AMATYC Mathematics Excellence Award
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the AMATYC Mathematics Excellence Award?
The American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Mathematics Excellence Award (the "ME Award”) is intended for educators who have made outstanding contributions to mathematics or mathematics education at the two-year college.

When is the ME Award made?
This recognition of excellence may be made every two years at the annual conference held in even-numbered years.

What are the criteria used to select a recipient?
Award criteria are: national reputation, leadership and activities in professional organizations, professional talks and presentations, awards and grants received, publications, professional activities on a regional, state, and national scale, teaching expertise, and other contributions to mathematics and/or mathematics education.

Who reviews nominees?
A committee from each of the eight AMATYC regions is elected at the annual conference in even-numbered years. The committee is chaired through the completion of its work by the person who is the past-president at that time. This committee reviews nominee packets based upon the criteria cited above, and presents the top three candidates to the AMATYC Executive Board. The Executive Board selects the individual, if any, to receive the award from the three top candidates.

Who may be nominated?
Any person who the nominator feels has "made outstanding contributions to mathematics or mathematics education at the two-year college” and has achieved a wide-spread reputation in this respect except:

• Current board members are ineligible to be nominated
• Former board members are ineligible to be nominated until at least two years have elapsed since leaving the board.

 Who may nominate?

• Any interested person may submit a letter of nomination.
• Members of AMATYC may nominate themselves.
• The nominator is responsible for securing documents to support the nomination.

The nominees will NOT be informed by the committee chair that they have been nominated.

What constitutes a complete nomination?
A complete nomination includes the four items listed in the checklist below, received by the AMATYC Past-President by the deadline. Incomplete nominations will not be distributed to the committee.  The signed originals and eight copies of each nomination packet must be sent by US Mail, FedEx, or other carrier.

Checklist for a complete nomination

1. Nominee’s résumé must not exceed 3 pages. Pages in excess of 3 pages will not be distributed to the committee.
2. Letter of support,* which is also the letter of nomination
3. Letter of support*
4. Letter of support*

*At least one of the letters should be from a region other than the nominee’s AMATYC region.   Letters of recommendation should be submitted on college letterhead, when appropriate. 

What about the letters of recommendation?

1. At least one letter of recommendation should be from outside the nominee’s AMATYC region.
2. Letters of support that elaborate on those qualities mentioned in the résumé or point out additional exemplary characteristics of the nominee are more helpful to the committee than letters that reiterate items mentioned in the résumé.
3. Please address the criteria when writing letters of recommendation.
4. Board members and members of the ME Award Committee may not write letters of recommendation for any candidate for the AMATYC Mathematics Excellence Award.

 The regions are defined as follows:
Region 1 – Northeast CT, ME, MA, NH, NY, RI, VT; NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, QC
Region 2 – Mid-Atlantic DE, DC, MD, NJ, PA, VA, WV
Region 3 – Southeast AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, PR, VI & Caribbean Islands
Region 4 – Midwest IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, WI
Region 5 – Central AR, CO, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, UT, WY; MB, SK
Region 6 – Southwest AZ, NM, OK, TX; Mexico
Region 7 – Northwest AK, ID, MT, OR, WA; AB, BC, NT, NU, YT, & International
Region 8 – West CA, HI, NV

Selection Criteria
The criteria used by the selection committee are based on rankings of the following

The 2014 ME Award Committee

Past President Rob Farinelli, Chair
Email:  rfarinelli@csmd.edu

The ME Award Committee is composed of the past-president and a representative from each region elected at the regional meetings at the annual conference in even-numbered years.  The 2012 - 2014 ME Award Committee will be elected at the 2012 Annual AMATYC Conference in Jacksonville, FL.

 How are Selectees and Non-Selectees Notified?
After the AMATYC Executive Board makes the decision at its spring Board meeting, the AMATYC President notifies the selectee, if any, and the ME Award Committee Chair notifies the nominators of non-selectees. Non-selectees are not notified directly.

Who Are The Past Winners?