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Getting Involved in AMS Governance

Boris Hasselblatt

Having been on the faculty of Tufts University for over a third of a century and having published books and papers along the way, I might (euphemistically?) be referred to as a midcareer mathematician, maybe wizened enough to dispense quaint career advice from the ivory tower. (For the curious, there are several public profile pages.⁠Footnote1) Then on February 1, 2021, I became the 11th secretary of the American Mathematical Society. Here, in the form of a Q&A, are some perspectives from this new vantage point.

EC: As the AMS secretary, what sorts of things do you do and how did you get involved with AMS governance?

BH: I had been told to expect this position to entail a work load comparable to being a department chair, and in a number of ways that is about right. There is an ebb and flow across the year, and on any one day something unexpected may need urgent attention.

There are a number of interrelated aspects to this role. The core responsibility, reflected in the title, is to ensure that the decisions taken by the Society are made and recorded in a way that endows them with legal force as needed. This is visible to those in our volunteer governance when I make sure that meetings of our Council, say, are conducted according to the rules of parliamentary procedure. My office has responsibility for keeping and, when needed, checking the records of prior decisions—as well as the preparation of meeting agendas for the Council twice a year.

My office is also central in the management of volunteer governance, which includes well over 100 committees. Each year, new members must be appointed or elected for most of these, and my office assists the president and the Nominating Committee (as well as the Council and the Executive Committee) from the beginnings of their annual work on this through the implementation of their decisions. This entails communication with them as well as every committee member, and by itself this easily involves around 1000 emails per year. A significant number of committees are also directly supported in their work by my office.

Scientific meetings (sectional, national, international) are at the core of the mission of the AMS, and the Secretariat of the AMS is central to this: each of the four Associate Secretaries (for the Eastern, Southeastern, Central, and Western sections of the Society) organizes a meeting in that section each semester and, in rotation, national and international meetings as well. It has been suggested that this part of my role is that of ”chief scientific officer,” though it is the Associate Secretaries who provide their judgement and insight.

There are things that I do not have to do. It has long been untenable for the secretary to run the entire AMS organization, and since 1949 there have been executive directors, serving in effect as chief executive officer of the Society with responsibility for the now 200 staff in three locations.

A central part of my role is to enable smart and committed colleagues to make and effect decisions on behalf of the Society. The many interactions are a great part of what makes this role such a pleasure. At different times of the year, this takes different forms, and in all of it I am supported by the most wonderful AMS staff members. Twice a year, the agenda for a Council meeting must be prepared. Including attachments, this can turn out to be a 200-page document. Much of this comes from committees making recommendations or reporting to Council because the deep dives which a committee or its subcommittees can undertake provide the strongest preparation for policy choices. Chief among the committees which support the Council in this way are six policy committees. They meet in person annually, and subcommittee work plus virtual check-in meetings happen in between. These committees are ably guided by senior staff liaisons, and I am a member of each, indeed of over 20 AMS committees altogether. I also often consult with chairs and staff liaisons about committee business. At other times, the staffing of committees comes to the fore. Most committees are formed by appointing members; this is the duty of the president, and together with a Committee on Committees, my office supports this large undertaking. This involves significant communication with those being asked to serve, the president, committee chairs, and so on. At peak, this alone can involve dozens of emails a day. While the creation of slates for election rests mainly with the president and the Nominating Committee, the gathering and preparation of election materials and ballots rests with my office and stretches across the spring and into the middle of the summer. Starting in the spring and through the fall, we are central to the various stages of the awarding of prizes: selection, notification, and the preparation of the awards celebration at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. Also for the JMM, we support the committees which recommend speakers for invited addresses, we communicate with the speakers about their lectures, we work with the Meetings Department on the meetings program. In another analogy with serving as department chair, in any given day, an issue may arise which requires troubleshooting, consultation or other intervention. Some are small, others are such that the initial effort is merely the start of sustained attention.

My first involvement with AMS governance dates back to 2011 when I joined what is now the AMS-ASA-MAA-SIAM Data Committee, but since the 1990s I have also been organizing special sessions at AMS meetings, plus a Mathematics Research Community in 2017 (as well as disciplinary conferences independent of the AMS). Much of what in retrospect has been preparation for this position involved other service as well. At Tufts, I began serving on committees in the department and in the School of Arts and Sciences over 30 years ago, and before long, I chaired several of the school committees. From 2011 I was also involved in university-level committees such as for accreditation and strategic planning. Unbeknownst to me, the latter was an audition: in 2014 I started a term as associate provost after having served as department chair for a second time. Along the way I learned much from senior colleagues as well as provosts and presidents.

EC: What advice do you have for those who are interested in serving in a similar position?

BH: The preceding gives a sense of what I did prior to filling my present role, but none of that was part of a grand strategy to become secretary of the AMS. My own sense of what makes a fulfilling career has evolved over time, and I suspect few department chairs, deans, or university presidents started their doctoral studies with a view towards attaining their present position. Those who do have a plan for life early on in their careers may appreciate a viral quote from a friend and colleague of mine: The most successful people are those who are good at plan B. There are many ways of serving our community, and service can very much be its own reward, rather than a mere stepping stone. It is a great way of becoming an engaged member of the larger community in a school or university, or in the profession. It also provides a broader perspective on the context in which we work. A faculty position provides freedom and opportunities for engaging professionally in a multitude of ways. Whether this leads somewhere further, and where, depends on circumstances and inclinations. During and after my time as associate provost, search firms made me aware of opportunities for academic administrators, such as searches for deans. Others I know took up such calls, but I decided not to. That my home department is highly collegial and energetic has remained the main attraction in my professional life. But the range of opportunities is wide, and administrative roles can be very fulfilling. Your turn might come up to serve your department as chair, or you might at some point be recruited (or apply) to so serve elsewhere. At the AMS we have a number of staff mathematicians, who bring their expertise to bear in all divisions. The AMS currently seeks a new executive director. Those holding these positions are AMS employees, while I am a volunteer and retain my ”day job” (as do those on our many committees, notably on the Council and the Board of Trustees; collectively; they are our volunteer governance). This illustrates the many career opportunities beyond the ones most talked about in graduate school, and the BEGIN (Business, Entrepreneurship, Government, Industry, and Nonprofit) Career Initiative of the AMS makes efforts to provide more connections that help consider such careers. When considering opportunities or ways of seeking them out, think about whether you find them interesting and whether they combine challenge and reward in a way that fits you. And don’t hesitate to tell someone else that they might be good in that role if you think so. I, for one, would have never thought of applying to be an associate provost, and I applied for the position of secretary upon a suggestion to do so. Generally, it is never wrong to tell someone else about their strengths when you recognize them. If someone tells you to think about an opportunity, do so. You may decide that it is not your thing, but it might also be life-changing in a positive way. And, of course, if ever you get an invitation from me to serve on an AMS committee, you should immediately accept!

This invites a digression into thinking about what a mathematician does and who a mathematician is. I remember being welcomed as a physicist the day I first entered university in Germany (as a physics student), and I since learned that many mathematicians have a rather narrower view of who is a mathematician. The extreme view is that a mathematician must be a faculty member at a research university, hence the rightly despised term ”leaving mathematics” for choosing to do something different. I take a broad view of who is a mathematician, though my own experiences are from within universities.

This breadth of perspective relates to mentoring. I aim to develop students to their best selves rather than to my former self. (In that spirit, read this whole text as about my experiences, not about what you should do.) I believe that my doctoral students have each succeeded on their own terms. Yes, that includes holding faculty positions at research universities, but also having a faculty job centered on teaching, starting a hedge fund, and working in insurance. I am proud of them all, and they should be proud of their achievements. Some of the most impressive mathematics undergraduates I have known have not gone to a mathematics graduate program, much less an academic career. This does not mean that they are not mathematicians. Some of my favorite mathematicians practice law, medicine, or dental medicine; they do research in banks, insurance, or health care; they build robots or cars; they are directors in a mathematics institute or a nonprofit organization; they raise or teach children; they write about mathematics and science or have served in the halls of Congress. Even those who no longer describe themselves primarily as mathematicians are ambassadors of mathematics. We should celebrate them all, including some who are more famous for something else altogether. Also, talent is not one-dimensional or linearly ordered: being quick, being deep, figuring things out, writing them up, collaborating, picking up ideas, enthusiasm, are distinctive qualities. Mathematics is not a zero-sum game, and you are serving mathematics, the community and yourself well if you recognize, encourage, support, promote, work with, and develop others. I thrive in the company of people who think differently, are smarter than I am, contribute in different ways, and have different backgrounds.

EC: What does a typical day or week look like for you?

BH: A typical week of mine will have some ”Tufts days” devoted mostly to my faculty responsibilities, some ”AMS days” mainly occupied with work related to the AMS, and some days that combine both. Untypical weeks might be those during part of which I am away at a mathematical conference or to attend AMS governance meetings, the latter most often in one of the three AMS locations, Providence, Washington, and Ann Arbor. I travel to Providence because interacting with staff there is more productive and pleasant in person. The days or parts of days spent on AMS business involve sharing in decision-making through email or meetings as I consult with other governance leaders or AMS staff. Sifting through and writing emails alone is an important daily challenge. Even with aggressive filtering, there can easily be something like 100 new emails in my inbox in a given day. Not all of these are ”strictly Tufts” or ”strictly AMS.” There are also referee requests, responsibilities as journal editor (and editor in chief), writing reviews for Mathematical Reviews, writing recommendations, reviewing a department or program.

EC: Do you meet with students or conduct mathematical research?

BH: The faculty responsibilities at Tufts include of course teaching—variously service courses, majors courses, or graduate courses. There are service obligations in the department or the school or for the university, and then there is research and time with students. At this time I have four doctoral students, and I meet with each about weekly, and we share time in a working seminar. This is a significant commitment each week, and it is also a research activity, even when the students take the lead. My own research happens on the side. Summers provide prolonged time for attention to projects and collaborations. And unsurprisingly, the most productive periods have involved sabbaticals. These are great opportunities professionally but also for making memories. Right after getting married, I took an unpaid leave for a year, and we spent two weeks honeymooning in Ireland, followed by five months at the IHES outside Paris and another five at the ETH in Zürich. Although it was financially ruinous, we still remember this one-year honeymoon more than three decades later. Later extended visits in Strasbourg, Marseille, Tokyo, and Zürich were exhilarating periods of mathematical work, but I came to realize that for me their value was partly in their exceptional nature. A research-only job would be too one-dimensional for me.

My research and book writing has mainly taken the form of collaborations with colleagues elsewhere, such as during those periods abroad. On one hand, distance has its shortcomings, but on the other hand, when I travel to work with a collaborator, I am aware that this is for a single purpose, which makes those periods quite productive.

Maybe it is good to step back and ask what mathematicians do to produce mathematics. Each in our way, consciously or not, we bring to bear a skill set. We ask questions, figure out problems or strategies, we talk to people, we teach, we write, we organize. I recommend finding ways to hone such skills. I have also found it gratifying to find collaborators whose skills complement my own. Figuring things out is a well-understood core skill, but already with the writing of a research statement, other skills come in, such as, to pose questions and to communicate content and motivation. Good writing is an almost universally useful skill, and it is good to be aware that this includes service writing, such as the writing of letters of recommendation, teaching and research statements, proposals, cover letters, referee reports, tenure cases. Good writing won’t rescue a fatally flawed paper, but it will make a solid publication more impactful. This serves not only the authors, but also the community. Step 1 is of course having the discipline to sit down and do the writing up. Having figured something out is delightful, but writing it up for publication is needed for permanence, credit, validation, and a career. Writing it well is a bonus, and opportunities for practice abound. For instance, consider becoming a reviewer for Mathematical Reviews. This is an important service to the community, it will expose you to mathematical works you might have otherwise missed, and if done attentively, it hones the skill of communicating mathematical ideas and telling a story. I review some 10 papers per year, which is not onerous and almost recreational. Some of us maintain blogs which communicate mathematical ideas in ways that research papers often cannot: a blog can be timely, leisurely, or simply expository. This is valuable practice and service. If you are working on a project with someone who writes well, then this might be another learning opportunity: what is it that makes the writing good, and how might that work for you in other projects?

Writing research statements and grant proposals well is important for your own progress. Writing recommendations, say, may be crucial to the success of someone else, and most of us take this quite seriously. We all should. Indeed, writing emails may not be something we think of as a skill, but it is. Before hitting send, think about what the email says to its reader. Is it correct? Is it clear? Is it kind? Does it pass the New York Times test (would it be OK if it were obtained and published by a national news outlet)? Is anyone copied on it who should not be?

EC: How do you keep up with what’s going on in your field?

BH: Browsing the arXiv or getting its daily alerts goes a long way. For me, meetings are crucial for learning about new developments, especially in their early stages and with a focus on ideas rather than the precise published account. Here, I also meet and form connections with colleagues in their early career stages. In the context of working on new problems, contacting some of those I know (likely from conferences) who are working in that field can provide the right information, or hints for needed results, or on whether a question has been answered or is worth pursuing. Access to such expertise is among the rewarding aspects of conference organization, and to make these most impactful, it is critical to ensure that they are not only attended by the usual suspects but broadly represent regions, career stages, populations, and mathematical specialties. It is a skill to approach people at conferences (and to be approachable!) and to make connections between people and between ideas. No small number of joint projects have been started, pursued, or completed at a conference.

BH: Conclusion

I find the position of secretary highly rewarding because of the rich and varied interactions I have with brilliant AMS volunteers and staff, and because of the sense of shared mission centered on mathematics. I am grateful for having had the privilege to write my own script instead of following someone else’s, to arrive on these shores with an education paid for by fellow citizens rather than me, and to have been given this opportunity, and many before it. And we all should appreciate our privilege of having work that is meaningful to us and in which we keep learning. I hope that opportunities large and small will come your way as well as discernment about which of them to take up.

Credits

Photo of the author is courtesy of Alonso Nichols/Tufts University.