Labstracts, Fall 2002 (pg 5)

I believe as an organization we have accomplished a great deal in the last year. We have improved communication among our membership, we have established mechanisms to increase membership, we have secured ways to improve the support of board and committee members, we have established mechanisms (we hope) to increase the number of major workshops offered at annual meetings, we have begun to implement mechanisms to increase the profile of ABLE through partnerships with other professional organizations and we have provided a forum for members to begin a dialogue on how to strengthen the organization in the future. Prior and during the meeting at LSU we asked the membership for input on all these initiatives. The response and feedback was tremendous. I was very pleased with the number (more than 80 of the 115 registrants!) of members that sat through two business meetings to provide input, advice and support for all that we are trying to accomplish. I will try and summarize our discussions and actions. Anyone wishing more details or wishing copies of Committee Reports not covered within this edition of Labstracts (Committee Reports were available in the conference binder) should contact me directly (mag.haag@ualberta.ca).

Increasing our profile and membership

Increasing the profile of ABLE among biologists is hoped to increase our membership base and as well as draw more participation at the annual meetings. We also want to showcase the tremendous contribution of ABLE in promoting high quality laboratory education. Through the efforts of Ruthanne Pitkin (Shippensburg University), Ann Lumsden (Florida State University), Corey Goldman (University of Toronto), Karen McMahon (The University of Tulsa) and others, we are working with a number of professional societies to develop partnerships. We voted at the annual meeting to establish a partnership with NABT (National Association for Biology Teachers) and BEN (Bioscience Education Network; new initiative of NSF). All our current web postings of past workshops will be posted to the BEN website by the end of this calendar year. As well, McGraw-Hill Publishers have agreed to send our brochure to the chairs of ~3000 community colleges, colleges and universities to help promote ABLE. ABLE will also cross-link websites with HAPS (Human Anatomy and Physiology Society).

Doreen Schroeder (University of St. Thomas) is working on a new ABLE brochure that will be available in both print and PDF formats. If you will be attending meetings of appropriate professional societies in the coming year and would be willing to distribute some ABLE brochures, please let me know. I will also develop it in a poster format if anyone would like to take it to meetings/conferences as well. We will email the PDF file to all members so that you might use this to help promote ABLE in your area.

Despite our best efforts, membership has been declining for the last few years. While there are many reasons to be a member, the greatest value to many still seems to be attendance at the annual workshop/conference. Despite the availability of waivers of registration (up to 10 per year) for new faculty, post-docs and graduate students, we are not attracting new blood into the organization. We will continue to offer waivers of registration for new faculty, etc., (see website) and we will offer all graduate students and post-docs automatic reduced registration (50% of regular fee). Please encourage new faculty, post-docs and current graduate students to take advantage of these initiatives to attend the annual meetings and to become members of ABLE. We will publicize these initiatives through our new partnerships and hopefully bring new ideas and energy into the organization.

Major/Mini Workshops and our new Poster Session

We are hoping that our new partnerships will increase the profile of ABLE among the biology community and thus we will receive more major workshop proposals for future conferences. We have established Co-Chairs for the Major Workshop Committee, Susan Karcher (Purdue University) and Anne Cordon (University of Toronto), in an attempt to spread our network across both sides of the 49^th parallel. Added to this committee are two Members-at-Large, Ruth Beattie (University of Kentucky) and Marsha Fanning (Lenoir-Rhyne College), and the upcoming hosts at UNLV, Roberta Williams and Connie Herr. Roberta and Connie are also working on “invited” workshops for our 25^th anniversary celebration at UNLV, bringing back selected successful workshops for a “reprise presentation.” For more information, see the web site.

The Mini Workshop Committee has been expanded as well. Catherine Ketter (University of Georgia), Tom Fogle (St. Mary’s University) and Ralph Preszler (New Mexico State University) will undertake the responsibility of selecting the increasingly popular Friday mini workshops. The overwhelming response of the membership is that they like the Friday format for mini workshops and that they would like some to be presented twice to allow more opportunities to attend. With write-ups for mini workshops now available in the Proceedings, this format for the delivery of effective lab techniques and exercises is becoming very popular. For more information, see the web site or contact Catherine Ketter.

One of the outcomes of our discussions at LSU was the establishment of a Poster Session at the annual meetings. The poster sessions have been developed so that members will be given the opportunity to present a special technique, a unique way of presenting the curriculum, etc., in an abbreviated format. Posters will be displayed for a day and a half with presenters available Friday afternoon to answer questions from conference participants. We are asking presenters to produce a short handout with their posters. Due to space limitations at UNLV, we will be limiting this inaugural session to 10 posters. For more information on the poster sessions, see the web site or contact Tom Fogle.

Many, many more ideas were presented at the second business meeting. As we work through some of these ideas, we will keep the membership posted through bulk emailings and in the next issue of Labstracts in the spring. There is a tremendous amount of creative thought and energy amongst our ranks and we will continue to tap into it in the coming months and years. My thanks to all.

Changing of the Guard

Last spring we put out a call for volunteers to take on some of our major committee work and we were overwhelmed with the response. We made a direct plea via email before the meetings in Baton Rouge and we publicized the vacancies in the Committee Reports in the Conference Binder. We left LSU with all positions filled, including the provision of overlap for training in a number of key areas.

Our thanks to Denise Martin (St. Michael’s College) who has Chaired the Membership Committee for the last two years. We thank Rudi Berkelhammer (University of California Irvine) for taking on this role for the next few years. Rudi will help develop an electronic directory which will allow us to make changes quickly and effectively.

This will be Doreen Schroeder’s last year as Editor of Labstracts. Doreen has implemented the electronic newsletter for ABLE for the last two years, in addition to putting together our new brochure. Learning the ropes for this position (beginning with the Fall 2003 issue) will be Marielle Hoefnagels (University of Oklahoma). Thanks to Doreen for all her efforts on both the brochure and Labstract projects.

For more years than she would like to remember, President-Elect Carol Budd (St. Lawrence University) has been decorating her office with back copies of the Proceedings. As new members join or as requests for Proceedings are processed, Carol has held the honor of sending them out. As Carol begins to take on the duties of President of ABLE next July, Frances Kennedy (State University of West Georgia) has agreed to take on this important role for the organization. Our thanks go to Carol for all her efforts for all those years.

Jim Bader (Case Western Reserve University) is stepping down as Chair of the Major Workshop Committee. As mentioned previously, the helm has been handed over to Susan Karcher and Anne Cordon. We are indebted to Jim for looking after this very important committee for the past three years. He and his committee have done well in some difficult times. Thanks from all of us.

Two members of the Board are stepping down as their terms of office come to an end. Ruthanne Pitkin departs the position of Past President as Carol Budd enters as President Elect. Donna Bozzone steps down as Diva of the Members-at-Large, as Marsha Fanning begins her four-year term. Ruthanne has worked tirelessly for ABLE and will continue working on partnerships and the 25^th Anniversary celebrations. Donna finished her term chairing the Grants-in-Aid Committee which looked after the Waiver of Registration Scholarships and the Laboratory Initiative Grants. Donna also hopes to keep involved in promoting ABLE to the biology community. Thanks to both Ruthanne and Donna for their many years of service to ABLE.

Thankfully, Bob Hodson will continue to serve as Secretary. His detailed minutes have been much appreciated. Taping our discussions and meetings has enabled some otherwise forgetful minds (mine in particular) to keep on track. Thanks.

Email me with your ideas…………..

While 115 participants basked in the heat and humidity of Baton Rouge last June, many ABLE members were not part of our lively discussions on the future of the organization. The door is not closed on this process and I would hope that members would continue to come forward with ideas to further the cause. Please send me your thoughts. I would ask you to promote ABLE in your own personalized way. I would also encourage you to present a major, mini or poster session next June at UNLV. Help us celebrate 25 years of the ABLE tradition.