SSHEMA

The Pennsylvania

State System of Higher Education

Mathematics Association

 

Minutes of Recent Meetings

Below are the minutes of the Fall 2000 Executive Board Meeting.

 

STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION - MATHEMATICS ASSOCIATION

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

Lock Haven University of PA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2000

 

 

Present: Bill Bateman, Karen Bolinger, Kaddour Boukaabar, Robert Buck, Elaine Carbone, Doug Frank, Elise Grabner, Clifford Johnston, Carol Rehn, Randy Schaeffer, Delray Schultz, Mark Seeber, N. Paul Schembari, Dick Walker, Jean Werner, Paul Williams.

 

The meeting was called to order at 6:15 PM by Chair, Paul Schembari.

 

The minutes of the April 29, 2000 Meeting were distributed.  Paul Williams/Clifford Johnston moved to approve the minutes. These were approved unanimously.

 

Treasurer Randy Schaeffer announced that the SSHEMA account balance was $2014.27.  Six institution dues have been paid, and second notices for dues have been distributed.  Steve Gendler of Clarion University has provided a check of $362.31 as a refund from the Clarion Conference.  Karen Bolinger announced that an extra refund may be coming.  Carol Rehn/Doug Frank moved that the organization pay the speakers (of Clarion Conference) $100 each, contingent upon getting the extra refund.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

Concerning MathSciNet, Paul Schembari announced that it is accessible through PALCI at East Strousburg.  He suggested that libraries of individual institutions connect to this database.  There is a fee for this service not exceeding $1000.

 

Cliff Johnston distributed a handout that has the complete list of mathematics faculty of the State System with their e-mail addresses and other pertinent information.  He is still trying to collect more information such as professional interests and phone numbers.  This list may be used for general announcements.

 

Paul Schembari/Cliff Johnston asked if the web address for the organization should be changed to www.sshema.org, or if it should remain the same at www.esu.edu/math/sshema/home.htm.  It will cost about $35 to buy the domain name.  Randy Schaeffer suggested to investigate the cost for changing the address and to discuss the issue next time.

 

Paul Schembari distributed the Proceedings of the last conference and said that the authors were also given a copy.  They are also on the web in HTML, PDF, or DOC format.  The members discussed how to increase paper submission.  Cliff Johnston suggested that maybe we want to enhance the "looks" of the proceedings but that would incur some cost.  Carol Rehn suggested that maybe we should give the options to presenters to bring their papers to the conference.  Another possibility is the inclusion of papers not presented at Conferences.  This topic will be an item agenda at next meeting.

 

PCTM Report: Jean Werner served as representative to PCTM in the past, and Marc Seeber will now take over this position.  Paul Schembari suggested that we should include the PCTM representative as an elected officer.  Randy Schaeffer announced that he has yet to pay affiliation dues to PCTM.  Jean Werner reminded everybody about the date and location (March 15-17, Pittsburgh, PA) of the upcoming 50th Annual Meeting.  Speakers are still needed and will still be accepted.  She distributed copies of the announcement and call for participation to give to colleagues.  Student membership needs to be increased in PCTM.  It was announced that the local chapters give reduced rates to the students.  The yearbook cutoff is December 1st and its focus is: “the role of representation in the teaching and learning of mathematics.”

 

Delray Schultz inquired as to what other institutions are doing concerning credit for advanced placement in Calculus.  He said that his institution, Millersville University, gives Business Calculus credit to a student who scores a 3 and Calculus credit to a student who scores a 4 or 5.  Karen Bolinger said that Clarion University does the same.

 

PDE Proposal.  Delray Schultz spoke about a PDE Proposal for PA teacher preparation programs saying that it was found in the Web by chance and that not many mathematics departments received the proposal.  It was suggested that the Education Departments of the SSHE Universities may have received it.    Cliff Johnston/Randy Schaeffer moved that we send a letter to PDE supporting the Millersville Mathematics Department response to the documents and that PDE give more time to PA mathematics departments to respond to the document.  Jean Werner added to the motion that in the future PDE should notify the SSHE Mathematics Departments.  The motion passed unanimously.  Paul Schembari said that he would draft a letter and ask for our input before sending it.

 

PDE’s Chapter 354.  Randy Schaeffer said that a list of courses which would satisfy this new law could be forthcoming.  The East Stroudsburg University Mathematics Department has discussed the necessity of one more FTE.  One of the requirements will be a 3.0 GPA overall and a 3.0 GPA in the major.  This is to be effective next fall, i.e., Fall 2001, with no grandfather clause.  Kaddour Boukaabar brought up the issue of the mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers.  It was decided that we would have a discussion/panel/forum on this topic at the next conference.  Dr. Boukaabar will organize it, and guests from PDE would be invited.

 

Changes in Constitution and Bylaws.  Paul Schembari mentioned the distributed copy of the constitution with the proposed changes.  We need two thirds of the vote at the next Business meeting for these changes to be adopted.

 

Conferences.  The Clarion Conference was well attended and went well.  There were about 40 attendees and 4 publishers.  The participants, in their evaluation forms, liked the presentations, the presence of vendors, and the keynote speakers.  The next conference will occur at Lock Haven University, and Kutztown, Indiana, and Millersville Universities will follow respectively.  The Lock Haven Conference will take place on March 30-31.  The money to sponsor the conference will come from a grant written by Carol Rehn, book publishers, software companies, and the $59 registration fee (of this $59, $10 will go to the SSHEMA account.)  SSHEMA will pay for the Executive Board breakfast.  A block of hotel rooms are reserved at the rate of $59 per room.  Students may be sponsored by student government associations, and there could also be a limited amount of financial help for students by SSHEMA.  Cliff suggested a “mathematics in the Web” workshop.  The Business Meeting will take place during lunch.  The program of the conference could be put on the Web.

 

Bill Bateman/Dick Walker moved to adjourn at 8:15 PM.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Kaddour Boukaabar

 

 

 

SSHEMA Home | East Stroudsburg University Web Page