Candidate for Secretary:
Bob Hodson

Department of Biological Sciences
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Phone: (302) 831-8440

hodson@udel.edu

Education

B.A. Botany major, chemistry minor, 1959, University of Minnesota
Ph.D. Plant Physiology major, biochemistry and bacteriology minors, 1966, Cornell University
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Brandeis University, 1966-1969

Present Academic Position

University of Delaware, Department of Biological Sciences, since 1969, teach Introductory Biology 2-semester sequence

Statement

While I may be getting long of tooth and short of brain cells, I am even more excited about biology and especially laboratory teaching compared to previous years. This fits a trend from research orientation to teaching orientation of today. When a relative youngster I thought research was the only satisfying activity. I envisioned participating at the bench for an entire career and did not understand how scientists could be content writing grants and letting others have all the fun in the lab. Unlike our graduate students today, I did not give a talk to a professional audience, including departmental faculty, until the Ph.D. thesis defense. I am grateful to a postdoctoral fellowship mentor who provided teaching opportunities in his undergraduate course and at professional society meetings. However that still did not spark enthusiasm for teaching itself. Something happened over the years that changed all that. Today I have no active research projects and am devoted to teaching first-year undergraduate students, both honors and conventional, in a 2-semester introductory course sequence and designing laboratory experiences for one of the semesters.

I “discovered” ABLE and its connection to laboratory teaching just seven years ago. The first meeting I attended was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1999. It was there I first met our beloved colleague Charlie Drewes, who died last July. A year or two later my UD colleague Bob Ketcham asked for permission to nominate me for Secretary in ABLE. The post was being vacated by our current Proceedings editor Mike O’Donnell. Preferring to be a participant over a spectator, I agreed. There wasn’t much competition (actually, no competition). It has been fun; lots of super people became new colleagues. Participating in ABLE leadership is highly recommended.