Thoughts and Interesting Stories---Jeff Clark

I have been teaching for a while now. It was clear early on that aside from the personalities of individual students each class has its own distinctive set of behavior patterns collectively.  Most groups do although in all cases it takes experience and contemplation to discern them. With any group the temptation is to identify the group with the members of the group that are most vocal. They provide a good deal of data quickly about the group but it is by definition not representative . Ideally I get to work with a number of student outside of class and get to know them a bit even if they are quiet in class. That adds to the overall picture and helps it be better informed. The same process applies to larger groups, such as the subset of the faculty that attends our faculty meetings. If you don't talk to the non-speakers outside of the meetings you have a non-representative sample of their behavior if you just rely on what is said. And yet, it is not the speakers in faculty meetings...

Every now and then I feel a professionally responsibility to send an angry letter.  I try not to give in to anger casually, so ideally this is when other attempts to conjole and convince have failed badly enough over serious issues to cause me to doubt that the recipient and I share the same values. I often try to modify the behavior of others; I am a teacher so that's a given. It's harder when you try to do so with others who do not share your values---there's far less of a common ground. Almost always my angry letters have a nontrivial audience, including at least one other person beside the target but not a large enough audience to make the recipient(s) feel cornered. In my experience people behave differently in front of witnesses. I was taught long ago that it is not enough to be angry; you must be angry enough to make things better. This is nontrivial and requires an anger that is pure, as free as possible of ego and other distractions. It is draining, the times that ...

My university has always preceded the beginning of classes with a week of planning meetings as long as I've been here. That begins today for this academic year. Traditionally we have the awarding of medallions to retirees of distinction, followed by an address from each of several administrators. They have yet to finish on time in my presence (year #38 starting) followed by an abbreviated time for break-out sessions on different topics in different locations. This afternoon the College of Arts and Sciences along with the professional schools will meet to introduce new faculty and discuss priorities for the coming year. I have had different roles (department chair, chair of Academic Council, chair of the Curriculum Committee) that involved me leading meetings with various groups during the rest of the week. Now that I am Faculty Ombudsperson I have a lower profile; I will send a gentle reminder of that role to the faculty via email later in the week. There is a loss of the peace and...

I have been a member of the Mathematical Association of America for 48 years. They hold a national conference called MathFest every August; this year it was in Boston. There are still events going this afternoon but I have a dinner with my brother-in-law tonight and a 1:30 AM wake-up time for an early flight tomorrow so I'm resting/napping this afternoon a bit. In my youth I was overly burdened with nervous energy and thought little of all-nighters for work, seeing friends, etc. But now I am about to turn 65 and one seventh of the planet's occupants are sending me mailers about Medicare Supplemental insurance plans and things are different. So I've changed over the decades of attending these events.  Some of the changes make me more grateful for the conference and the ongoing work of the MAA throughout the year. When I was younger I focused more on mathematical talks and avoided a lot of organization-related sessions for fear of boredom. Now that I am older and have a bette...

MathFest is this week in Boston. I've done a lot of work getting ready for classes beforehand hoping not to be too frenetic when I return. I have wonderful memories of MathFest and the Joint Mathematics Meetings over the decades and so there is a confidence that the time will be well-spent being challenged in the company of friends. One of my university roommates went to MIT for grad school and so between visiting him in the previous millennium and my brother-in-law and his family in a suburb of Boston, I have confidence that I will enjoy Boston, especially outside of its 11 winter months. As always it is a bit hard to focus on the here and now as the logistics of travel (flight schedules, hotel booking, compensation paperwork for the trip) take residence in my mind. I don't really unclench even after all these years until I am unpacked in my hotel room and feel free to explore. I am not as ambulatory as I was when I started my career, both in terms of stamina and in having two...