Faculty Activities

Karl Knight, Barbara Kaiser, and Jamison Conley, with Erick Knight in front, on the steps of St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Barbara and Karl are on leave at the University of Edinburgh; Jamison studied there during the Autumn term.

Ron Rietz was on leave during academic year 1999-2000, during which time he completed a paper entitled "Matrix Methods for Solving Generalized Fermat-Pell Equations".  He recently gave a talk on the first section of that paper at the AMS/MAA meetings in New Orleans. Ron continues being active in the MAA, having served on various committees and a term as president of the North Central section, which awarded him its distinguished teaching award in 1999.  Besides domestic activities (such as enjoying his three grandchildren) and insular activities (reading and writing), Ron also sings in various groups and regularly visits his wife's fifth grade class with mathematical bonbons to pique their lively curiosities.

John Holte continues to teach a variety of courses in the department. In 1996-1997, when Carolyn Dobler was on leave, he served as Mr. Statistics, and the following year he taught the upper-level probability and statistics sequence.  During the summers he completed research that led to publications in The American Mathematical Monthly, The Fibonacci Quarterly, and the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society.  On leave in 1998-1999, he participated in the second international conference on fractals and stochastics in Greifswald, Germany, and joined the fractal geometry group at St Andrews University in Scotland for the autumn semester.  In 1998 the North Central Section of the Mathematical Association of America presented him with its Citation for Meritorious Service.  Since returning, he has been adjusting to teaching "reformed" calculus and updating his teaching of other courses.  One semester he was Mr. Discrete, when he taught only finite math and discrete math.  This January, after a long hiatus, he will again teach a course on code breaking.  On a more personal note, John and his wife Jan recently became grandparents when their daughter Becky and her husband Jerry had a son, Jared.