Jack Graver, Professor
Mailing Address:
Jack Graver was in the U.S. Navy 1953-1955, earned a BA at Miami University in 1958, and an MA in 1961 and Ph.D. in 1964, both at Indiana, and Andrew Wallace directed his dissertation. He was a John Wesley Young Research Instructor at Dartmouth 1964-1966, then joined SU as assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1969 and to professor in 1976. In 1971-1972 he was a visiting professor at the University of Nottingham (England). His research interests are combinatorics and graph theory, specifically graph symmetry, rigidity theory and matroid theory. Jack has published 23 research papers, 12 expository papers and 4 books: Combinatorics with emphasis in graph theory (with Mark Watkins), Springer 1977, 351 pages; Incidence and symmetry in design and architecture (with Jenny Baglivo), Cambridge University Press 1983, 306 pages; Combinatorial rigidity and matroid theory (with Brigitte Servatius and Hermann Servatius), volume 2 in the AMS series Graduate Studies in Mathematics 1993; and Counting on frameworks: mathematics to aid in the design of rigid structures, Number 25 in the Dolciani Mathematical Expositions published by MAA in 2001, 185 pages. Jack directed the Ph.D. dissertations of Neal Sider (1971), Charles Leska (1975), Steve Brown (1986, Ed.D.), Brigitte Servatius (1987), Amir Foroudi (1988), Shekhar Rajagopalan (1988), and Vincent Fatica (1990). He is a member of AMS, MAA, SIAM, AAUP, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Association of Mathematics Teachers of NY State (AMTNYS), and he is a Fellow of the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications. He has been listed in Who’s Who in America for many years. He was a member of the department’s executive committee 1972-1974, undergraduate committee 1968-1971, 1974-1976, and 1997-1999 (chair 1998-1999), and committees on statistics 1983-1984, computing 1992-1994, building 1993, calculators 1994-1995 and mathematics education 1994-1998. Jack was faculty advisor of Pi Mu Epsilon 1969-1971, coordinator of the recruiting lecture series 1982-1983 and of the explorer post on careers in mathematics 1982-1986, served as PFF liaison 1998-present and served on four ad hoc committees on renewal, promotion and tenure. He has done extensive curriculum development in our Department, was registration supervisor 1975-1993, has been a lecturer in the Independent Study Degree Program at SU 1973-present, and he is a frequent lecturer at AMTNYS workshops for high school teachers 1979-present. Jack was associate chair 1976-1979, was department chair 1979-1982, and again associate chair 1984-1993, doing major and vital jobs. In the College he was a member of the faculty council 1979-1982 and 1985-1989 (chair 1981-1982 and 1986-1987) and on the following committees: curriculum 1975-1976 and 1990-1991, research 1976-1979 (chair 1978-1979), mathematical skills 1977-1981, Review Dean Vincow 1982-1983 (chair), graduate studies 1985-1986, English as a second language 1984-1988 (chair 1987-1989), academic affairs 1984-1989 (chair 1986-1987), and academic affairs again, 2000-present (chair 2001-present). In the University Jack served on the Senate 1972-1983, 1986-1988 and 1990-1991, and its committees on: academic freedom, tenure and professional ethics 1973-1978 (chair 1976-1978), appointments and promotion 1978-1981 (chair 1979-1981), instruction 1981-1982, academic affairs 1986-1990 and curriculum 1990-1991. He was a member of the following committees: TA fellow selection 1987-1991, TA program steering 1988-1991 (academic chair 1988-1989), TA committee of the Board of Graduate Studies 1987-1988, the steering committee for the TA training program 1986-1988, graduate admissions task force 1982-1985, and the executive committee of the Board of Graduate Studies 1988-1991. He served on the assembly on university governance 1969-1971, task force for supportive services 1976-1977, AAUP faculty assembly 1975-1981 (secretary 1975-1976), United Way Campaign 1978-1982 (chair 1981-1982), academic calendar review committee 1974-1989, and academic life task force, freshman orientation 1987-1991. Jack was also on the computer registration implementation committee 1982-1985, search committee for vice president for undergraduate studies 1985-1986, Holmes committee 1988-1991, steering committee for Teaching and Technology Limited 1990-1993, Chancellor’s Math Task Force in 1993, and the task force for the Independent Study Degree Program 2000-2001, and he was a minority student mentor 1988-1993. He was the director 1984-1988 and co-director 1989-present of Schools and University Partnership for Educational Responsibility. For the Seaway section of MAA Jack chaired the committee on the new 3-year sequence for high school mathematics 1979-1980, as section's first vice-president 1980-1982, on the committee on prizes for student talks 1982-1983, on the program committee 1986-1990, as section's chairman 1995-1997, and as chair of the nominating committee 1997-2001. He has been a lecturer of the MAA’s Visiting Lecturer Program 1986-1993, was a member of the Board of Governors of MAA in 1985-1986 and was awarded its Certificate of Meritorious Service in 1993. Jack was on the Mathematics Steering Committee of the Syracuse Public Schools 1978-1983, Schools/University Mathematics Collaboration Team 1984-1985, Mathematics Committee of SUPER 1984-1996, NY Department of Education Committee to revise the NYS Regents Mathematics Curriculum 1984-1988 (and was a consultant to them in 1995), and AMTNYS Committees: Curriculum Standards Study 1988-1991 and Technology Standards 2002-present. Jack married Yana in 1961, and they have three children, Juliet, Yana-Maria, and Paul, all married. Juliet’s husband Amin is an attorney. They have two daughters Fawzia 4 and Laman 2. Yana-Maria is a speech pathologist and her husband Brent is back in school for his MBA. Paul is a technical manager for a paper company, with wife Carmen and children Sarah 9 and Jack 6. Jack and his family spent the summer of 1969 on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where Jack gave an NSF summer institute for teachers there, and they also vacationed in Belize and Brazil. Now their vacations are all spent visiting their children and grandchildren. Source: 2001 cv; 1990-1991, 1998, and 2002 Who’s Who in America. --Phil Church-- 7/11/02 |
