President's Report

Bill Glider
University of Nebraska - Lincoln

wglider1@unl.edu

It has been a bittersweet six months for ABLE. During that time we were treated to an enjoyable and highly productive ABLE Conference at Virginia Tech but were saddened by the passing of two of our long-time members (Roberta Williams and Charlie Drewes) and reminded of life's fragility as a result of the ravages caused by hurricane Katrina. However, life goes on and we all find ourselves once again teaching a new crop of mostly eager students. As I stood before 250 General Biology students at my first lecture I thought, just maybe, several of them will become biology educators and join the ranks of ABLE.

Once again I would like to thank Mary Schaeffer for hosting the 27th Annual Workshop/ Conference at Virginia Tech in June. As a former host, I know the long hours and detailed planning it takes to put on an ABLE conference as well as a ho-hum attitude one has to adopt over the behind-the-scenes glitches that only the host knows about. Sunday brings the final good byes as everyone competes for rides to the airport. Then it is Monday morning and all is quiet except for clean-up: return borrowed equipment, mail items mistakenly left by participants, write thank you notes, meet with conference, etc. I have never regretted the experience and urge all of you to consider hosting a future conference. I am certain that all former hosts will agree that it was worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

As I start my presidency, it is becoming quite obvious how much time and effort has been invested by the past presidents into the running of ABLE. I am especially indebted to the last two presidents, Maggie Haag and Carol Budd, who streamlined many of the administrative aspects of the organization. I am now in possession of the infamous ABLE flash (jump) drive which Carol has assured me contains the documents that will answer all of my questions, at least until it crashes! I am looking forward to a productive two years as ABLE president and hope that the Association benefits from my leadership as well as the leadership of the Board of Directors. I would like to express my thanks to Ruth Beattie for serving as a Member at Large for the past four years and welcome Kathy Nolan as our new member at large. Ruth will continue her service to ABLE as host to the 2007 ABLE Conference at the University of Kentucky - go Wildcats!

Each year ABLE continues to change. At the 2005 ABLE Conference, the membership voted to start publishing the Proceedings volumes on CD. I am confident that this change will make the dissemination of the Proceedings more efficient. In addition, it will make it possible to include interactive electronic media such as animations, video, and electronic presentations. In addition to supporting this effort, it is my goal to launch a major membership drive, strengthen ABLE's ties to BEN, and implement those changes which the membership feel will make ABLE a better and more visible organization. I hope to see all of you in June at Purdue. Until then, e-mail me your ideas, thoughts, etc. which you feel will help ABLE grow and prosper as a professional organization.

Lastly I would like to thank Mariëlle Hoefnagels, Labstracts Editor, for her continued creative efforts and patience with contributors (especially myself) in assembling very informative editions of Labstracts over the past two years. As of next July she will pass the torch on to a successor. Her talents as editor of Labstracts will be greatly missed.