An Update of the History of the ICMC

Summary

I was introduced to the Indiana College Mathematics Competition (ICMC) during the spring of 1987, during my first year on the faculty at Valparaiso University. This was, as you read in Paul's comments, the first year that the competition was opened up to the large state universities and explains why I had not known of the competition while an undergraduate student at Ball State University.

I have been an enthusiastic supporter of the competition ever since. While the nickname “friendly” has not been used very much in recent years, the competition still maintains the same friendly approach that it had when it began. It is always very exciting and refreshing to be around the students from the various schools as they wait for the exam to begin, and to hear their conversations with each other and with their faculty advisors after the exam. In many years, a lot of friendly banter and good mathematical conversations occur among my VU students during the drive back to campus from the meeting.

In 1992, I became the Indiana section's first Student Chapter Coordinator and one of the responsibilities was to manage the ICMC. The first competition that I organized was at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, at a joint meeting of the Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois sections. Thirty teams from the three states participated in the competition that year. Subsequent Student Chapter Coordinators have helped implement changes to the ICMC that have made it the central part of the section's efforts to reach undergraduate students.