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1 Introduction During the past decade the mathematical sciences community has been engaged in a great deal of self-study that has involved much of the communityâ¢s leadership. Many studies have been written or are being prepared. But reports can serve the community in only two ways: to inform and focus the energies of its membership, and to serve as tools in a program of action. The community is now informed enough to know what needs to be done; it is time to move beyond reports into action. Goals of the reports can be accomplished only if individual departments and faculty members in the mathematical sciences be- come active participants in the renewal effort. An early product of this self-examination was the National Research Councilâ¢s Renewing U.S. Mathematics: Critical Resource for the Future (NRC, 1984; called the 1984 David report in the discussion below). This report documented the imbalance in federal funding for the mathematical sciences compare;! to other sciences. Although progress has been made toward rectifying this imbalance, the main point of Renewing U.S. Mathematics: A Planfor the 1990s (NRC, 1990; re- ferred to below as the 1990 David report) is that much more remains to be done; the support that academic institutions give their mathe- matical sciences departments is noted as an area where particularly little improvement has been seen. The entire career path has so many negative aspects-from the shortage of research funds facing graduate students and postdoctoral appointees, to the scarcity of research grants and lack of appreciation for non-research activities facing faculty members-that the mathematical sciences are handicapped when competing with other fields to recruit and retain people. While community leadership is largely responsible for initiating action to improve the career path, the goals of the reports can be accomplished only if individual departments and faculty members in the mathematical sciences become active participants in the renewal effort.
Actions for Renewing U.S. Mathematical Sciences Departments The following is a collection of ideas for accomplishing this, addressed to departments. It is intended as a template (not a catechism) that individual chairs can use while developing plans and partnerships for departmental improvements appropriate to their department's in- dividual strengths, needs, and situation. 2
