The department of Mathematics and Statistics hosted the first ever themed State Dinner for the Mathematical Association of America here on Elon's campus.
Elon University was chosen to host the North Carolina state dinner for the Mathematical Association of America on October 29, 2026. Every year, a university in NC is chosen to host the dinner.
Last year, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics dressed up in a group costume of Where’s Waldo. This year, they decided to host the MAA state dinner as a Halloween-themed event, which is the first-ever themed dinner of the MAA. The dinner included a pumpkin decorating contest (with an award for the scariest math pumpkin), a selfie photo booth and featured the speakers Tim and Tanya Chartier from Davidson College.
The dinner included 50 guests from Elon and other NC universities. Tim and Tanya Chartier performed mathematical mime and taught the audience several math-magic tricks.
The math and statistics department dressed up as the crew of the Starship Enterprise from the original series of Star Trek Over 20 students, faculty, and staff came dressed in full costume uniform in a coordinated effort lead by Nancy Scherich and the Math and Statistics departmental committee for Community Building and Recruitment.
Department Chair Jim Beuerle, opened the event with a speech in the style of a captain’s log, which is how an episode of Star Trek usually starts. The selfie station was decorated as the transporter room aboard the Enterprise, which can be seen in the photos above. A running meme in the Star Trek original series is that the person is the red shirt is always the person who gets killed in the episode. So the students who wore red decided to play dead at dinner!
The local organizing team included Jim Beuerle, MaryLee Tyndall, Jeff Clark and Nancy Scherich, with help from students Andrew Pipeling, Jordyne Lewis, and Kendall Lewis.
“We would like to thank Dean Hilton Kelly for attending, Christina Bonds for setting up the registration site, and the Hook family for funding my A.L. Hook Emerging Professor in Science and Mathematics that supported several students’ participation at the dinner,” Sherich said.
