Winter 2000    Page 4   Candidates for Election to Board Positions "Ballots have been sent to current members. The deadline for return of the ballot postcard is April 15th. Contact Nancy Goodyear if you have not received a ballot." -- from Ruthanne Pitkin, President (24 March 2000) The following ABLE members are your candidates for election to the Board of Directors. Please read their statements and make an informed choice when you receive your ballot by mail. (Ballots will be mailed the week of March 13th.) Please follow the instructions that will come with the ballot and return your ballots by the date specified. The candidates will be informed of the results in April and will assume their duties in July. An announcement will be made to the general membership at the Annual Meeting in June. All positions become effective as of July 1, in each year that a position is up for election. President-Elect: Maggie Haag (acclaimed) Members-At-Large: Edward Andrews, Mary Culp, Bill Glider Secretary: Robert Hodson (acclaimed)   PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATE The President-elect position is for a one year term. Maggie Haag (elected by acclamation) Present Academic Position Curriculum Coordinator, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton Coordinator of the Graduate Teaching Program  Academic Background B. A. (Biology), Russell Sage College, Troy, New York M. Sc. (Environmental Physiology), University of Alberta ABLE Activities/Service Member (1993-present) Presenter, ABLE, 1994 at Emory University, Atlanta: Computer simulations of basic neuronal functions. Member-At-Large (1996-2000) Presenter, ABLE, 1997 at the University of Calgary, Alberta: Sampling, density estimation and spatial relations. Chair, ABLE Nominations Committee (1998, 1999) Presenter, ABLE 1999, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska: Effective methods of training biology laboratory teaching assistants. Chair, ABLE Laboratory Initiatives Grants Committee (2000). Personal Statement Membership in ABLE has had an extraordinary influence on the way I teach biology and interact with my colleagues. Unlike many scientific organizations and societies, the annual conferences/workshops have provided me with new ideas and approaches to teaching basic concepts in biology, innovative techniques, and suggestions for dealing with common concerns in administering biology laboratory education. The completeness of the workshop packages allows one to leave ABLE and implement new labs immediately. Most importantly, these annual meetings enable us to share experiences that allow us all to grow in our pursuits of teaching high quality biology laboratory education to our students. Making the annual trek to ABLE each year is the "tonic" to get me through the next twelve months of teaching, administering and dealing with life. I see the role of ABLE expanding and evolving as we enter the 21st century. We need to ensure the continuance of annual meetings by developing mechanisms to take some of the burden off potential hosts. We need to strengthen the supporting roles of our major and mini workshop committees, and actively seek out new workshop presenters throughout the year. I would like to see past hosts serving on our Major Workshops Committee for one year as a means to offer advice and feedback from their previous experience.  I would like to see the posting of some of our mini workshops as part of Labstracts, as a means of disseminating some of the helpful exercises, tips, projects, etc., in a more timely manner. This would be in addition to publication in the annual proceedings. I would also like to see a continuation of providing opportunities for workshops that are an extension of laboratory teaching, i.e., effective TA training, managing large undergraduate courses, and dealing with teaching with technologies. MEMBER-AT-LARGE CANDIDATES The Member-At-Large position is for a term of four years. One position will be filled this year. Edward Andrews Present Academic Position Associate Professor, Environmental Science Program, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Corner Brook, Newfoundland  Academic Background B.Sc. (1971) Memorial University of Newfoundland M. Sc. (1974) Memorial University of Newfoundland B. Ed. (1984) Memorial University of Newfoundland Awarded Teacher's Certificate, Level VII (1984) ABLE Activities/Service Contributor to Labstracts (1991) Associate Editor for Volumes 5 & 6 of the ABLE Proceedings Presented a Major Workshop at the 14th ABLE Conference (Nevada, 1992) Elected Secretary of ABLE (1992-1994; 1994-1996) Chair of the ABLE Nominations Committee (1992-1993) Overseer for the "Show and Tell" computer software demonstrations at the 15th and 16th ABLE conferences in Toronto and Atlanta Presented a mini workshop at the 17th annual ABLE Conference (Purdue, Indiana, 1995) Nominated for President Elect (1996) Conference participant from 1989-1998 (missed ABLE, 1999 due to honeymoon in Hawaii!!) Editor of Labstracts (1996-present) Reformatted the By-Laws of ABLE Personal Statement In the years since its inception, ABLE has performed an outstanding job of providing excellent laboratory exercises and resource materials that have been professionally written, tested, reviewed, and evaluated by a wide variety of biology educators. This trend should continue to be the primary goal of the organization. My personal goals for ABLE are as follows: To continue to encourage and promote a diversified membership platform (university, college, and high school biology educators) with emphasis on increased liaison between academic and teaching levels To promote leadership in the use of web-based technology in teaching and the enhancement and delivery of course and laboratory information To continue to serve ABLE through the Board of Directors and to enhance active membership participation through Labstracts To promote ABLE through the online publication of Labstracts.   Mary Culp Present Academic Position Biology Lab Coordinator, Department of Biology, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York. Academic Background B. Sc. in Biology (1975), Kansas State University, Manhatten, Kansas M. Sc. in Botany (1986), University of Nevada, Las Vegas. ABLE Activities/Service As a graduate student, participated in ABLE 1985 (Las Vegas) setting up some major workshops and conducting a field trip Attended ABLE conference/workshops since Purdue (1995) Presented a mini workshop at Nebraska (1999) Personal Statement I have been very impressed with the quality of lab presentations (and field trips, too!) at ABLE conferences.  One of the great strengths of ABLE is that new ideas and techniques are presented so that we can stay abreast of current practices.  This has allowed me to gain knowledge, experience, and skills in PCR, various blot techniques, computer simulations, etc.  This knowledge and experience has been put to practical use in updated manuals that incorporate some of these new ideas and innovative techniques.  I have seen first hand the improvement and effectiveness that ABLE-derived materials and methods have made in the classroom. I will work hard to further the tradition of offering quality laboratory teachings through our personal workshop approach.  I greatly enjoy the spirited dedication of ABLE members to our profession.  I am excited by the opportunity to be more directly involved supporting  ABLE's mission of presenting technically and mentally challenging laboratories.   Bill Glider Present Academic Position Lecturer and Biology Teaching Laboratory Coordinator, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska Academic Background B. Sc. in Secondary Science Education (1970), Cornell University, Ithaca, New York High school biology teacher (1970-1973), Rush-Henrietta Central School near Rochester, New York M. Sc. in Botany (1977), University of Maine, Orono, Maine Ph. D. in Biological Sciences (1983), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Research interests:  Algal-invertebrate symbiosis and biology education, with emphasis on the use of web-based technology as a pedagogical tool. ABLE Activities/Service Host of the ABLE 1999 Conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska Attended all but two ABLE conferences since the University of Minnesota Conference in 1987. Personal Statement My participation in an ABLE conference is a high point of my academic year.  Not only do I bring back a host of ideas and techniques to incorporate into the general biology labs at UNL, but I also come away with a sense of excitement from seeing first hand the tremendous efforts put forth by participants to provide quality biology laboratory education to their students.  Topics which I would like to explore with the ABLE membership include: The recruitment of new members from geographic regions currently not represented or under represented in the Association More effective methods for recruiting major and mini workshop presenters Broadening the scope of major workshops to include discussions or symposia dealing with such topics as new lab curricula and methods of their assessment, the integration of multimedia in lab settings, and the effective training of lab teaching assistants Ways to disseminate the full content of mini workshops Ways of encouraging new members to participate in the governance of the Association. CANDIDATE FOR SECRETARY  The position of Secretary is for a term of two years Robert Hodson (elected by acclamation) Present Academic Position Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE Academic Background Ph.D. (1966).  Cornell University.  Plant physiology under Dr. John F. Thompson Post-doctoral Fellow (1966-1969).  Brandeis University with Dr. Jerame Schiff. Designing laboratory activities (investigation-based) for a couple of decades at the University of Delaware Published in-house lab manuals (web-based and text) ABLE Activities/Service As a latecomer to ABLE, I have attended one conference. Personal Statement I would like to see ABLE move much more strongly into electronic format for the distribution of laboratory education.  A "clearinghouse" of investigations is being suggested, to be run at least initially from a server at the University of Delaware.  This could provide a venue for disseminating activities that are tested but have not been offered as workshops (e.g., activities that have a longer time component).  The clearinghouse would need much thought about structure, etc., so that publication of a manuscript would be viewed by departments as a scholarly activity.   HOME FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR | DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY TEACHING WORKSHOP ABLE 2000 UPDATE LAB TEACHING GRANT | REGIONAL CONFERENCE REPORT | LABSTRACTS NOTES REGIONAL REPORTERS | CALENDAR OF EVENTS © 2000 ABLE. All rights reserved.