By Kathryn Kozak, Southwest VP
During the first weekend of April, the AMATYC board met to discuss many topics. One of the major topic discussed was the adoption of a new mission and vision statement for AMATYC. The new mission statement for AMATYC is
To provide high quality professional development, to advocate and collaborate at all levels, and to build communities of learners for all involved in mathematics education in the first two years of college.
The new vision statement for AMATYC is
To be the leading voice and resource for excellence in mathematics education in the first two years of college.
The next step is to develop the new strategic plan. The purpose of a strategic plan is to take the organization from where it is right now (the mission) to where it wants to be (the vision). The strategic plan for 2018-2023 will be presented during a forum at the AMATYC Annual Conference in Denver. If you are attending the conference, please attend the forums to provide your input. The board will approve the final version of the strategic plan at its spring board meeting of 2017, and present the plan to the delegate assembly at the 2017 conference in San Diego.
Have you ever thought of running for an elected office, either for ArizMATYC or for AMATYC? I hope that you have, but in case you haven’t, I would like to tell you some reasons for running for a position. First, when you serve in a leadership position, you are able to learn from others who are serving with you. You can bring that knowledge back to your home institution, and then your institution can benefit from this information. You also meet many people throughout the nation if in an AMATYC leader or through the state if you are a ArizMATYC leader. The networking opportunities are vast for anyone in a leadership position. Last but not least, you are in a position to shape the future of the organization that you serve. I have found that to be a very rewarding aspect of my position.
AMATYC’s election is September of 2017. You may think that is a far time off, but the deadline for nomination material is February 1, 2017. Now is the time to think about if you are interested in running. The positions that you can run for are president-elect, secretary, and vice-president of the southwest region. All of these positions are supported by AMATYC, which includes travel to the AMATYC annual conference (except for conference registration) and board meetings. Your college needs to be willing to give you time off for travel to the meetings and conference. So if you are interested, start talking to your college administration right now, then check on www.amatyc.org for information on how to submit a nomination.