Workshops & Meetings
2005

Panels for the January 2005 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Atlanta, GA

1. Faculty Development for Adjuncts and New Faculty
   Sponsor: CRAFTY
   Organized by Don Small (U.S. Military Academy)
   Moderator: Philip Mahler (Middlesex Community College)
   Panelists:

   Mike Phillips (U.S. Military Academy)
   Bill Haver (Virginia Commonwealth University)
   Robert Kimball (Wake Tech Community College)
   Pat Shure (University of Michigan)

   Adjuncts teach the majority of sections of beginning level courses in many two-year colleges and universities. For the most part, these people only have responsibility for their own sections and are not integrated into the workings of their department. Thus making it more difficult for beginning level courses to act as a pump for upper level courses. The panelists will discuss successful faculty development programs for adjunct and new faculty.

2. Refocused College Algebra, A Basis for QL Programs
   Sponsor: CRAFTY
   Organized by Don Small (U.S. Military Academy)
   Moderator: Harriet Pollatsek (Mount Holyoke College)
   Panelists:

   Norma Agras (Miami-Dade College)
   Dora Ahmadi (Morehead State University)
   Laurette Foster (Prairie View A&M University)
   Bernard Madison (University of Arkansas)

   Faculty in quantitative disciplines urge mathematics departments to send them students having experience with elementary data analysis, plotting and interpreting plots, problem-solving in the modeling sense, small-group work, and the use of technology. These aspects are basic to refocused college algebra programs. In addition, college algebra is the largest gateway course (in terms of student enrollment) and is thus well-positioned to provide a basis for QL programs

3. Open Discussion on Refocusing the Courses Before Calculus
   Sponsor: CRAFTY
   Organized by Don Small (U.S. Military Academy)
   Moderator: Jack Bookman (Duke University)
   Panelists:

   Nancy Baxter Hastings (Dickinson College)
   Bruce Crowder (Oklahoma State University

   The moderator, Jack Bookman and panelists, Nancy Baxter Hastings and Bruce Crowder, are active members of the combined MAA/AMATYC/NCTCM committee that is leading a national movement to refocus college algebra/precalculus courses. They will address the activities of this committee as well as CRAFTY's Position Paper on courses below calculus.

4. Report and Discussion on a Problem-Based Core Program
   Sponsor: CRAFTY
   Organized by Don Small (U.S. Military Academy)
   Moderator: Gary Krahn (U.S. Military Academy)
   Panelists:

   Alex Heidenberg (U.S. Military Academy)
   Mike Moody (Olin University)

   In 2003, the U.S. Military Academy refocused its core program to emphasize problem solving and modeling. First semester focuses on problems from management science using concepts from data analysis, matrix algebra, network theory, and Markov chains. The second semester emphasizes analyzing continuous change (differentiation of functions of one and several variables) and the third semester treats integration of one and several variables along with differential equations. The fourth semester focuses on probability and statistics. Several program threads, such as data analysis, serve to unify the four--semester core program. Gary Krahn and Alex Heidenberg have been involved in the development and implementation of the refocused program. Mike Moody will address the transportability issues of this program to other schools