*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 3, Issue 1 Jan. 11, 1995 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. Please, direct submissions and questions to Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu , editor for the month of January. Next issue: Wednesday, 18 January. December Editor: Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu January Editor: Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu February Editor: Nancy Wilson nwilson@stmarys-ca.edu To subscribe: Contact Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. Or connect to the YMN homepage on the WWW, the URL: http://ejc.math.gatech.edu:8080/YMN/ymn.html The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the administrative board or membership of the Young Mathematicians' Network. The editorial policy of this newsletter is to encourage discussion of issues, and facilitate the dissemination of information, relevant to the concerns of young mathematicians. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 YMN at the Joint Meetings in S.F. 3 AMS Cover Sheet 4 A Young Mathematician on the JCEO 5 Beating the Cost of Meetings 6 MAA Board of Governors and the YMN 7 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: Happy new year and welcome back! As many of you know, the joint meetings in San Francisco have just ended and so the next few editions will probably be filled with submissions about the goings on at the meetings. Also, I know from personal experience that the job- hunting season is in full swing, so informative submissions (saying more than ``the market is awful'' which we all know) concerning the job search are very timely. Of course, we are always in need of articles about other topics as well. This is my second time editing the newsletter; I look forward to hearing from all of you again. -- Matt Hudelson, hudelson@math.washington.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 by Kevin Charlwood YMN at the Joint Meetings in S.F. Hello, everyone! I just wanted to include this brief note in the Concerns to let everyone know that the Town Meeting of the Young Mathematic- ian's Network was a great success. All of you who read the Concerns and have items you would like to share, everything from teaching and research to getting a job are once again encouraged to do so! Remember what Curtis Bennett said "...YOU are the Young Mathematician's Network!" So, in written format, I'm imploring our ever-expanding readership to get involved--give us your input! I'd like nothing more than to read new articles from people who have plenty to say, but haven't had the proper forum for their ideas. Again, we need volunteers for a variety of activities; a list will be available soon through the Concerns. Anyone and everyone who can lend a helping hand is most welcome to be involved! To reiterate some of the discussion at the Town Meeting, if you'd prefer to do some of these activities anonymously, please let one or more current YMN administrators know, and we'll be happy to accommodate you. I realize when you're new to the business, there is some fear of making your opinions on certain issues known...that's expected. With that said, again, please feel free to raise issues of importance to you. We're eager to hear from you!!! One of your humble colleagues, Kevin Charlwood e-mail: kec1@bradley.bradley.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 by Curtis Bennett AMS Cover Sheet At the joint meetings, an important issue was raised concerning the AMS cover sheet. The question concerns the line asking if you would like to be considered for temporary positions. At least one faculty member has mentioned that her dean would see an affirmative answer here as an argument against making a tenure track appointment since the school could (presumably) get the person with a non-tenure track offer. If this attitude is widespread amongst deans, then I think a change should be sought in the cover sheet. As a result, I would like to ask everybody out there to check with their department head and see if at your school, the dean (or higher ups) would similarly fight against a tenure track position in this case. If you could send me the results at cbennet@falcon.bgsu.edu , I would very much appreciate it. I should note, that unless the JCEO finds that this is a widespread phenomenon, it will be unlikely to seek a change in the cover letter. Curtis Bennett cbennet@falcon.bgsu.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #4 by Mark Winstead A Young Mathematician on the JCEO Hello! Sorry to miss many of you in S.F. Starting on February 1st, I will be a member of the AMS-MAA-SIAM Committee on Employment Opportunities (JCEO) for the next three years. The JCEO oversees many of the employment and jobseeking services available through the three professional societies, including the employment register and the journal "Employment Information for the Mathematical Sciences". I am interested in knowing your impressions of the E.R. and EIMS, as well as what else the professional societies could be doing. Since the biggest improvement to the ER that could be made is to get more employers to use the ER, I would especially like to hear from those on hiring committees. At this time, I would also like to announce that I will be playing a smaller part with YMN in the future, at least directly. I will likely be playing as large a role as ever in the junior mathematicians' community, it will just be more through the JCEO. Also, as many of you know, I am giving consideration to writing a book on employment searching in the mathematical sciences, and that will take time if I do it. (The idea of a book has been floating around; it sounds like if I end up not doing it, someone else will.) If I do it, look for chapter outlines/summaries to be printed in CYM. Mark W. Winstead mwwinst@gcr.com _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 by Frank Sottile Beating the Cost of Meetings We all recognize the value in attending mathematics meetings. Unfortunately, attending these meetings are often costly. I see three main expenses incurred by at a meeting: travel, food, and lodging. The cost of travel is largely fixed, although some airlines offer student discounts. It is hard to control the cost of food, since much important socializing occurs at meals, and this is one of the main reasons for attending a conference. When not doing such socializing, I don't eat at a restaurant. A sandwich counter or fast-food stand is an acceptable alternative when I am with other young people. When eating alone, I prefer to graze at a grocery store (if available). Lodging is perhaps the biggest expense that one may control. Big meetings are often in fairly expensive hotels. My room at a conference is primarily a place to sleep and shower, and there are usually cheaper places than the conference hotel. At the winter meeting of the Canadian Mathematical Society in Montreal, I stayed in the Montreal youth hostel for $18/night. The dormitory accommodations were fine for me, and I saved quite a bit as the hotel was $100 ($50 if I had found someone to share a room). Besides the Youth hostel, there was also YMCA at $30 for a single room. While the Montreal hostel was two subway stops from the conference hotel, San Francisco's youth hostel was across the street from the Hilton. The $34 room that I shared with my wife was adequate for our needs, and about 1/2 the price of the cheapest AMS alternative. While I did not investigate, I am fairly certain that there were other places intermediate between the Youth hostel and the hotels offered through the AMS in both price and comfort. While such Spartan accommodations are not for everyone, not everyone needs luxury accommodations at a conference. If anyone has a suggestion or tip on beating the cost of attending meetings, feel free to share it with the readers of this newsletter. Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #6 by Steve Kennedy MAA Board of Governors and the YMN Frank Sottile and I addressed the MAA Board of Governors last week in San Francisco. We began by briefly explaining to them the nature and purpose of the YMN and explaining that anything we might say is only our opinion and should not be taken as representative of the views of all young mathematicians. We told them that there were things that they could do that would be helpful to their junior colleagues: 1) Obtain and disseminate better statistics about the state of the job market. The shortcomings of the AMS-MAA-IMS Annual Survey as a picture of the market for mathematics PhDs has been a frequent topic in these pages (see CoYM vol 2, nos. 40 and 42, for a recent example). We tried to summarize these shortcomings. 2) Appoint young mathematicians to committees of the MAA, especially those committes concerned with the job market. (Mark Winstead is an MAA appointee to the AMS-MAA-SIAM Joint Committee on Employment Opportunities, so this has already been started.) 3) Implement a scheme to incorporate a notification feature in job ads on e-math. It could be as simple as having a couple of check-off boxes at the bottom of each ad reading "We have compiled, and notified, a short list." And, "We have scheduled on-campus interviews." And, of course, "We have filled this position." This would alleviate the stress caused by having no information, except gossip, about most of the positions for which one has applied until late spring or summer. 4) Try to assure good Internet connections for everybody. It is simply impossible to function professionally without one; there are many schools out there that are not connected to the Net. 5) Send us articles. We think that the best service we can provide our readers is to provide them with information on how to find a job and how to develop professionally. Senior mathematicians have this information and some of the most useful articles that have appeared here have been solicited from them. I intend to send a short note to the Board reiterating my plea for copy for the newsletter. 6) Spread the word. The natural constituency of the MAA is the small colleges and universities without graduate programs. Many people in such places, particularly the students, are simply unaware of the dimensions, or perhaps even the existence, of the problems in the job market. Students at such places deserve to be informed of these problems. 7) Fight the despair. We tried to explain that the brutal job market is breeding cynicism and disillusionment among young mathematicians and that this can only be harmful to the profession. Even symbolic acts to show their concern would be well received. Many of those present seemed genuinely concerned. Most took us up on an offer of a free subscription to this newsletter. Ken Ross, the MAA President who has posted to this newsletter and is very sympathetic to the concerns of young mathematicians, even jotted down a note or two while we spoke. The agenda item immediately following our presentation was discussion and vote on a version of the Employment Practices Resolution passed last year by AMS and AWM. This resolution condemns one-year positions and exploitative hiring practices. It passed without discussion and without dissent. The AMS version is available in our archives and from e-math. Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu ______________________________________________________________ Item #7 The Young Mathematicians Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead mwwinst@gcr.com Nancy Wilson nwilson@stmarys-ca.edu Emil Volcheck Emil.Volcheck@risc.uni-linz.ac.at Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Vic Perera vperera@silver.ucs.indiana.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu Bob Dobrow dobrow@cam.nist.gov Lyle Cochran address change pending Kevin Charlwood kec1@bradley.bradley.edu Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Wendy Brunzie brunzie@mathfs.math.montana.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues