A department chair at UW-Stout soon will add another such title — chair of the Mathematical Association of America Wisconsin Section.
Professor Petre “Nelu” Ghenciu was named chair-elect for MAA Wisconsin at the organization’s recent spring meeting. He will be chair from April 2023 to April 2024, followed by immediate past chair for one year.
He is the first faculty member from UW-Stout to be named chair since MAA Wisconsin was founded in 1932.
In addition, UW-Stout was selected to host next year’s spring meeting, April 29-30, 2023. The university was scheduled to hold the state event in 2020 before it was postponed because of the pandemic.
UW-Stout previously hosted the spring meeting in 1986 and 2011.
Ghenciu has taught at UW-Stout since 2004 and has been chair of UW-Stout’s mathematics, statistics and computer science department since 2017. He won an Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009 from UW-Stout.
He also is chair of UW-Stout’s Faculty Senate.
“This is a great recognition of our department’s impact on the entire mathematics community in Wisconsin,” Ghenciu said. “I think it will help us establish stronger connections with the K-12 mathematics community and also help us be a stronger voice in any future conversation regarding the positive impact of mathematical sciences in the development of our Wisconsin students.”
Ghenciu has been a member of MAA Wisconsin since 2005. Previously, he participated in the Project NExT — New Experiences in Teaching — program sponsored by MAA.
His research interests are combinatorics, graph theory and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Ghenciu has a Ph.D. in mathematics and a master’s in algebra from the University of North Texas, along with a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Bucharest, Romania.
Previously, UW-Stout Professor Laura Schmidt served in MAA Wisconsin as chair of the Committee on High School Math Contests and as an executive board member. Associate Dean Chris Bendel received the MAA Wisconsin 2013 Distinguished Teaching Award.
The mathematics, statistics and computer science department oversees five undergraduate and two Graduate School programs, seven minors and six certificates. The programs are:
- B.S. Applied mathematics and computer science
- B.S. Computer networking and information technology
- B.S. Computer science
- B.S. Information and communication technologies
- B.S. Digital marketing technology
- M.S. applied mathematics and data science
- M.S. information and communication technologies
The Mathematical Association of America is the world’s largest community of mathematicians, students and enthusiasts. Its mission is to advance the understanding of mathematics and its impact on the world.
MAA Wisconsin is one of 29 regional sections that help make up MAA.
###
