MD-DC-VA Section of MAA
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Washington and Lee University, VA
April 13, 2018
In attendance: Jennifer Bergner, Ethan Duckworth,
Brian Heinold, Mitch Keller, Minah Oh, Edwin
O'Shea, Phillip Poplin, Jennifer Quinn (SectionGuest), Maggie Rahmoeller, David Taylor, Dina
Yagodich, Gwyn Whieldon.
I. David Taylor, with gavel in hand, called the meeting to order. Minutes from the previous meeting on
November 17 were approved.
II. Treasurer's Report
Mitch Keller reminded the committee that while the treasurer’s report has multiple accounts there are, in reality,
only two accounts with the monies earmarked within those accounts for different purposes, like Project NExT,etc..
There is a new IBL Consortium “account” (that is, monies earmarked) with an amount of $2000 in holding.
These monies are intended for supporting faculty who are interested in IBL but who may have financial
challenges to attend the meeting. The Section’s Executive Committee has the authority to distribute these funds
as they see fit; there may be a need for new officer position if similar grants are attained by the Section.
Mitch Keller reminded us of how the Project NExT funds are raised and disbursed. He will present a motion to
the general membership meeting, one that grants authority to the Treasurer to transfer funds from the generalfund to the Project NExT fund as needed, typically to support a Project NExT fellow or the Section NExT
programs.
Dina addresses a question about Section NExT funds, about how books for graduating fellows are donated by
the national organization. How the Section gets money from the MAA book sales is still being figured out.
III. Section RepresentativeJennifer Bergner said that she will be attending Mathfest this summer after being unable to do so at the lastMathfest and Joint Meetings. There is substantial change in MAA is with regards to publications. At this point,Jennifer Quinn, who is chair of the national committee on publications adds some helpful comments: Thepublications are now managed by Taylor & Francis, who bring significant expertise on publishing appropriate
for these times. On books, there is synergy between MAA and AMS with both organizations benefitting.
The United States is hosting IMO in 2021. Jennifer requests ideas for support from the committee. Two regional
Stat-PREP workshops are being offered in 2018, one in Hartford, CT, with significant funding available forthose interested in attending. Mathfest includes invited talks by Section members Laura Taalman and Talitha
Washington.
IV. Section NExT
Dina Yagodich reports that the speaker for tomorrow’s NExT is a graduate from Section NExT.
V. Program Chair
Minah Oh reports that pre-registration figures compare favorably with last year’s Spring meeting. There is an
AWM luncheon tomorrow but no workshop: the only space for a workshop would clash with Radical Dash andstudents last year preferred the latter and the need for the former feels diminished. Minah reports that she hasreached out to some Section departments to encourage the creation of AWM chapters on their campus.
VI. Nominating Committee
Jennifer Bergner reports on a slate of nominees for positions. Mitch Keller is leaving his position as Treasurer
after one year, and the committee has the purview to appoint a new officer in the resigning officer’s stead.
Phillip Poplin has agreed to serve as the next treasurer, with the provision that Phillip starts the position on June
30, or earlier at the current treasurer’s discretion.
VII. Section ChairDavid Taylor raised a number of items related to finances. First, there is a request that the program chair at eachmeeting has a $750 discretionary fund to cover hard-to-predict expenses like a surge in student registrations,extra expenses incurred by the invited speakers. Discussion on this item will continue but, as of this writing,there was no fixed resolution.
Honorariums for long-distance speakers were discussed, on which there was no fixed resolution. There was along discussion on conference registration rates, a motion to set conference registration rate at $25 was carried.
There was also a motion to change the monetary amount for awards, to change prize to $100 for both teachingand service award, which passed.
VIII. Student Participation
Maggie Rahmoeller announced that there were nine essays submitted for the section’s first student essaycompetition. The winning essay is by Yitzi Turniansky of Towson University and is in the Spring newsletter.
Gwyn Whieldon expressed excitement about the questions for Math Jeopardy. Gwyn reports she has coverage
for all the students talks, relatively covered for Dash, but needs more volunteers for poster session.
IX. Other BusinessWith the changing of officers on our mind, a desire was expressed for the section to have a central digital
repository and uniformity in email addresses, e.g. maa.09.secretary@maa.org for Secretary of Section #9 (oursection) so that even when the officer changes the email address and record of correspondence remains thesame. Edwin O’Shea reports that there is new section letterhead and new Howard Penn certificates, thanks to
the graphics wizardry of Paul Warne of JMU. A proposed motion to formally thank in writing Paul for his help
was passed.

Submitted by:
Edwin O'Shea, ex officio Secretary, MD-DC-VA Section