Welcome to the new academic year 2011-2012. I hope that all of you had a refreshing, relaxing summer and are having a great fall 2011 semester. As has been the case for the past few years, there are many exciting things happening in mathematics education in two-year colleges in Virginia. I expect that VMATYC will be called upon in the future to provide input to these changes, and I hope that you will be willing to participate in the discussions, meetings, and studies that will accompany these.
The VMATYC Executive Board held its fall meeting via its first WebEx conference on Friday, September 16, 2011. As usual, there was much to discuss. I will summarize some of the key points below.
October is regional fall conference month. All four regions are planning to hold their conferences in the second half of October. The fall regional conferences provide great venues for sharing ideas and discussing issues in a smaller, more local gathering of mathematics and computer science professors than the annual, state-wide spring conference. There is no charge to attend the regional conferences, not even for attendees who are not members of VMATYC. Thomas Nelson CC will host the first of the regional conferences for the Eastern Region on Friday, October 21. The other three conferences will be held the following weekend: Western Region at Virginia Highlands CC and Central Region at Central Virginia CC on Friday, October 28, and Northern Region at Blue Ridge CC on Saturday, October 29.
Planning continues for the 2012 VMATYC annual spring conference, which will be held March 30-31 at the Middletown campus of Lord Fairfax CC. The Winchester Holiday Inn hotel will be the conference hotel. Mike Kirby, VMATYC's president-elect, and Frank Borleske, the host college coordinator and VMATYC's historian, are working hard to put on a great conference in the spring. Check out Mike Kirby's "Spring 2012 Annual VMATYC Conference" article in this newsletter for more information. VMATYC plans to hold its 2013 conference at Wytheville CC and its 2014 conference at J. Sargeant Reynolds CC.
VMATYC is forming a committee to study MTH 158, College Algebra, at the request of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The purpose of the study is to determine the purpose of MTH 158, examine how it is used by different colleges to meet the requirements of academic programs, review and compare the prerequisites for MTH 158 used by colleges that teach the course, compare the course content to that of the higher-level MTE courses, discuss possible revisions to the course content, and make recommendations for any VCCS-wide course revisions, including a recommendation for a system-wide prerequisite, for MTH 158. Susan Evans, VMATYC's recording secretary, volunteered to chair the committee. The deadline for the study is April 21, 2012. You should have received an e-mail through the VMATYC listserv asking for volunteers for this committee. If you have recently taught MTH 158, please seriously consider volunteering to serve on this committee and participating in the study. We are also looking for one or two mathematics faculty members who do not teach MTH 158 to serve on the committee. I think that it is wonderful that the VCCS requested that VMATYC perform this study. One of the complaints that I had heard about the developmental mathematics redesign was that formal VMATYC input for the redesign was never requested and that the input that was received was only from members selected by the VCCS. For the MTH 158 study, VMATYC is providing an avenue for all mathematics faculty members who have an interest to provide input. It is important that we provide the best input possible, so that the VCCS is not hesitant to include VMATYC and the peer group in future decisions on curriculum matters.
Concerning the developmental mathematics redesign, be sure to read Jane Serbousek's "Updates on the Developmental Math Redesign" article in this newsletter for a detailed update on the redesign effort. The implementation of the redesign begins next semester on all of our campuses across the state. Many of us will continue to be involved in that tremendous effort to better meet the needs of community college students who lack mathematical knowledge that they require in order to achieve their academic goals.
Two deserving students were selected this past spring to receive Glenn Fox Scholarships this fall. Congratulations to Chris R. Affane Nguema, Northern Virginia CC, and Julia Duke, Lord Fairfax CC! They were the clear winners among five applicants who competed for the scholarship this year.
If you have not renewed your membership for this year, please do so. You can renew your membership by going to the VMATYC website, http://vmatyc.org/vmatyc-information/membership, clicking on the online membership form link, completing the online membership application, and paying the $10 dues. Payment can be made online by credit card, at no additional cost to you, or by mailing a check to the VMATYC treasurer.
If you are a member of our national organization, AMATYC, hopefully, you have already registered for the AMATYC annual conference being held this year in Austin, TX and have voted in the election this year. You can register for the conference as late as October 7 without paying the late registration rate, as long as you register and pay online. Voting for the AMATYC election ends on October 9. VMATYC's own Chris Allgyer from Mountain Empire CC is running for Mid-Atlantic Vice-President!
I look forward to serving as president of VMATYC for the next two years. It is an honor to be able to offer some of my time and talent to an organization that has helped me to be the best that I can in a profession that I truly enjoy. I owe much to the many members of VMATYC who have shared their knowledge, given me great ideas, guided me to think about how to improve my craft, and served as mentors. I would like to keep the lines of communication open to all members of VMATYC and the larger mathematics and computer science peer group that VMATYC represents. Please feel free to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have any ideas, suggestions, or questions concerning VMATYC or any the areas in which it is involved. I hope that you have a great semester!

John Gallo
VMATYC President
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