2023-2024 Academic Year in Review
The “Program Assessment Conference for Mathematics [P.A.C.-Math]: Tools for Math Departments to Self-Assess GTA Professional Development Programs” was held on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from October 20-21, 2023, and was organized locally by faculty member Jeneva Clark with assistance from the departmental staff. Rosario Dow was instrumental in its success. The conference was partially supported by the National Science Foundation and the math department. About 30 people from around the country, plus one international guest, attended the workshop.
The “103rd Annual MAA-SE (Mathematical Association of America-Southeastern Section) Section Meeting took place on the UT campus from March 14-16, 2024. It was locally organized by Jeneva Clark with assistance from several faculty and staff members, as well as graduate students. More than 500 people attended the meeting, and the conference was a terrific success according to MAA. One former section chair wrote, “All our meetings are great, but this one truly goes down in history.” A special event of the meeting was honoring MAA member and civil rights hero Bill Brodie. Please see the August/September issue MAA FOCUS for the detailed story.
The 52nd Barrett Lectures took place on the UT campus from May 20-22, 2024. The topic of the lectures was “Stochastic Analysis and its Applications,” and it was organized by the probability group. Eleven invited one-hour talks were delivered, and about 40 people attended the lectures. The 52nd Barrett Lectures were supported by the National Science Foundation, the research office, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Mathematics.
The math department underwent a comprehensive Academic Program Review (APR) in 2023-2024. Such a review occurs roughly once every ten years. The department’s last APR was done in 2014-2015. The APR process consists of four steps. First, the department prepared a comprehensive self-study report, which requires a lot of time and effort. Second, an external APR committee, invited by the Office of Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, came to UT for a site visit, from March 31-April 2, 2024. The APR committee submitted an evaluation report about various aspects of the department and made constructive recommendations. The report was then shared with the department, which provided a response to the APR committee’s report. Finally, the department head met with the college and university administrations to discuss the APR report and the department’s response, resulting in a specific action plan.
The 2024 Math Department Honors Day was held in the Student Union on Monday, April 8, 2024. This was the first time the ceremony was live-streamed on the internet. It was a great gathering and celebration of the achievements of the faculty, staff, graduate students, and math majors.