MD-DC-VA Section of MAA
Meeting of the General Membership
St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, MD
November 7, 2015

John Hamman called the meeting to order. The minutes of the April 24, 2015 meetingwere approved with minor corrections on spelling and the need for future tense on treasurer’s report.
Governor’s Report. Caren Diefenderfer highlighted a subset of items from the Governor’s
Report in the Fall 2015 newsletter. The Board of Governors (BOG) meets before Mathfest
and this year the BOG discussed concerns on declining paid MAA membership, declining
subscriptions for publications, and agreed to vote on possibly new governance models in theJanuary 2016 BOG meeting.
Caren Diefenderfer called for the section to consider initiating/expanding its outreach toSIGMAA BIG (in the hope of highlighting applications to industry for our section’s students)and high school students and their teachers.
Finally, all members were encouraged to nominate deserving members for MAA nationalawards, prizes, and lectures.
Chair’s Report. John Hamman was welcoming yet brief in his address, calling for all
members to suggest ideas for outreach to BIG and high schools.
Treasurer’s Report. Brian Lins reported that last meeting was very expensive due tothe best of problems, that of having lots of (hungry) students at the meetings who eat at
the banquet and lunch. This contributed to an unusual drop in the combined accounts balance. The general fund as of October 13, 2015 had a balance of $5258.93. Brian said thatover the last number of years the combined accounts balance has consistently hovered in the$8000-$9000 range.
For this meeting the treasurer proposed not taking $10 out of every registration fee for
Section NExT as the current Section NExT monies are adequate. There was no objection
from the general membership.
Finally, Brian reported that using Paypal for processing registration can cost over $100
for each meeting but that the relatively small amount is well worth it for the considerable
convenience that it brings.
Upcoming open executive positions. Past Chair, David Shoenthal informally calledon the membership to consider being nominated for open offices. The open officer positions
are those for which the current officer’s term is ending in 2016 and include the position ofsection Governor.

Section NexT Update. Dina Yagodich reports that all eight of the new Section NExT
cohort were in attendance. Dina encouraged all eligible members to apply next year.
Book Sales at section meetings. Jon Scott reminds the membership that purchasedbooks can no longer be taken home from the meeting, that a book order can be paid forat the meeting but that the order will be filled and shipped by the MAA. There is still asizable discount for buying at the meeting and purchasing a book at the meeting means nosales tax and shipping. The section also gets a cut of your book purchase. Jon wraps up
with “Books are great, everyone wins” when members order at the meetings.
Spring 2016 Meeting Program Chair, Kathryn Linehan announces that the Spring 2016sectional meeting will take place on April 15-16 at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus.
With 2016 being the 100th anniversary of the section members were asked to contributeartifacts from their own department that could illuminate both their department’s and thesection’s history. A section history-based room will be reserved for the Spring meeting.
Philip Poplin volunteered to assist with the coordination of section history for the Spring
meeting. Jon Scott pointed out that the minutes for the section’s past meetings are available(the section website has access as far back as 2000) and in some cases there is a listing oftalks at those meetings.
Teaching Award Nominations Betty Mayfield, on behalf of the Teaching Award committee, asked members to consider nominating worthy colleagues for the section’s John M.
Smith Award. Nominations for the 2016 award were due on December 4, 2015.
Sister Helen Christensen Service Award Amy Shell-Gellasch announced Jennifer Bergnerof Salisbury as the recipient of the 2015 Sister Helen Christensen Service Award. Jennifer
Bergner was unable to attend the meeting.
25- and 50- Year Members Edwin O’Shea read the names of all those Section members who are celebrating 25 years of membership and 50 years of membership and presented
certificates of appreciation to those members attending the meeting.
Closing Announcements Karin Saoub called for contributions to newsletter, especiallyrequesting general news from each department in the section. Dave Carothers delivered aeulogy honoring the life of his colleague Carla Moravitz Martin, a former faculty member atJames Madison University. Bud Brown moved that letters of thanks be sent to appropriate
officials at St. Mary’s College; the motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
The meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by: Edwin O’Shea, Secretary, MD-DC-VA Section