By Kathryn Kozak, VP of the SW Region of AMATYC
Being a member of AMATYC has some benefits that I would like to outline. Mostly, a member receives a discount to the annual conference that actually saves the member more than the cost of membership. So if you are attending a conference, it makes more sense to be a member.
However, there are also reasons to be a member even if you do not attend the annual conference. One of the benefits is that you receive information about Webinars before non-members, and can register for the Webinars before they are open to the general public. As a member you can also volunteer to be part of the leadership of the organization. Many of these positions are supported by AMATYC, which includes travel costs to the annual conference. A benefit that was just added is that all issues of the MathAMATYC Educator are now available in a members’ only section of the AMATYC.org site. Once you log into the AMATYC site, you can go into Publications and then MathAMATYC Educator, and you will have access to all of the issues. You can set up to renew your membership automatically, so you won’t need to think about it every year. If you are not a member, consider joining today by going to AMATYC.org.
AMATYC is updating the Bylaws this year at the Delegate Assembly at the AMATYC Annual Conference in Nashville. Most of the changes are to update wording and duties of officers, but one major change is to reorganize the 8 regions. The Central Region consists of 10 states, which is much larger than any other region. So there is a proposal to reassign some of the states to other regions. Wyoming would move to the Northwest Region, Utah would move to the West Region, and Arkansas would move to the Southwest Region. So if the Bylaw changes are approved, then the Southwest Region will gain a state and the affiliate ARKMATYC. This will be helpful when the SW Region hosts another regional conference. If you are a delegate, please make sure you have read the material for the Delegate Assembly. The material was emailed to you in October.
If you are a member of AMATYC, please consider joining a committee. There are 9 committees, and descriptions and contact information can be found at AMATYC.org in the Get Involved menu and then Join/Participate. Committees in AMATYC are not like the committees on your campus. These are more like special interest groups that meet to discuss issues pertaining to the committee. Some committees sponsor Webinars, whiles others sponsor themed sessions at the annual conference. An example of some work that committees have taken on is that the Statistics Committee, in conjunction with the AMATYC/ASA Joint Committee, posted a website with resources for statistics teachers. You can find those resources from AMATYC.org under the Quick Links to Popular Pages.
If you are not a member of AMATYC, consider joining and being a part of this important community. I hope to see you all at the 40th AMATYC Annual Conference in Nashville, TN. It will be a great conference.