MD-DC-VA Section of MAA
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Johns Hopkins University, MD
November 4, 2016
Attending: Jennifer Bergner, Ethan Duckworth, John Hamman, Brian Heinold, Minah
Oh, Edwin O’Shea, Phillip Poplin, Karin Saoub, Amy Shell-Gellasch, David Taylor, Gwyn
Whieldon.
John Hamman called the meeting to order. Introductions of new and current officers.
Tresurer’s Report. Phillip Poplin reported on Brian Lins’ behalf, reading from backof report in Fall 2016 newsletter. Phillip is responsible for running the registration table tomorrow in Brian’s absense and will give a check to the catering at JHU for metting’s meals.
Pre-registrations numbers are around 120 but an exact figure is not at hand.
Program Chair’s Update. Minah Oh reports that all local arrangements are in place,with room monitors and session hosts confirmed.
Plans for Upcoming Meetings. John Hamman reports that the Spring 2017 meeting
will be hosted at Frostburg State University on April 28-29, 2017.
Christopher Newport University has expressed a strong interest in hosting the Fall 2017
meeting. John proposes November 3-4, 2017 for that meeting; dates and arrangements yetto be confirmed with Christopher Newport University.
The suitability of panels at the section meetings. At last Spring’s meeting, thepanel sessions were received very positively by the membership. There was a consensus
among the officers that these panel sessions and related themed sessions should continue tobe supported at future meetings. A number of potential themes arose for future meetings,
including panels and sessions that focus on undergraduate research and career prospects forsoon-to-be graduates. Another proposal is to strenghten connections with AWM.
Upcoming open executive positions. John Hamman asked for the organization of acommittee to encourage nominations for upcoming open officer positions. These include thefollowing positions: At-Large, Newsletter, Treasurer. David Taylor will lead this committee,
to informally seek members who would be interested in being nominated for these open offices.
Merging of Awards Committees. At the Spring general meeting the motion “to merge
the teaching and service awards committees,” was passed by the general membership. John
Hamman and David Taylor have agreed to make a first attempt at re-writing relevant section
bylaws to reflect this change.

Governor’s Informal Report. Jennifer Bergner reports on a proposed change on MAA
governance (and relevant bylaws) on the national level. Under these proposed changes, theBoard of Governors (BOG) would no longer be an executive board but would would become more of a congress, or advisory board, with a smaller executive board, or “board ofdirectors” making more of the every day decisions. Jennifer recommends (not necesaarilyendorses) reading the very informative piece “Changing Times, Changing Bylaws,” by MAA
Vice-President Matt Boelkins in the October/November issuse of MAA Focus. A long discussion followed on the MAA’s identity and mission and the consequences – positive andnegative – of these proposed changes in governance.
Graduate student talks and judges. In recent times at the Fall meetings, there havebeen talks by soon-to-be and recent PhDs who are thinking of going on the job market,
with mentorship offered to these speakers by section members who are faculty. There is thepotential that a mentor is at a department with an open faculty position in the same jobcycle that the speaker will be an applicant to. In response, a motion was proposed, that if
an officer is from a currently-hiring department then they will not act as a mentor for thegraduate student talks, if only to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The motion
was carried.
Proposed technology expenditures to support Math Jeopardy. Motion “to consult general membership on the purchase of “game show buzzers” to facilitate Student MathJeopardy” was proposed and passed.
Meeting is officially adjourned.
Submitted by: Edwin O’Shea, Secretary, MD-DC-VA Section