A Brief History of MUCTM by David Kullman

On March 27, 1982, Jim Wesson, Johnny Hill and a student, Polly Powers, were returning to Oxford from the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics 32nd Annual Meeting in Toledo. They began to discuss the idea of a local professional council for mathematics teachers and students at Miami University, and somebody said, “Let’s do it!” So the Miami University Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MUCTM) was born.

Polly volunteered to take charge of registering MUCTM as a Miami University Student Organization, and Dr. Wesson agreed to be its Faculty Advisor. By the end of Spring Semester, they had a draft of a proposed Constitution and a list of immediate objectives. These were:

1. Identify and support students preparing to become mathematics teachers.

2. Organize an executive board, revise and ratify a proposed constitution, and recruit charter members for MUCTM.

3. Schedule a minimum of seven meetings during the academic year, organize field trips, and provide a tutoring service for the local Talawanda school district.

4. Seek affiliation (by fall 1983) with OCTM and NCTM.

Since most students had already left campus for summer vacation, the official start-up had to wait until fall.

The organizational meeting of MUCTM was held on October 7, 1982. The agenda included reading and ratifying the Constitution, brainstorming ideas for possible programs and activities, electing and installing officers, and signing up for committees. The latter included membership, programming, publicity, and finance.

The first Executive Board served for the academic year 1982-83, with new officers elected in the spring semester. The initial slate of officers consisted of:

President	Polly Powers
Vice President, Elementary	Donna Wilson
Vice President, Secondary	Cathy Spino
Treasurer	Kitten Sagar
Publicity Chair	Diane Kurtz
Historian/Secretary	Brenda Hazel

The Constitution stated that “The Miami University Council of Teachers of Mathematics is dedicated to seeking improved teaching and learning of school mathematics and to the improvement of professional preparation for teachers of school mathematics.”

• promoting improved practices in school mathematics;

• encouraging commitment to professional growth and continued professional improvement;

• identifying and supporting students seeking preparation as mathematics teachers of children and youth;

• promoting articulation between and among levels of school mathematics;

• focusing attention of the University community on the problems and needs in school mathematics and teacher preparation in that area.

Membership was open to “all those interested in the advancement of mathematics education among youth and children.” Annual dues, payable on or before the conclusion of the second meeting, were set at $5.00, including 50 cents for student membership in OCTM. (By 2009 the annual dues had increased to $15, with $5 earmarked for OCTM.)

As soon as the MUCTM organizational meeting was concluded, Dr. Wesson and Pam Higbee (a student) began the process of seeking affiliation with OCTM and NCTM. The former went smoothly, but the National Council was reluctant to charter a student group because they feared there would be “no continuity” in such an organization. Fortunately, Joe Crosswhite from Ohio State was President-Elect of NCTM that year, and with his support, the Miami University Council became the first NCTM undergraduate student affiliated group. (An affiliated group for graduate students at the University of Georgia had been established earlier.) Charter #292, signed by then President Crosswhite, was presented in September, 1984.

Based on this experience, the MUCTM officers put together a packet of information to help other NCTM student affiliated groups get started. With help from Miami students, local councils were soon organized at Bowling Green State University and the Ohio State University. These student-led organizations are still active today.

Meetings

The constitution calls for a minimum of seven general meetings annually. In practice, there are normally eight meetings, held monthly from September through April. Typically, these start with a brief business meeting, followed by a guest speaker who gives a presentation on some aspect of teaching mathematics. This may be a Miami faculty member, a classroom teacher from a local school district, or another distinguished leader in the mathematics education profession. Topics may include mathematics content, pedagogical strategies, or educational issues. The members seem to prefer talks that focus on classroom activities and teaching tips.

OCTM Middletown Meeting

One of the early MUCTM accomplishments was hosting the 34th Annual OCTM Meeting on the Middletown Campus of Miami University, April 5-7, 1984. The steering committee consisted of Jim and Dot Wesson, Johnny Hill, and MUCTM President, Pam Higbee. Polly Powers and David Kullman were among the committee chairs. It was only fitting that NCTM President-elect Joe Crosswhite should be a keynote speaker, along with Dan Watt, editor of Popular Computing magazine. Dan’s topic was “Learning Mathematics with Logo,” while Joe spoke on “Professional Responses to the Crisis in Mathematics Education.” The program also featured 90 sessions and workshops.

That 1984 Annual Meeting is also noteworthy in sense that registrations hit the 600 mark for the first time ever, marking the start of a new era of growth for OCTM. (Jim Wesson recalled that the figure stood at 599 on Saturday morning, but Bill Speer recruited one of his students from Bowling Green, bringing the total to 600.)

Spring Drive-in Conferences

For several years, MUCTM co-sponsored a Miami University drive-in conference for elementary and middle school teachers. These one-day conferences, featuring a keynote speaker and several parallel strands of workshops and sessions, had originated in the 1960’s. Attendees paid a modest registration fee, and the conferences became a significant source of funding for MUCTM activities. One such activity was awarding an annual scholarship to an outstanding mathematics education student. However, the drive-in conferences were discontinued in the early 1990’s, and the Council had to seek other avenues of funding, including bake sales.

Conferences for Kids

One of the signature activities of MUCTM has been a series of Math and Science Conferences, held on Saturday mornings at a middle school in southwestern Ohio. Johnny Hill and his graduate assistant at the McGuffey Laboratory School, Marilyn Speer, had started these “Conferences for Kids” prior to 1982, and MUCTM picked up the idea almost immediately. Typically these occur once each semester, with 15 to 30 Miami students presenting sessions on a variety of mathematics enrichment topics to as many as 200 fifth and sixth grade students and their parents.

One of the first schools to host a kids conference was the E. H. Green Intermediate School in the Sycamore School District, under the leadership of Alberta Carter. For several years the Arcanum Elementary School in Darke County organized an annual field trip to Miami University, where elementary students attended mathematical presentations by Miami faculty and members of MUCTM. Most of the sessions at kids conferences are focused on recreational aspects of mathematics or applications of math and science, and many of the topics are repeated from year to year.

MUCTM Presidents and Advisors

Academic Year	President	Advisor
1982-83	Polly Powers	Jim Wesson
1983-84	Pam Higbee	Jim Wesson
1984-85	Diane Kurtz	Jim Wesson
1985-86	Mary Ann Kenny	Jim Wesson
1986-87	Maria Langevin	Jim Wesson
1987-88	Ken Huffman	Jim Wesson
1988-89	Jonna Blose	Jim Wesson
1989-90	Charlotte Reyburn	Jim Wesson
1990-91	Tracy Purvis	Jim Wesson
1991-92	Bart Anderson	Jim Wesson
1992-93	Leslie Kennel	Johnny Hill and Steve Termeer
1993-94	Michelle Papas	Joe Kennedy
1994-95	Sarah Leed	Joe Kennedy
1995-96	Justin Wolfenberg	Joe Kennedy
1996-97	Denise Hefner	Iris Johnson, Jane Keiser, & Tammy Walker
1997-98	Stacy Hola	Iris Johnson, Jane Keiser, & Tammy Walker
1998-99	Katie Romes	Iris Johnson, Jane Keiser, & Tammy Walker
1999-2000	Summer Brown	Iris Johnson and Jane Keiser
2000-2001	Erin Wasen	Iris Johnson and Jane Keiser
2001-2002	Kimberlee Bachelor	Iris Johnson and Jane Keiser
2002-2003	Molly Martin	Iris Johnson and Jane Keiser
2003-2004	Dawn Mundey	Jane Keiser
2004-2005	Jennifer Nickell	Jane Keiser
2005-2006	Lyndi Yenne	Suzanne Harper
2006-2007	Adam Hartigan	Suzanne Harper
2007-2008	Sharon Koch	Suzanne Harper
2008-2009	Michael Davis	Suzanne Harper
2009-2010	Krista Vondenberger	Suzanne Harper