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DINNER IN HONOR OF NARESH JAIN
After eight successful years at the helm of the School of Mathematics, Professor Naresh Jain decided to step down from the Headship. During his tenure as Head, Naresh fostered the research and teaching missions of the department in many ways, hiring outstanding new faculty, supporting educational initiatives such as the IT calculus program and REU’s (research experiences for undergrads), helping to develop the MCIM, and working closely with the IMA during its renewal and transition to a new Director. Naresh worked very hard and consistently to promote the School and ensure that our faculty received the recognitions that they deserved.
To thank Naresh for his exemplary service, and acknowledge his achievements, a dinner in his, and his wife Kusum’s honor, was held on Thursday May 8, 2003 in the Mississippi Room of the recently remodeled Coffman Memorial Union—
a great venue for this festive occasion.
The speakers included the IT Dean Ted Davis as well as several colleagues who worked closely with Naresh during his years as Head: the incoming department Head Larry Gray, who served for past several years as the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Willard Miller, who served over the past several years first as an Associate Dean of IT, and then as the Director of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, as well as Professor Bert Fristedt and Professor Mitch Luskin. The Master of Ceremonies was (of course) Professor Walter Littman, who read greetings and good wishes to Naresh from Ordway Professor Nick Krylov, who was away, as well as the distinguished mathematicians Don Burkholder (University of Illinois) and Srinivasa Varadhan (Courant Institute).
Although Naresh is very happy to return to his research and teaching, he remains deeply involved in ongoing departmental initiatives, and we are sure that he will continue to contribute in a major way.