The Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Antonio

Present, in alphabetical order: Kevin Charlwood, Dov Chelst, Vanessa Garcia, Bill Higdon, Jackie Jensen, Chawne Kimber, Dave Kung, Josh Laison, Heather Lewis, Sarah Ann Stewart, Emil Volcheck

1. Announcements

a) We welcomed new member Sarah Ann Stewart to the board, a Forest Dot from Belmont University. Welcome Sarah Ann!

b) Chawne Kimber is stepping down from the board, although she is willing to help with the transition. Jackie is taking over Chawne's job as Meetings Coordinator. Many thanks, Chawne, for all of the work that you have done for the YMN.

c) John Vano finished his postdoc at UW Madison, but is still working in the Madison area and can be reached at jvano@youngmath.net. Emil reminded us that any of us can have an @youngmath.net email account if we would like.

2. Panel Report

a) The MAA-YMN Panel Discussion You Have a Job, Now What? Professional Development Opportunities on Thursday, January 12 (3:50-5:10 pm) had about 50 people in attendance. A big thanks to the organizers: Kimberly A. Roth (Wheeling Jesuit University), Joshua D. Laison (Colorado College), and Sarah Ann Stewart (Belmont University). Another thank you to the panelists: Eric Aurand (Eastfield College), Carolyn Gordon (Dartmouth College), Jacqueline Jensen (Sam Houston State University), Michael Scott (California State University Monterey Bay), Frances Su (Harvey Mudd College).

b) The MAA-YMN Panel Discussion Undergraduate Career Paths in Mathematics on Friday, January 13 (9:00-10:20 am) also had about 50 people in attendance. Thank you to James E. Hamblin (Shippensburg University) and Vanessa Garcia for organizing it, and to the panelists Michael Monticino (University of North Texas / BIG SIGMAA), Linda Thiel (SIAM), Fred Nordai (Shippensburg University), and Jim Daniel (University of Texas, Austin).

c) Further thanks to Kevin Charlwood, who organized the YMN/MAA-Project NExT Poster Session on Friday, January 13 (2:00-4:00pm) with Kenneth Ross, and to Dave Kung, who organized the YMN Town Meeting on Friday, January 13 (7:30-8:30pm).

d) Added after the board meeting: The MAA-YMN Panel Discussion Transitioning into Graduate School on Saturday, January 14 (9:00-10:20 am) also had about 50 people in attendance. Dov Chelst (DeVry University) and Heather Ames Lewis (Nazareth College) were the organizers; panelists were John Caughman (Portland State University), Matt Koetz (Nazareth College), and Erin McNicholas (University of Arizona) - thanks to all!

e) For recording purposes, the YMN was a co-sponsor (along with the MAA Committee on Graduate purposes) of the panel How to Interview for your First Job on Thursday, January 12 (2:15-3:35 pm), organized by David C. Manderscheid of the University of Iowa. Panelists in the program were listed as Sharon M. Clarke (Pepperdine University), James H. Freeman (Cornell College), and David C. Manderscheid (University of Iowa).

3. Goals for last year

a) Raise our membership back to over 1000. We sort of did this.

b) Increase the number of editors, ideally having an editor with each color dot from Project NExT. We've done this, and should keep it up. Make a FAQ for new editors.

c) Improve the web site and add more articles (with the intent of increasing traffic on the web site). Again, this sort of happened.

d) "Paths to Math" - this didn't really work. There is traffic on that site, though. (Ken Ross might be a good person.)

e) Post articles about the YMN to update its image. Jon and Dave wrote an article for Math Horizons in November 2005. Focus might still be a good place to advertise.

4. Goals for 2006

a) Dov and Vanessa would still like to contact graduate schools and other math sites to publicize our site.

As part of this, we need to make it easier (more obvious) to subscribe. Emil will look into this, perhaps with the help of a friend of Josh.

b) Write an article of Math Conference Speak [JCEO - Joint Committee on Employment Opportunities; MathFest; JMM; "4-4 teaching load"]

c) Links within the sites - perhaps Editor's Notes. Can it be cleaner to link to other articles, rather than a list on the bottom right?

d) More comments. We should all commit to more articles and more comments related to articles.

5. The Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans, January 4-7 (Thurs-Sun), 2007 We decided to request times for three panels, two of which are for undergraduates. a) Vanessa and Dov will do another panel on "Career Paths for Undergraduates"

b) Kim Roth and Jackie and Sarah Ann will organize will do a panel on "Interviewing 101" (for graduate students). We'll try to get this early in the week, before most interviews begin.

[in 2008 perhaps we could do "Looking for your second Job"]

c) "Keeping your Research Alive". Perhaps Brian and James would like to organize this?

d) Kevin will organize the poster session (Ken Ross is stepping down, so Kevin will find a new co-organizer)

6. MathFest in Knoxville, TN, August 10-12, 2006 If we haven't passed the deadline, then we could do a panel discussion on "Graduation is coming: now what?" Sarah Ann will be in charge of this.

7. Finally, a big thank you to our Grand Poobah Dave and all the past and current members of the board! Thanks!

The meeting ended, and drinks and socialization ensued.