do magic tricks or sing the
digits of pi. He is not constantly chasing after the newest trends in
classroom management or alternative assessment. He has an old fashioned
style and does a terrific job of teaching". He knows how and when to
challenge his students and how and when to give them a boost".
And this from a former chair of the department.
" To many of our students, particularly our best students, Dr.
Calcaterra was almost a cult leader. They became quite insistent on
taking only courses from him. When I would inquire as to why they had to
have Dr. Calcaterra they would usually state that his lectures were crisp
and clear and that he challenged their intellect. When I would retort
that I was sure other teachers in the department did this, they would
tell me "Well not in the same way. They would tell me: From some
teachers the questions are ridiculously easy and from other teachers they
are nearly impossible."
Here are some student comments:
"What sets dr calcatera apart from others is his supreme intelligence
and his ability to challenge his students. For me personally, the
most challenging aspect of his course was his extremely rigorous
homework. Through his demanding course work i have developed my
skills as a mathematician, especilally in the area of writing
mathematicsl proofs. Becaues of his constant expectation of
exactness in all work, I now find myself stribving to reach that same
level in all my mathematics courses.
another says
"The first word that comes to mind when I think of Dr. Calcaterra is
genius. In the same breath, I also think humble, for i guarantee you
will never hear him admit to his superior intelligence."
And the comments go on and on like this. So it is very clear that Rob is
indeed a very gifted teacher. ANd therefore it is highly appropropriate
to honor him with the Wisconsin Section distinguished teaching award.
Please join me in congratulating Rob.
Robert Calcaterra's response
I would like to thank the section and the selection committee for
this award. There are so many gifted and hard working people in the
section that I feel that there is nothing very extraordinary about my
teaching. I was quite surprised when Andy informed me of the
committee's decision.
I would also like to thank my colleagues and students at
Platteville for recommending me for this honor. It is a privilege to
work with so many talented and dedicated people. I prefer to view
this award, and hope others will as well, as a collective achievement
of the department at Platteville instead of an individual
accomplishment.
As with anyone in our profession, I have had excellent role models
as a student. The two most significant for me were David Bloom from
my undergraduate days at Brooklyn College and Marty Isaacs from my
days as a graduate student in Madison. Both were brilliant
mathematicians whose love for mathematics came out in their teaching
and was highly infectious.
Lastly, I need to thank my wife and son. When reading my student
evaluations, they seem most appreciative of - not my legendary
generous grading - but my availability and the time and effort I
expend on their behalf. Of course, the hours I devote to students are
hours I cannot spend with Judy and Bryan. Although I know they would
prefer I spend the time with them, they give me the latitude I need to
do my job effectively. For this, I thank them.
Thank you all again.