Frank Sottile and Jennifer Whitfield Receive Outstanding Service Award

Frank Sottile and Jennifer Whitfield have been selected to receive an Outstanding Service Award for 2009.

Frank Sottile's energetic and multi-faceted service to the mathematics department is, to quote a colleague who nominated him, "indeed outstanding". In addition to serving on important departmental committees such as the Executive Committee, the Graduate Advisory Committee, and the Outreach Committee, he serves the profession at large in an exemplary manner. He is a regular member of numerous national panelts. He is also a prolific organizer of conferences and workshops, usually several per year. Moreover, he currently chairs the SIAM activity group on Algebraic Geometry, in whose recent foundation he was instrumental.

Over the past year, Jennifer Whitfield has been put in charge of overseeing the online-homework component of many of the mathematics department's basic courses. In this capacity, Jennifer liaises with the concerned company, provides invaluable assistance fo students, faculty, and teaching assistants, dealing routinely and patiently with literally thousands of email messages and appeals for help. Her service this semester was particularly outstanding, for she had to contend with a rather unstable system prone to repeated malfunctions. That a complete meltdown was avoided is a tribute to her laudable efforts.