Professional mathematical associations
Professional mathematical associations serve as vital networks for mathematicians, facilitating advocacy, idea exchange, and professional organization. These associations address the shared interests and needs of their members, which include students, teachers, and researchers, fostering a sense of community within the mathematical field. They play significant roles in various aspects of the mathematics profession, such as teaching, research, and public policy advocacy, and often engage in outreach efforts to promote mathematics in society at large.
Internationally recognized organizations, such as the International Mathematical Union (IMU), and national and regional associations, like the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), contribute to the professional landscape through conferences, publications, and professional development initiatives. Special interest groups within these associations focus on specific areas, including applied mathematics, mathematics education, and support for underrepresented communities in the field.
Associations also strive to enhance equity in mathematics education, as seen in organizations like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the Benjamin Banneker Association, which specifically address the needs of Black mathematical students. Additionally, organizations like the Association for Women in Mathematics and the National Association of Mathematicians work to support diverse perspectives within the mathematics community. Overall, these associations not only advance individual members' careers but also aim for a positive societal impact through mathematics.
Professional mathematical associations
- SUMMARY: Professional mathematical associations help mathematicians advocate, share ideas, and organize.
Organizations are a fundamental component of society, partly because of the human need to connect around similar interests. Professional associations form in response to individual and societal needs and concerns and, in turn, impact society. Mathematics students, teachers, and researchers may join professional mathematics organizations to feel like a part of the larger mathematics community and make a difference beyond their school or university. There are international associations with worldwide memberships, like the International Mathematical Union (IMU), and associations organized by geographical region. National and regional associations worldwide address many of the same issues as mathematics associations in the United States. These issues include teaching, research, service, and the mathematics profession.
Mathematical associations may advocate for the mathematical sciences, engage in public policy discussions, and promote collaboration among specialized subgroups. They may provide professional development to mathematicians and engage in public mathematics outreach. Professional associations organize regional, national, or international conferences; fund professional development and outreach; publish a diverse array of books and journals on mathematical topics; and facilitate peer review and curricular changes. Philosophers and mathematicians like Paul Ernest and Reuben Hersh have written about the social and ethical responsibility of mathematicians, and mathematicians may work toward the greater good within the structure of professional organizations. Mathematicians also run these associations as officers and committee members.
Mathematical Organizations
The American Statistical Association (ASA) was formed in Boston in 1839 by members with diverse interests. ASA’s Web site states the following:
Present at the organizing meeting were William Cogswell, teacher, fund-raiser for the ministry, and genealogist; Richard Fletcher, lawyer and U.S. Congressman; John Dix Fisher, physician and pioneer in medical reform; Oliver Peabody, lawyer, clergyman, poet, and editor; and Lemuel Shattuck, statistician, genealogist, publisher, and author of perhaps the most significant single document in the history of public health to that date.
From the beginning, the ASA had close ties with the government on statistical issues like those surrounding the census. ASA is international and comprised of professionals from industry, government, and academia in fields ranging from pharmaceuticals, health policy, agriculture, business, and education to technology. It promotes statistical knowledge through meetings, publications, membership services, education, accreditation, and advocacy.
In the United States, two well-known mathematics organizations are the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Both publish research journals, host professional conferences, and engage in student, community, and public policy outreach, although they have different focuses. The AMS originated as the New York Mathematical Society in 1888, and in 1894, it became a national organization that concentrated on research. Teacher Benjamin Finkel created the American Mathematical Monthly in 1894, stating the following:
Most of our existing journals deal almost exclusively with subjects beyond the reach of the average student or teacher of mathematics or at least with subjects with which they are familiar, and little, if any, space is devoted to the solution of problems.
In 1915, when managing editor H. E. Slaught unsuccessfully tried to bring the Monthly to the AMS, the society instead recommended that there should be a different organization devoted to the journal. The AMS continues to focus primarily on mathematics research and scholarship, while the MAA promotes communication, teaching, learning, and research in mathematics and its applications, especially at the collegiate level. The mission of the MAA incorporates five core interests—education, research, professional development, public policy, and public appreciation. The MAA sponsors the highly regarded William Lowell Putnam Competition for undergraduate students and the American Math Olympiad mathematics competitions. The AMS and MAA join at the Joint Mathematics Meetings each January.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) was created in 1920 in part to counter the efforts of social efficiency experts who believed that school curricula should emphasize fostering job-related skills and knowledge. Its membership includes mathematics teachers, mathematics teacher educators, and mathematics education researchers. It is perhaps most well-known for publishing one of the earliest sets of K–12 mathematics standards. NCTM’s stated objectives are to develop effective curriculum and instruction, ensure equity in mathematics education, shape public policy, produce high-quality mathematics education research, and provide professional development opportunities for mathematics educators. NCTM publishes works like the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and Curriculum Focal Points, in addition to journals such as the Mathematics Teacher, Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. State, regional, and local affiliates also work to carry out NCTM’s mission through annual conferences and other professional development opportunities. Similarly, trainers of mathematics teachers assemble in the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, and supervisors assemble in the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics.
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) originated in the early 1950s to represent mathematicians working in industry. Their numbers had grown as a result of the importance of mathematics in military research during World War II and the evolution of computers. SIAM seeks to advance applied mathematics, promote practical research, and encourage the exchange of applied mathematical ideas. Annual meetings, subject-specific workshops and conferences, and discipline-specific activity groups allow members to develop new applied mathematical ideas and techniques.
Organizations designed to promote minorities in mathematics include what is now known as the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), which started as an informal group at the Annual Meeting of the American Mathematical Society in 1969. Lee Lorch recalled:
In 1960, when A. Shabazz and S.C. Saxena, both on the faculty of Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta), and their graduate student W.E. Brodie were subjected yet again to Jim Crow treatment at the spring meeting of the Southeastern Section of MAA.… This, it should be noted, was several years after AMS and MAA commitments to the contrary. They had not been warned in advance that such discourtesy would be in store. The three left in protest. And so in 1969 the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM) came into being to address the needs of the Black mathematical community. This was a turbulent period. A group of more or less left-oriented mathematicians established the Mathematicians Action Group (MAG) that same year. We were motivated largely by concern over the Vietnam war, the militarization of mathematics, the lack of democracy in the AMS, the existence of racism and sexism, and related social issues as they impinged on mathematicians and vice versa.
NAM focuses on education, career development, research, student development, and databases. NAM also publishes a newsletter and organizes a lecture series. The Benjamin Banneker Association was founded in 1986 to concentrate on the mathematics education of African Americans. There are also many associations that focus on science, like the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
Organizations like the Association for Women in Mathematics, European Women in Mathematics, and Korean Women in the Mathematical Sciences were created to support and promote female students, teachers, and researchers via social events, sponsored talks or conferences, workshops, and contests. Many attribute the beginning of the Association for Women in Mathematics to events in Boston and Atlantic City. In the late 1960s, Alice Shafer and Linda Rothschild organized a mathematics women’s group in the Boston area. At a 1971 conference in Atlantic City, Joanne Darken suggested that women already at the Mathematics Action Group remain to form a caucus. As noted by President Lenore Blum:
What I remember hearing about Mary Gray and the Atlantic City Meetings, indeed what perked my curiosity, was an entirely different event, one that was also to alter dramatically the character of the mathematics community. In those years the AMS was governed by what could only be called an ‘old boys network,’ closed to all but those in the inner circle. Mary challenged that by sitting in on the Council meeting in Atlantic City. When she was told she had to leave… she responded she could find no rules in the by-laws restricting attendance at Council meetings. She was then told it was by ‘gentlemen’s agreement.’ Naturally Mary replied ‘Well, obviously I’m no gentleman.’ After that time, Council meetings were open to observers and the process of democratization of the Society had begun.
Mary Gray placed an official announcement about the organization in the Notices of the American Mathematical Association and created its first newsletter in 1971.
Other notable mathematical organizations include the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), founded in 1974. AMATYC organizes conferences, workshops, and professional development opportunities. The organization also publishes books and proceedings related to mathematics education in the first two years of college, including the journal MathAMATYC Educator. They also host a semiannual math competition.
Mathematicians create other professional organizations under the umbrella of a wide variety of interests and themes. They assemble in national and international subject-specific societies that focus on areas such as linear algebra, mathematical physics, or mathematics and art, including the International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) and the Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL), or through special interest groups at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Mathematical organizations related to religion or sexual orientation include the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences (ACMS) and Spectra: The Association for LGBTQ+ Mathematicians. National and international mathematics honor societies include Kappa Mu Epsilon and Pi Mu Epsilon. Mathematicians interested in the advancement of science policy participate in advocacy groups such as the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Other important groups include the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), the African Women in Mathematics Association (AWMA), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Bibliography
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“About NCTM.” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, www.nctm.org/about/default.aspx. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
“About Us.” American Mathematical Society, www.ams.org/about-us/about. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Archibald, Raymond. A Semicentennial History of the American Mathematical Society, 1888–1938. American Mathematical Society, 1938. www.ams.org/publications/online-books/hmreprint-index. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Ball, John. “The IMU and You.” Notices of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 52, no. 10, 2005. www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/comm-ball.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Blum, Lenore. “A Brief History of the Association for Women in Mathematics: The Presidents’ Perspectives.” Notices of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 38, no 7, Sept. 1991. www.awm-math.org/articles/notices/199107/blum. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
"History of the ASA." American Statistical Association, www.amstat.org/about-asa/history-of-the-asa. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Kalman, Dan. “The Mathematics Tribe.” Math Horizons, vol. 3, no. 1, 1995, pp. 6–8.
Lorch, Lee. “The Painful Path Toward Inclusiveness.” In A Century of Mathematical Meetings. Edited by Bettye Anne Case. American Mathematical Society, 1996, www-users.math.umd.edu/~rlj/Lorch.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.