Introduction
The Northeastern Section of the MAA was inaugurated on November 26, 1955 at a meeting attended by more than seventy people and hosted by the University of New Hampshire. The name originally proposed was the New England Section but the name Northeastern Section was adopted to emphasize that not only New England but also the Maritime Provinces would be represented in the Section. Although most meetings have been in New England, Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, hosted a memorable summer meeting in 1967.
The list of speakers in the early years included such famous mathematicians and mathematics teachers as Dirk Struik of MIT; David Widder, Garrett Birchoff, Ralph Beatley, Richard Brauer, and Howard Raiffa of Harvard; Hans Zassenhaus at that time at McGill; Hans Rademacher of the University of Pennsylvania; John Kemeny of Dartmouth; Max Beberman of the University of Illinois; Bob Rosenbaum of Wesleyan; Albert Tucker of Princeton; Oystein Ore of Yale; and Father Bezuska of Boston College. Of special note is Dan Christie of Bowdoin College, who later served as Chairman of the Section and sectional representative on the Board of Governors of the MAA. After his death the annual Dan Christie Memorial Lecture was established in memory of him.
The present national concern for curricular revision seems an echo of the post-Sputnik era when the 1958 meeting of the Section included a paper The Report of the Commission on Mathematics and another The School Mathematics Study Group. In this era many members of the Section generously contributed much time and energy visiting high schools of the region to give lectures and consult with the mathematics teachers.
Among the many members who have served as officers of the Section two who merit special mention for their many years of service are Dick Pieters, formerly of Phillips Academy in Andover, and George Best, a continuing faculty member at Phillips Academy.
One of the outstanding programs of the Northeastern Section has been the series of short courses held each summer at the University of Maine at Orono. When in 1987 Don Small of Colby College was awarded the MAA Certificate of Meritorious Service, his leadership role as one of the founders and frequent co-director of these short courses was one of the many of his services being recognized.
-- Donald and Shirley Blackett
The 1950’s
On October 14, 1955, Professor Howard Eves of the University of Maine sent a letter to the mathematicians of the New England Region asking them to meet at the Universityof New Hampshire in Durham, on November 26, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, for the purpose of organizing into a Section of the Mathematical Association of America. He pointed out that all of the United States and Canada with the exception of the six New England States and the four Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, were already organized into Sections of the Association. Eves noted that although as a Region, we could vote for a Governor (G. B. Thomas of MIT was then the Governor of the Region) as a Section we would be able to meet annually to discuss common mathematical problems, to improve the teaching of mathematics in our region and to listen to both mathematical and pedagogical papers.
Eves had arranged to have Rev. S. J. Bezuszka (Boston College), Ralph Beatley (Harvard), R. P. Johnson (Smith), R. A. Rosenbaum (Wesleyan), Dirk Struik (MIT) and R. P. Clippinger (Raytheon) present papers at the meeting. Dormitory rooms were available at a rate of $1.50 per person per night. There were 80 people in attendance at the initial meeting including 24 nonmembers of the Association. Howard Eves presided at the morning session and Donald Kearns presided at the afternoon session. The business meetingwas held shortly after lunch, with A. A. Bennett (Brown) acting as temporary chairman. A petition requesting the Mathematical Association of America to permit members of the New England Region to organize a New England Section of the Association was circulated. The petition was signed by 48 members and 8 nonmembers of the Association. However, it was felt, that since the new section would include four Canadian Provinces, the Northeastern Section would be a more appropriate name. Elected for one-year terms were Howard Eves as Chairman and Rev. S. J. Bezuszka as Vice-Chairman. R. E. Johnson was elected Secretary-Treasurer. The Northeastern Section became the 26th Section to be admitted to the Association, eight and half years after the Pacific Northwest Section, and a year before the New Jersey Section.
The Executive Committee originally consisted of the three officers of the Section. The Chairman, together with an appointed Committee on Arrangements, was responsible for the program of each meeting, the Vice-Chairman was responsible for maintaining official relations with other mathematical and scientific societies, and the Secretary-Treasurer was responsible for keeping the books, accounts, and records of the Section, and also preparing a report of the meetings for publication in the Monthly. The Secretary-Treasurer was the only officer of the Section eligible for reelection. One of the original by-laws of the Section called for the annual payment to the Secretary-Treasurer by each member of the Section the sum of $0.25. At the second meeting of the Section, that section of the by-laws was removed by a vote of the members. At the fall 1958 meeting, the membership voted to sponsor the National High School Mathematics Contest, and Rev. S. J. Bezuszka was appointed chairman of the Section Contest Committee.
There were four other meetings of the Northeastern Section in the 1950's and they were held at the University of Connecticut, Dartmouth, Holy Cross and Boston College, respectively.
At these four meetings Rev. S. J. Bezuszka, E. E. Richmond (Williams), N. H. McCoy (Smith), and J. G. Kemeny (Dartmouth) were elected Chairmen, respectively, each having served first as Vice-Chairman. During this period three members served as Secretary-Treasurer : A. F. O'Neill (Wheaton), M. C. Brien (Holy Cross), and R. S. Peiters (Phillips Academy). F. M. Stewart (Brown) replaced G. B. Thomas as Governor of the Section in 1958.
There were many outstanding speakers during the 50's : Garrett Birkhoff, Richard Brauer, D. V. Widder, and Howard Raiffa of Harvard, J. G. Kemeny, D. H. Crowell and F. W. Perkings of Darmouth, D. E. Christie and Reinhard Korgen of Bowdoin, A. W. Tucker (Princeton), Hans Rademacher (Pennsylvania), Max Beberman (Illinois), Oystein Ore (Yale), Walter Prenowitz (Brooklyn), Hartley Rogers (MIT), H. J. Zassenhaus (McGill), C. B. Newsom (NYU), D. E. Richmond (Williams), I. N. Rose (Massachusetts) and F. M. Stewart (Brown). Among those speakers several went on to hold national office. A. W. Tucker was to become President of the Association (1961-1962), Garrett Birkhoff, 1st Vice-President (1970-1971), and R. A. Rosenbaum, 2nd Vice-President (1961-1962) and Editor of the Monthly (1967-1971).
Thirty-five years after that initial meeting in Durham members of the Northeastern Section still meet to discuss common problems, to improve their teaching, and to listen to mathematical and pedagogical lectures. We have all benefitted from the wisdom and dedication of our founders, and owe a great deal to all of them, especially to Professor Howard Eves of the University of Maine.
-- James J. Tattersall
NES/MAA Historian
Providence College
The 1960’s
The 1960's was a period of upheaval and search for direction in education as well as in politics. “New math" was in vogue in the classroom. Students began the decade with slide rules and ended it with hand-held calculators. Graph-theoretic attempts to discover a contradiction to the four-color theorem were in style. The impact of computers in the educational system was just beginning to be felt. In 1963, Walter Feit and John Thompson showed that every noncyclic simple group of odd integer is solvable. That same year, Michael Atiyah and I. M. Singer established the index theorem in K theory, of which the Riemann-Roch theorem is a special case. The Fields Medals that decade went to Lars Hormander, John Milnor, Michael Atiyah, Paul Cohen, Alexander Grothendieck and Stephen Smale.
Throughout the turbulent period the NES/MAA remained stalwart in its direction and purpose. The format at the meetings remained relatively constant, and the attendance at the meetings during that period averaged approximately 100. Meetings were held in almost every New England State (New Hampshire being the exception) and in Canada as well. The historic 1967 spring meeting was held at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
There were relatively few changes in the Section by-laws during thedecade. In 1960, the by-laws were amended to make the sectional governor a member of the Executive Committee, and to institute a $1 registration fee at the annual meeting if the Executive Committee felt that such a sum was necessary to offset the expenses of a business meeting. In 1967, the Executive Committee was given the authority to award a one-year membership in the Association to individual students in the Northeastern Section ranking highest in the Putnam Mathematical competition. Two years later the first such award was given to S. K. Winkler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the 60's the NES/MAA was guided by some of the most well-known and respected mathematicians in the world. The sectional governors were F. M. Stewart (Brown University), D. E. Richmond (Williams College) Howard Eves (University of Maine) and Grace Bates (Mount Holyoke College.) During this period, the Chair was occupied by John Kemeny (Dartmouth College), H. S. Dorwart (Trinity College), Grace Bates, Hartley Rogers (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Robin Robinson (Dartmouth College), G. L. Spenser (Williams College), W. H. Crawford (Mount Allison University) and Michael Gemignani (Smith College.) The position of secretary-treasurer was held by R. S. Pieters, until he was succeeded in 1965 by George Best, both from Phillips Academy. Furthermore, R. A. Rosenbaum served as Second Vice President of the Association from 1961-63 and from 1965-67. He also served as Editor of the Monthly from 1967-71. Howard Eves and John Kemeny served as Governors-at-Large for the Association, Eves from 1958-60 and Kemeny from 1960-62.
The group of invited speakers during the 60's was exceptionally outstanding. Many of the officers of the Section gave presentations themselves and the list of invited lecturers, who were not officers of the section included: R. H. Bing (President of the Association 1963-64; AMS President, 1977-78), Wistar Comfort, Phil Davis, William Duren, Howard Eves, D. J. Foulis, Vincent Haag, Einar Hille (AMS President 1947-48), G. Hocking, Ken Ireland, Mark Kac (AMS Gibbs Lecturer, 1967; AMS Birkhoff Award, 1978), Shizuo Kakutani, Kenneth O. May (Governor-at-Large of the Association 1964-65), Edwin Moise (President of the Association from 1967-68), J. R. Munkres, Oystein Ore, Gian-Carlo Rota (AMS Steele Award, 1988), Alice Schafer, I. M. Singer (AMS Bocher Memorial Award, 1969), Ernst Snapper, Laurie Snell, Norton Starr, R. J. Walker (Second Vice President of the Association 1967-68). Professors Kemeny, Moise and Walker spoke twice before the Section in the 60's.
The 60's was a time of great hopes and achievements as well as a time of contradictions and bitter disappointments. It gave us the New Frontier, the Great Society, the Vietnam War, the Beatles, Woodstock, the Apollo missions to the moon and probes to the other terrestrial planets. Members of the NES/MAA made notable contributions to the changes that occurred in the decade and helped us usher in the 70's.
-- James J. Tattersall
NES/MAA Historian
Providence College
The 1970’s
The NES/MAA was in very capable hands throughout the 70's. The three Governors who served during the period as liaisons with the Association were Dan Christie (Bowdoin College), Phil Davis (Brown University) and Don Kreider (Dartmouth College.) The Section was chaired successively by Michael Gemignani (Smith College), Richard Schafer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Don Kreider (Dartmouth College), John Fraleigh (University of Rhode Island), Eileen Hostinsky (Connecticut College), Anne O'Neill (Wheaton College), Grattan Murphy (University of Maine), Ernest Schlesinger (Connecticut College) and Don Small (Colby College).
George Best (Phillips Academy) served during the 70's as Secretary-Treasurer and as chief factotum. Under his able leadership the organization remained financially stable. The Section started the decade with a few hundred dollars in the bank and ended it with about the same. At one point in the decade the treasury had $4.56. Undoubtedly, through the generosity and hard work of the officers, local arrangement chairs, and the speakers, together with the institution of a $1 registration fee helped the Section fend off financial disaster and at the same time kept the quality of the meetings at a high level.
The officers and local arrangements chair were instrumental in keeping the costs for the meetings as low as possible. Perhaps the deal of the decade occurred at the Colby College meeting in 1971 where for $20 one received a clambake on the Belgrade Lakes and lodging Friday evening and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. Throughout the decade lunch on Saturday was about $3.50.
The program for each meeting remained the responsibility of the Section Chair throughout the 70's. In an effort to involve more of the membership in the operation of the organization, the responsibilities at the host institution moved from the Vice-Chair to a local arrangements committee. The annual fall meetings were held from 1970-1979 at Merrimack College (Ray Ozimkoski), Wellesley College (Torsten Norvig), Connecticut College (Eileen Hostinsky), Boston University (Don Blackett), the University of Lowell (Art Talkington), Simmons College (Margaret Menzin), Rhode Island College (Dick Howland), Merrimack College (John Royal), Bunker Hill Community College (Nancy Myers) and the University of Hartford (R. McGivney), where the local arrangements committee chairs are given in parentheses. The summer meetings were held in 1971 at Colby College (Lucille Zukowski), in 1973 at Bowdoin College (Dan Christie). From 1975 to 1979 they were held at the University of Connecticut (John Ryff), the University of New Hampshire (Gordon Raisbeck), Middlebury College (John Emerson), Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute (Robert Bourque) and the University of Maine (Clayton Dodge).
The list of invited speakers included many very prominent mathematicians: Henry Alder, President of the Association (1977-78), David Roselle, Secretary of the Association (1975-79 and 1980-84), Andrew Gleason, President of the AMS (1981-82), Garrett Birkhoff of Harvard University, Thomas Banchoff and Charles Strauss of Brown University, Donna Beers of Wellesley College, Dan Kleitman, James Munkres and J. R. Zacharias of MIT, Sue Whitesides of Dartmouth College, R. A. Rosenbaum and W. W. Comfort of Wesleyan College, Mary K. Bennett of the University of Massachusetts, Bruce Peterson of Middlebury College and Stanley Bezuska, S. J. of Boston College. A. B. Wilcox, Executive Director of the Association and Howard Eves (University of Maine) were invited lecturers twice in the decade. Panel discussion on topics ranging from applied mathematics to the improvement of college mathematics teaching were prevalent throughout the meetings of the 70's.
During the 70's the world of mathematics lost Richard Courant, L. J. Mordell, C. B. Allendoerfor, Marsden Morse, K. O. May, Richard Brauer and E. G. Begel. The Section lost some instrumental members too. Albert A. Bennett of Brown University, one of the founders of the NES/MAA died in 1971. J. R. K. Stauffer of the University of Rhode Island, Regional Chair for the High School Mathematics Examination died in 1975. Torsten Norvig, local arrangements chair for the 1971 meeting at Wellesley College, died in 1976. In 1976 the Section lost the able services of Dan Christie of Bowdoin College who had served in a myriad of capacities for the Section. See above for a detailed description. The 1978 meeting at Bunker Hill Community College was dedicated to his memory. In a fitting tribute to Dan, the Section instituted a lectureship in his behalf. The first Christie Lecture was given by John Milnor of Princeton University at the Hartford meeting in 1979.
At the June 1979 meeting several changes in the Section By-Laws were approved. The Executive Committee was expanded to include the Section Governor, the Immediate Past Chairperson, and the Two-Year Committee Representative. The election of the Section Chairperson in odd numbered years and the Vice-Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer and the Two-Year College Representative in even numbered years, all elections taking place at the annual fall meeting, was approved. As a further harbinger of changes to come in the 80's, the Section initiated its Newsletter in the spring of 1979 under the editorship of Dorothy T. Meserve.
-- James J. Tattersall
NES/MAA Historian
Providence College
The 1980s
Even though not as drastic as the metamorphosis of Kafka's Gregor Samsa, the NES/MAA underwent a significant transformation during the 1980's. Early in the decade, as a move to make the Section more fiscally sound, the Section By-laws were amended to allow the Executive Committee to charge an appropriate registration fee at the Section meetings. Soon thereafter a committee consisting of Helen Bass, Bodh Gulati and Ernest Schlesinger proposed updating the Section By-laws to enable the Section (and the Association as well) to retain its tax-exempt status. The NES/MAA took this opportunity to restate in the By-laws its goal of assisting "in the improvement of the education in the mathematical sciences at the collegiate level by carrying out the purposes of the national organization". The Northeastern Section, comprised of the six New England states and Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island remained throughout the decade either first or second in size of membership in the Association.
Throughout the 80's, the Association took decisive action to achieve its objectives of nurturing student talent, increasing public awareness, and making a national commitment to excellence in mathematics in both the nation's colleges and secondary schools. In line with these objectives, the Association introduced the magazine FOCUS as a more effective way to communicate news and announcements to the membership, and strengthen its ties with the mathematical community. Approval voting was adopted in an effort to encourage more people to take part in the election process. Sections were urged to begin Student Chapters, with Thurmon Whitley appointed to direct the organization of our Section's Student Chapters. The Association began offering a number of minicourses at the national meetings. Moreover, a repository for the archives of American mathematics was founded at the University of Texas in Austin, and a week each spring was designated as Mathematics Awareness Week. Locally, Gilbert Strang and Frank Morgan began to offer a series of Boston Workshops for Mathematics Faculty and, in the fall of 1984, Tom Banchoff held a interdisciplinary symposium at Brown University in honor of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Edwin Abbott's Flatland.
In the 80's, the NES/MAA sponsored eleven Short Courses and several Down East Graph Theory conferences, as well as twenty Section meetings, almost equaling the number of Section meetings held in the MAA/NES's first 25 years. The format of the meetings continued to include invited speakers and relevant panel discussions, but was adjusted to include student paper sessions, contributed paper sessions, and various computer and pedagogical workshops. The Section continued to attract distinguished speakers at its meetings. In particular, the Christie Lecturers who spoke, usually without either honorarium or travel allowances, were Gian-Carlo Rota, John Tate, John Wermer, Henry O. Pollak, Phil Davis, Tom Tucker, Ernst Snapper, Reuben Hirsh, Ron Graham, and Paul Schweitzer. Bodh Gulati was instrumental in his capacity as Section Publisher's Liaison in getting a number of book publishers to display their products at the meetings. A Microcomputer Software Exchange was begun by Thurmon Whitley and Steve Snover. The Section formed a Joint MAA/NCTM Articulation Committee, in which Steve Ingram (VT), Homer Bechtell (NH), Karl West (MA), Nancy Cetorelli (CT), and Pete Hayslett (ME) served as coordinator for their respective states. At the end of the decade, a Special Student Chapter Session, with an invited lecturer, was made part of the Section meeting.
All these changes would not have been possible without the dedicated guidance of the Executive Committees of the 80's. We were fortunate to not only have the services of Ann O'Neill, Don Small, and Jim Ward as Section Governors during the 80's, but in order to implement the changes it took the able leadership of our Section Chairpersons Roger Cooke, Jim Ward, Eric Numella, Thurmon Whitley, Steve Ingram, Dennis Luciano, and Karen Schroeder. In the 80's we became a more financially stable organization thanks to the efforts of our Secretary-Treasurers Shirley Blackett, Gordon Prichett, and Laura Kelleher, and to the Connecticut and Union Mutual Life Insurance Companies who underwrote the cost of publishing and mailing our Newsletter in the first half of the decade. We were also well served by our Two-Year College Representatives, Nancy Myers, Jean Smith, and Joe Menard. John Goulet, Dennis Luciano, and Joe Witkowski served as Coordinators of the Student Paper Sessions, while Gail Lange, Russ Rainville, Jim Tattersall, and Ed Sandifer served as Coordinators of the Contributed Papers Sessions. Ken Lane served as Public Information Officer for the Section and Pete Hayslett served as Section Placement Test Representative and liaison between the Section and the MAA Committee on Placement Examinations. Numerous members of the Section served on program committees, local arrangement committees or as workshop organizers, while others participated as speakers or presenters in such sessions. It was a genuine effort by many throughout the decade that enabled the Section to evolve and better serve the mathematical community. It should be noted that the road had been well paved by the generation that had initially organized the Section and guided it during its first 25 years.
During the decade, the mathematical world lost the expertise of R. H. Bing, E. J. McShane, George Polya, Julia Robinson, Stanislaw Ulam, Mark Kac, Mary P. Dolciani Halloran, Gabor Szego, Bert Mendelson, Charles B. Morrey Jr., and Henry Gehman. In our Section we lost the dedicated services of L. Aileen Hostinsky, Dick Howland, Dorothy Bernstein, and Stephanie Troyer.
In the 80's several of the Section's members were honored for their service to the mathematical community. Marshall Stone received the National Medal of Science, Margaret Bondorew (Medway, MA) and David Daniels (Longmeadow, MA) each received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. Jean Smith received the AMATYC Mathematical Excellence Award. Charles Hadlock won the MAA Book Prize for his Carus Monograph Field Theory and its Classical Problems. Dennis Luciano and Gordon Prichett shared the George Polya Award. The Lester R. Ford Award was given to Stan Wagon. Marjorie Senechal was awarded the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award. Martha Zelinka of Weston, MA was named Governor-at-Large to represent the contingency of secondary school mathematics teachers. Katherine O'Brien received the Deborah Morton Award from Westbrook College honoring her for her mathematical expertise in the classroom and for her outstanding poetry. Eric Wepsic and Robert Southworth won honors representing the United States in the International Mathematical Olympiad. The MAA Certificate of Meritorious Service went to Don Small for exhibiting strong leadership, initiating innovative ideas, and his assiduous devotion in promoting NES/MAA. In addition, a room at the Association's National Headquarters in Washington, D. C. is to be dedicated to one of our founders and first Chairperson, Howard Eves.
I would be remiss at this point in archivist duties if I did not offer an appreciative thank you to Dot Meserve, Eric Nummella, Ken Lane, Phil Mahler, and Frank Battles for editing the Section's Newsletter. They have left a wonderful paper trail that was a joy to follow.
-- James J. Tattersall
NES/MAA Historian
Providence College
The 1990’s
The 1990's saw the addition of many programs to the menu of offerings of the Section. In April of 1991 the Section held its first minicourse: "Using History in Teaching Calculus" given by V. Frederick Rickey and held at Bentley College. The original intention of these minicourses was to bring to the Section outstanding minicourses first presented at the national meetings. Minicourses were offered each following year until 1998. In the spring of 1992, the first round of regional dinner meetings were held, the very first one at Worcester Polytechnic Institution with the dinner talk given by Gil Strang. These were continued through the 90's and have provided a mechanism for networking with one's colleagues on a regional basis. This concept sparked a lot of interest from other Sections when we presented this concept at the national Section Officers Meeting. At the Spring Meeting of 1997 held at Merrimack College we had as part of the program a session for "Future Colleague" presentations and at the Fall of 1997 meeting held at Western New England College we had the first session of "New Faculty" presentations. As a result younger mathematicians have become more involved in Section activities. At the Spring Meeting of 1998 held at Keene State the first Battles Lecture was given by Jim Tattersall. This annual feature of the Spring Meeting is named for Frank Battles who served as Newsletter Editor from 1988-1998. Early in 1997 the Section's web page first appeared with Ross Gingrich of Southern Connecticut State University serving as Webmaster.
Several interesting joint efforts of the Section took place in the 90's. On October 30, 1993, the MAA/NES and Bentley College cosponsored a Student Career Conference, "Mathematics Opens Doors to the World". Ten workshops, each run by an expert in their field, were offered. The areas covered included medicine, computers and technology, banking, operations research, teaching, information systems, statistics, telecommunications, environmental sciences, and actuarial sciences. On October 21, 1994 the Section, in conjunction with the Mathematics and Music Departments of Regis College, presented "Mathematical Aspects of the Music of Bach". This was given by Victor Hill IV, the Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics at Williams College.
The Section's "Distinguished College or University Teaching Award" was first given at the Spring of 1992 meeting at Merrimack College to Frank Morgan of Williams College. The sectional winner is then eligible for the corresponding national award and five of the eight Section awardees in the 90's went on to also received the national award. The National MAA Certificate of Meritorious Service, which is given every five years, was awarded to Jim Tattersall of Providence College in 1972 and to Frank P. Battles and Laura L. Kelleher of Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1997. The Section introduced the Howard Eves Award to honor those who had been of great service to the Section but did not receive the previously mentioned award. The first recipient was Howard Eves (1990), followed by Clayton Dodge (1995) both of the University of Maine.
June of 1996 marked the end of the annual section short course at the University of Maine which had been a popular weeklong event since it was started in 1979 by Don Small and Grattan Murphy. For many years, the running of this course was under the very capable direction of Clayton Dodge. These courses provided us with an opportunity to learn some mathematics and meet with a distinguished mathematician on the beautiful campus of UMaine in Orono. The social highlights included an afternoon at Acadia National Park followed by a pizza party back on campus and a Thursday night lobster bake.
We were most fortunate in the 90's to have many talented and creative Section Officers. More than at any other time in the Section's history, women played a very prominent role. The first three Section Chairs during this time period were Karen Schroeder of Bentley College (1989-1991), Laura Kelleher of Massachusetts Maritime Academy (1991-1993) and Donna Beers of Simmons College (1993-1995). Karen went on to serve the Section as Governor from 1994 to 1997 and Laura and Donna each became Governor in the next decade. Their outstanding leadership was followed by Rick Cleary of St. Michael's College (1995-1997) and Frank Ford of Providence College (1997-1999). We were lead into the next decade by Ed Sandifer of Western Connecticut State University. Don Small of Colby College finished up his three year term as Governor in 1991. In addition to Karen Schroeder, Dennis Luciano of Western New England College served two terms as Governor: 1991-1994 and 1997-2000. Our growing treasury and communications with the National Headquarters were ably handled by Laura Kelleher, Premjit Singh of Fitchburg State College, Marilyn Durkin of Bentley College, and Betsey Whitman of Framingham State. Our Two-Year College Representatives were Joe Menard of Community College of Rhode Island, Helene Savicki of Dean Junior College, Miguel Garcia of Gateway Community Technical College, Phil Mahler of Middlesex Community College and Kathy Bevelas of Manchester Community Technical College. Frank Battles, Frank Ford and Barry Schiller of Rhode Island College served as Newsletter Editors.
Section Meetings were held in November and June with ten in Massachusetts, three in Rhode Island, three in Connecticut, two in Maine, one in New Hampshire and one in Vermont. Our 40th anniversary meeting was hosted by Salem State College in 1995. We met twice at Merrimack College which gives this school the distinction of having hosted the most section meetings: five. Our most elegant meeting site was certainly the one at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. The best attended meeting for the 90's was held at Framingham State College with 258 registrants. Our last meeting of the 90's was held at Bradford College whose closing was announced the following week.
We had many outstanding lectures at our Section Meetings in the '90's. The Christie Lectures given at the Fall Meeting were presented by John Conway, Rodica Simion, Peter Hilton, Jim Tattersall, Robert Rosenbaum, Doris Schattschneider, Roger Cooke, Michael Starbird, Gilbert Strang and Charles Hadlock. The Battles Lecture instituted in 1998 was given by Jim Tattersall and Robert Devaney. Other notable presenters include Herb Wilf, Dan Kleitman, Marjorie Senechal, Gerald Alexanderson, William Dunham, Ingrid Daubechies, Martha Siegel, James Leitzel, Ben Fusaro, John Ewing, H.S.M. Coxeter, Thomas Banchoff, Philip Davis, Joe Gallian, Margaret Cozzens, Carl Pomerance, Laurie Snell, Colin Adams, Persi Diaconis, Philip Uri Treisman, Ken Ross, Florence Fasanelli, and Ed Dubinsky.
The Northeastern Region was a popular choice for summer national meetings in the 90's. The Joint National Meeting was held at the University of Maine (Orono) in 1992 and at the University of Vermont in 1995. At the meeting at the University of Maine, Karen Schroeder dedicated The Howard Eves Room in the Washington headquarters of the MAA and presented a plaque and doorknob to Clayton Dodge, representing Howard Eves. The summer MAA Mathfest was held in Providence in 1999. In addition, the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges was held in Boston in November of 1993.
Our Section bylaws were carefully looked at by a committee consisting of Dennis Luciano, Jim Tattersall and Karen Schroeder. The major changes proposed were to form an advisory council and add the Newsletter editor to the Executive Committee. These changes were approved by the membership and the National office in 1994.
The MAA celebrated its 75th anniversary in Columbus, Ohio in 1990. In a memorial parade, each section carried a banner indicating the section name and year of its founding. Ours was carried by Don Small. This banner was then on prominent display at all of our section meetings throughout the nineties. Each section was asked to write a history of the section. Jim Tattersall undertook this task for our Section and wrote a decade by decade history from the 50's through the 80's. Clayton Dodge chipped in a biography of Howard Eves, one of the founders of our Section; Jim Ward of Bowdoin College gave us a biography of Dan Christie for whom the Christie Lecture is named; and Don and Shirley Blackett of Boston University and Northeastern University respectively gave us a personal history of the Section. This and other historical information regarding the Section is available on the Section's website.
-- Frank Battles
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
The 2000’s
In 2005 the Northeastern Section celebrated its 50th anniversary. Having begun with a meeting on October 14, 1955 at the University of New Hampshire, the Section returned to UNH for a semi-centennial anniversary celebration at its fall, 2005 meeting. As the Section began its next 50 years, it was appropriate that the incoming chair, Tommy Ratliff, asked the Executive Committee to consider what the purpose of the Section is.
As the Section moved into the 2000's there was a mixture of continuity and change. Section meetings in the fall and spring continue to be our central activity. These are supplemented by dinner meetings in the spring. Despite excellent programs and locations, the summer short courses suffered from low attendance and morphed into a one day mini-course before the 2004 spring meeting and was discontinued after 2006. At the fall 2002 meeting, Section NExT activities for new faculty were inaugurated under the leadership of Lisa Humphreys and have continued prior to each of the fall and spring meetings. This complemented the New Faculty paper session at the fall meetings. Sarah Mabrouk brought a renewed focus on activities and outreach for graduate students at the meetings. At the fall 2006 meeting the Section held its first annual Collegiate Mathematics Competition. It was immediately successful in attracting teams of undergraduates and continued to grow through the decade. In 2007 the Section and Bentley College co-sponsored a conference for students on careers in the mathematical sciences.
The early 2000's continued the tradition of excellent Section meetings. Fall meetings were typically held close to the Boston area and Spring meetings moved further out into the section. Excellent speakers giving excellent talks were the norm for our two named lectures, the Christie Lecture in the fall and the Battles Lecture in the spring. The Christie Lectures were given by Ed Burger, Richard Guy, Carl Pomerance, Lisa Humphreys, Bud Brown, Dusa McDuff, Jennifer Beineke, Thomas Garrity, David Bressoud, and Fernando Gouvea. The Battles Lectures were given by Joe Gallian, Tom Banchoff, Thomas Hales, Mike Rosen, Frank Farris, Frank Morgan, Catherine Roberts, Jim Henle, Christopher Danforth, and Guillaume Weisang. Some of the other speakers of note at Section meetings were Fred Rickey, Greg Fredrickson, Richard Guy, Underwood Dudley, Sean McLaughlin, Gil Strang, Steve Dunbar, Dawn Lott, Ary Goldberger, Stephen Brams, Robert Bradley, David Bressoud, Arthur Benjamin, Jack Graver, Brian Winkel, Carl Cowen, Ron Graham, George Andrews, Noam Elkies, Ezra "Bud" Brown, Colin Adams, and Laura Taalman. A few of the other highlights were the recreational math focus and games from Binary Arts at the Bridgewater meeting, visitors from the Seaway Section and lots of students at the Williams meeting, the Origami Workshop at the Western New England University meeting, the juggling workshop at the Saint Michael's meeting, and presents for almost everyone in attendance at the Framingham meeting.
In addition to our Section meetings, our region was again an attractive location for the national MAA. We hosted MathFest 2002 in Burlington, VT and MathFest 2004 in Providence, Rhode Island. Section members served vital roles in the planning and execution of those meetings. Dinner meetings in the spring provided another opportunity for Section Members to gather. Sites varied, but one could always count on a meeting at Holy Cross in conjunction with their Sulski lecture and a Providence area meeting. Framingham State added an annual dinner meeting in honor of Ken Preskenis.
The Section is blessed with excellent teachers. The Distinguished Teaching Award winners for the Section were Ed Burger, Paul Blanchard, Laura Kelleher, Emma Previato, Joe McKenna Dave Abrahamson, Gil Strang, Ken Gross, David Carhart, and Sol Friedberg. Ed Burger, Tom Garrity, Gil Strang, and Ken Gross were also national Haimo Award winners.
The Section also recognized the outstanding service of four of its members. Dennis Luciano received the National MAA Certificate for Meritorious Service in 2002, while Donna Beers was awarded the certificate in 2007. Jim Ward and Karen Schroeder received the Howard Eves Award in 2000 and 2005 respectively.
Although the financial health of the Section remained strong, the Executive Committee discussed ways to deal with a downward trend. Registration fees for Section meetings were increased by $5 across the board, with the fee being $25 for members. The largest expense was the printing and mailing of the Newsletter. To cut costs the Newsletter was published on the Section website and individual members were given the option of receiving an e-mail notification that the Newsletter was available online, a one page Newsletter Lite, or the full print version. Frank Ford, the Newsletter Editor, and Ross Gingrich, the webmaster, were key players in this move.
The Section continued to be served by a committed group of officers. Ed Sandifer of Western Connecticut State University began the decade as chair, followed by Ockle Johnson of Keene State College (2001- 2003), Sarah Mabrouk of Framingham State College (2003-2005), Tommy Ratliff of Wheaton College (2005-2007), and Jason Molitierno of Sacred Heart University (2007-2009). Former chairs served admirably as our Section's Governor, Donna Beers of Simmons College (2000-2003), Laura Kelleher of Massachusetts Maritime Academy (2003-2006), and Ockle Johnson of Keene State College (2006-2009). Ed Sandifer of Western Connecticut State University was elected Governor in 2009, but sadly was incapacitated by a stroke in August 2009 after representing the Section at MathFest. Betsey Whitman of Framingham State College concluded several years of fine service as our Secretary/Treasurer in 2000 and was succeeded by Ann Kizanis of Western New England College. Kathleen Bavelas of Manchester Community Technical College provided excellent service as our Two-Year College Representative until 2005 when she was succeeded by Lois Martin of Massasoit Community College, who served until 2008 when Phil Mahler of Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts began a long tenure. After sharing the Editorship of the Newsletter with Barry Schiller of Rhode Island College, Frank Ford of Providence College did yeoman's work as the sole editor. In 2007, Tommy Ratliff took over as Section Webmaster. Lucy Kimball of Bentley College was the coordinator for our dinner meetings. The section has also been well served by a cadre of organizers for the various paper sessions at our meetings: Ed Sandifer, Tommy Ratliff, Rob Poodiack, Ockle Johnson, Mike Cullinane, Lisa Humphreys, Karen Stanish, Ray Kovac, Phil Hotchkiss, Chris Aubuchon and Sarah Mabrouk.
The Section has also provided national MAA leadership. Tom Banchoff began the decade as the President of the MAA, and Frank Morgan began as Second Vice President. Jim Tattersall continued to serve as Associate Secretary of the MAA. Carl Pomerance served as MAA First Vice President from 2006 to 2007. Rick Cleary was elected to the MAA Budget and Audit Committee and served on the Board of Governors beginning in 2007.
-- Ockle Johnson
Keene State College
-- Robert Poodiack
Norwich University
The 2010’s
As the Northeastern Section headed toward its 60th anniversary in 2015 and the MAA approached its 100th anniversary the same year, celebration was certainly in order. The Northeastern Section celebrated the 100th anniversary of the national organization at its Spring 2015 meeting at Keene State College, with the viewing of a "Happy Birthday" video, a birthday cake, and the unveiling of commemorative T-shirts. Section members proudly wore their T-shirts for that year's MathFest in Washington, DC, and then again at the Fall 2015 meeting, when the Section feted its sexagennial at Gordon College. With all the celebration though, a measure of reflection set in. At the national level, the MAA restructured its council and committee structure, with Governors becoming Section Representatives. While the national MAA has struggled with budget deficits at times, even announcing at the end of the 2010s a pullback from the Joint Mathematics Meetings, the Northeastern Section has been in robust financial shape for most of the past decade.
But a large savings account balance carries with it some responsibility and the Executive Committee decided to use its funds to sponsor various activities around the Northeast. In 2014, Karl-Dieter Crisman of Gordon College became the Section's first Activity Grants Coordinator. The Section has funded several small conferences and math circle activities around New England, as well as funded a Project NExT fellow in 2015. At the same time, the Section raised meeting registration fees by $10 to put them more in line with similar Section meeting fees from around the country.
Excellent section meetings remained the norm throughout the 2000s. The tradition of several compelling plenary speakers continued but as the decade proceeded, new activities such as the Teaching Ideas Hour, student scavenger hunts, and mathematical art exhibits injected freshness and vitality into the meetings. Fall meetings tended to be held in the southern part of the Section, while Spring meetings ventured further afield, even into northern New England, with two in Rhode Island, seven in Connecticut, five in Massachusetts, three in Vermont, two in New Hampshire, and one in Maine.
As usual, the Christie and Battles Lectures brought nationally renowned speakers to the Northeastern Section. Erik Demaine, William Dunham, our co-founder Clayton Dodge, Hans Kaper, Chris Rodger, Jim Tattersall, Tim Chartier, former Monthly editor Daniel Velleman and Henry Segerman gave the Christie Lectures. The Battles Lectures were given by Ed Burger, Joseph Silverman, Phil Sadler, Dan Mostow, James Bozeman, John Voight, then-MAA President Francis Su, Peter Winkler, Daniel Schultheis, and Meredith Greer. Additionally, the Section took advantage of opportunities to have MAA officers and journal editors speak at meetings with talks by Steve Abbott, Jennifer Quinn, Michael Jones, and Carol Schumacher. Other noted speakers included Gil Strang, Michael Frame, Carl Pomerance, Dan Mostow, William Dunham, and Fred Rickey.
The Section continues to have an abundance of excellent teachers. The Distinguished Teaching Award winners for the Section were Susan Loepp, Joseph Silverman, Margaret Robinson, Satyan Devadoss, Donna Beers, George Ashline, Reva Kasman, Mihai Stoiciu, and Jen Berg. Susan Loepp and Margaret Robinson were also national Haimo Award winners.
Four of our members were also recognized for years of excellent service. Frank Ford received the National MAA Certificate for Meritorious Service in 2012, while Jason Molitierno was awarded the certificate in 2017. Rick Cleary and Ed Sandifer received the Howard Eves Award in 2010 and 2015 respectively.
The Northeastern Section had a diverse, skilled group of officers during the 2010s. Rob Poodiack of Norwich University served as Chair to start the decade (2009-2011), followed by Karen Stanish of Keene State College (2011-2013), Eric Johnson of United States Coast Guard Academy (2013-2015), Vince Ferlini of Keene State College (2015-2017), and Joe Fields of Southern Connecticut State University (2017-2019). As in past years, former chairs were tapped to serve as our Section's Governor. Since our Governor, Ed Sandifer of Western Connecticut State University, was recovering from a stroke, past Governor Ockle Johnson of Keene State College, represented the Section at Board meetings. When it became clear that, unfortunately, Ed would not be able to resume his duties, Ockle was elected by the Board of Governors to serve for the remainder of Ed's term. He was succeeded by Tommy Ratliff of Wheaton College (2012-15), followed by Jason Molitierno (2015-18). New MAA bylaws included a major change to the organizational structure with a much smaller Board of Directors and Sections represented in a newly established Congress. Karen Stanish of Keene State College (2018- ) was elected as our first Section Representative. After serving as our Secretary/Treasurer for almost two decades (2001-18), Ann Kizanis of Western New England College handed over the Section accounts and other duties to Jason Molitierno in 2018. After serving as our Two-Year College Representative for a decade (2008-18), Phil Mahler of Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts was succeeded by June Stankiewicz Decker of Three Rivers Community College (2018- ). Frank Ford of Providence College continued to serve as Newsletter Editor and Klay Kruczek of Southern Connecticut State University has been sharing the role since 2017.
At the start of the 2010s, Frank Ford had also taken over as Webmaster. Rob Poodiack of Norwich University succeeded him in 2011 on what was supposed to be an interim basis, just as the college server that had hosted the Northeastern Section website did an unannounced overhaul, losing many of the Section's webpages in the process. After much labor, the Section's website was recovered, redesigned, and moved to the national MAA's servers. After a trial run at the Fall 2009 meeting, the Northeastern Section initiated online registration and payment for its twice-annual meetings beginning in 2011, one of the first sections in the country to do so successfully. After four years, Rob handed the job off to Mike Barrus from the University of Rhode Island in 2015.
Section NExT has been coordinated by Karen Stanish, then Jason Molitierno, and Klay Kruczek. Undergraduate Math Competition coordinators have included Rob Poodiack, jenn berg, Joe Fields, Vince Ferlini, Addie Armstrong. Karl-Dieter Crisman has been the Activity Grant Coordinator. Both longtime and newer members stepped in to coordinate paper sessions for the meetings: Karen Stanish, Ray Kovac, Phil Hotchkiss, Chris Aubuchon and Sarah Mabrouk, Frank Ford, Eric Johnson, Lynette Boos, Shannon Lockard, Eleanor Farrington.
Bob Devaney continued a tradition of Northeastern Section service to the MAA, serving as president from 2013 to 2014.
-- Ockle Johnson
Keene State College
-- Robert Poodiack
Norwich University