July 8-9, 2004

ITEM 124-2001-R0704     Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Mathematics upon Gary Bogar; Montana State University-Bozeman

THAT: Upon the occasion of the retirement of Gary Bogar from the faculty of Montana State University, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of the State of Montana.

 

EXPLANATION: Dr. Gary Bogar received his B.S. in Mathematics from Northeast Missouri State University in 1960 and his M.S. in Mathematics from Kansas State University in 1963.  He then earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee in 1968 and joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Montana State University that fall.  He spent the next 36 years at MSU, serving as an excellent teacher and advisor.

Over the years, Dr. Bogar has had summer visiting research appointments at numerous institutions.  He was at Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1975, at United Nuclear in 1979, and Boeing Computing Services in 1981.  In 1990 he spent time at the

Cornell Supercomputing Institute and in 1991 he was at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.  On many of these appointments he also took graduate students and involved them in current research projects that served to enhance their graduate education.

Dr. Bogar has seen the growth and development of the graduate programs in mathematics since his arrival in Bozeman.  He directed the dissertation work of a Ph.D. student who finished in 1980, starting him on a long and successful career in the field of mathematics at Moorhead State University.  He has served on the graduate committees of many MSU graduate students.  His teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels has been superb.

Dr. Bogar was the faculty advisor of the mathematics honorary, Pi Mu Epsilon, from 1972 to 1976.  He also served two years on the National Program Committee for the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), which is the premier society for applied mathematicians in the United States and around the world.

Dr. Bogar is still active in teaching and curriculum development at Montana State University.  He continues to supervise and mentor Graduate Teaching Assistants as they develop into professional mathematics educators.  He was and continues to be a great asset to the university and the state of Montana.

For these and other contributions, the Board of Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer upon Gary Bogar the rank of Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Montana State University, and wishes him well for many years in the future.