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• Congratulations to Ross Bryant for being selected as one of four Outstanding Teaching Fellows at UNT for 2005!  Congratulations to Ross Bryant for being selected as one of four Outstanding Teaching Fellows at UNT for 2005! 
• Dr. Paul Lewis and Dr. John Neuberger are beginning modified service this year.  We wish them the best.
• Herbert Charles Parrish, 80, of Denton, died Wednesday, June 28, at his home. He was born Oct. 8, 1919, in Jacksboro, to Jake Newton Parrish and Amy Rosalie Wilton Parrish. He received his bachelor's degree from North Texas State College in 1939, and his master's degree in 1941. In 1955 he received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. At North Texas State College, now University of North Texas, he was an assistant professor of math from 1949 to 1955, associate professor of math from 1955 to 1958, and professor and director of the math department from 1958 until his retirement in 1985. He was listed in "Who's Who of America," and was a member of National Council of Teachers of Math, Math Association of America, American Math Society, Sigma XI, Pi Mu Epsilon, Kappa Mu Epsilon and Kappa Delta Pi. Memorials may be made to National Parkinson's Foundation or the E.H. Hanson Math Scholarship Fund at University of North Texas.
  
• Dr. Imogene Dickey Mohat, 91, of Denton, died Monday, June 26, 2000. She was born Sept. 30, 1908, in Paris, Texas, to Thomas Clay Bentley and Emogene (Roundtree) Bentley. She married Dr. John T. Mohat. Dr. John Mohat was chair of the Mathematics Department from 1965 - 1970 and from 1975 -1976. He died on Sept. 22, 1993. Dr. Imogene Mohat was an English professor at the University of North Texas.
  
• Professor Henry Warchall has been appointed to the position of Program Director in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Applied Mathematics Program. He will take a leave of absence from UNT starting September 1999 to work at the Washington, DC area offices of the NSF. Dr. Warchall will be responsible for coordinating evaluation and funding of proposals submitted to the NSF in applied mathematics and related areas.

A Message from John Ed Allen Upon His Retirement as Chair of the UNT Math Department

Biographical Sketch for John Ed Allen
I was born November 18, 1937 to Edward James and Jessie Maude Allen in the woods of north Louisiana. I have a twin sister Edna Faye "Sis" Bennett and we have an older sister Katherine Alice "Kate" Baxter. All three of us have been teachers, Sis in elementary and Kate in middle school.

I attended Louisiana Tech from the summer of 1955 through the summer of 1958 and received the BS degree in mathematics. From 1958 through May 1963 I attended Oklahoma State University where I received the MS and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics. My teaching career began immediately in June 1963 here on the faculty at what was then North Texas State University. My family and I spent 15 months from June 1971 - August 1972 at Purdue University where I studied computer science and numerical analysis, me having been awarded one of the very first faculty development leaves and an NSF Science Faculty Fellowship.

I became department chair in 1976, at which time we had essentially no graduate students since the university had placed a moratorium on the doctoral program because of some unfortunate circumstances surrounding the dismissal of a tenure-track faculty member. I am happy to say that we have recovered from those circumstances and now have one of the strongest and most respected doctoral programs in the country.

1976-Present
I have served as Chair of the Mathematics Department since 1976 and am especially pleased with our success in recruiting graduate students, faculty appointments, and with the continuing and expanding notice given to our departmental development by some of the world's most eminent mathematicians as well as in general by the whole mathematical community. In particular, I am pleased to note that our department is now recognized by the American Mathematical Society as a "Group II" doctoral granting department with only 25 public institutions listed in "Group I," the highest level of recognition.

When I became chair in 1976, only two faculty were engaged in publishing--but the teaching load was 12 hours per semester. Currently, the teaching load is two classes per semester, and all except two of the 28 faculty are engaged in research publication (those two are older faculty who will retire in the next few years). In 1976 we had essentially no graduate students, and now we average about 60 graduate students per year--half at the doctoral level and half at the master's level. Furthermore, the graduate student population is diverse in ethnic origin as well as gender. The number of Ph.D.'s the department grants on the average over a three-year period is seven to eight, and some years the number of women has been more than half that number. Since 1976, the departmental faculty has granted 62 Ph.D.'s and 178 master's degrees. Nearly all the master's graduates and about half the Ph.D. graduates have taken jobs in industry or government--the remainder in teaching at the university or community college level. Also in 1976 the department had no research grants--and now the total amount of grants in force at any time in the department is generally about $800,000, which is large for a mathematics department.

The department has been host to a number of research conferences over these years, beginning in 1979 with "The Scottish Book Conference". We have hosted regional meetings of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, several specialized research conferences on Dynamical Systems, Differential Equations, etc. Last May we were host to a Conference Board on Mathematical Sciences meeting on algebra. This past May we hosted the International Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Sociedad Matematica Mexicana (Mexican Mathematical Society).

In the early eighties, Mr. Olin Millican began to make contributions to the department, and a few years later we established the Millican Lecture Series with the $100,000 endowment that Mr. Millican gave in memory of his brother, who was a high school math teacher. This fund provides for about 12-15 visiting lecturers each year, lecturers which are selected by the faculty to come and work with them on their research as well as give a talk for our faculty and graduate students. In addition, the department now has two endowed scholarship funds, annual scholarships from Andy Beal for five of our graduate students, a modest discretionary fund for use in a variety of ways to advance the department, and (unfortunately) an operating budget from the administration which is essentially the same as it was 20 years ago. It is absolutely amazing that we have been able to do so much for the advancement of mathematical research and learning over these years, and I am humbled to have had a role in that.

This is my 23rd and last year as department chair. On a personal note, let me say that the experience has truly been exciting and immensely rewarding. I have participated in hiring all except two of our current faculty, some at the rank of professor with tenure, or associate professor with tenure, but most of them recently have been fairly new Ph.D.'s. I believe we could significantly advance our departmental image internationally if some of our next several hires could be at the senior ranks. My goal as department chair has been to generate a work environment for the faculty and students so that they can get their best research, teaching, and learning done. For the most part, I believe we have accomplished that. My opinion is that the role of administration is as support personnel for the faculty and students, so that, indeed, they can get their best work done.

Now I look forward to teaching full time again and serving the university and the department in whatever ways are appropriate. I wish for Dr. Brand and the department the very best! It is with great joy that I look forward to seeing the department move ahead with vigor and vitality into the new century and the new millenium under his leadership.

John Ed's favorite poem from his days as a graduate student:

On the nature of the game called Mathematics: "Not truth nor certainty - " (author unknown)

Not truth nor certainty - These I foreswore in my novitiate
As young men called to the holy orders must abjure the world.
"If . . . , then . . ." - this only I assert.
And my successes are but pretty chains linked to twin doubts.
Yet bridges stand, and men no longer crawl in two dimensions -
And these successes stem in no small measure from the power this game
(played over thrice attenuated shades of things) has over its originals!

John Ed Allen returned to full-time teaching at the conclusion of the 1999 spring semester. The Department of Mathematics created the John Ed Allen graduate scholarship in his honor and on June 1, 1999 UNT administrators, faculty, staff, and students gathered just west of the General Academic Building for a tree-planting ceremony in John Ed's honor. A plaque has been installed at the base of the tree commemorating his tenure of 23 years as chair.