ASSOCIATION OF NEUROSCIENCE
DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS
FALL MEETING SUMMARY
NOVEMBER 8, 2003
The
Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs held its annual fall
reception and meeting on Saturday, November 8, during the annual meeting of
the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans.
The evening started with a members’
business meeting, at which Treasurer Cheryl Sisk presented a summary of
the financial activities of the ANDP during the previous year and
Secretary Michael Lehman brought to the group applications for
membership from Molecular Medicine Graduate Program/Program in Developmental Neurobiology
at Medical College of Georgia; the Neuroscience Center at Dartmouth
College, Dartmouth Medical School; and Stark Neuroscience Research Institute
at Indiana University School of Medicine.
All three applications were approved by formal vote, and the ANDP
is pleased to welcome these programs to active participation in the
association. In addition,
Dr. Chris Golde, from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching, provided a brief update on the status of the Neuroscience
component of the Carnegie Initiative for the Doctorate, in which several
ANDP member programs are involved as Partners in developing new
approaches to teaching, training, and learning in neuroscience.
The major focus of the
meeting was the presentation of the 2003 ANDP Awards
for Education in Neuroscience to Dr. Joe Martinez, Jr. (Associate
Vice Provost for Research, Program Director of the Cajal Neuroscience
Research Center, and Ewing Halsell Professor of Neuroscience at the
University of Texas at San Antonio) and Dr. James Townsel (Associate
Vice President for Research, Director of the Meharry/Vanderbilt Alliance
in Neuroscience Training Program, and Director of the Research Centers
in Minority Institutions Program at Meharry Medical College).
The two men also are the
Co-Directors of the Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics, and Survival
(SPINES) at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.
Both have had a tremendous impact on the training of young
neuroscientists, especially those from underrepresented groups, not only
through programmatic means but also through intense personal mentoring
and encouragement. The
full texts of the introductions of Dr. Martinez by Dr. Thomas Fox
(Harvard University) and of Dr. Townsel by Dr. Barbara Talamo (Tufts
Medical School) are available on the ANDP website at http://www.andp.org.
Following short acceptance speeches by the awardees, Dr. John
Hildebrand (University of Arizona) gave a humorous summary of the
awardees’ contributions to neuroscience research and education.
At the end of the meeting, Dr. George Rebec assumed the presidency of
the ANDP, Dr. Alison Hall became treasurer, Dr. Hermes Yeh became
councilor, Dr. Gerry Oxford became president-elect, and Dr. Leslie
Tolbert became past-president. Dr.
Hall was thanked for her insightful service as councilor, Dr. Sisk was thanked for serving for two very effective terms as
treasurer, and Dr. Tolbert was recognized for her extraordinary
commitment in leading ANDP through another successful year.
The annual ANDP Forum for students and postdoctoral trainees was held on
Monday Nov. 10, as part of the SFN meeting. The title of this year’s
Forum, organized by president-elect George Rebec, was "Getting the
Job You Want and Keeping It."
Discussants included Drs. Alan
Gittis (Westminster College), Janice Juraska (University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign), Eric Nisenbaum (Eli Lilly Company), and Benjamin
Walker (Georgetown University), representing the differing perspectives
of brand new and senior faculty at small colleges, large research
universities, and private industry.
In addition, Dr. Edward Stricker (University of Pittsburgh, and a
past president of the ANDP) presented data from the most recent ANDP
Survey of Neuroscience Programs that were of special interest to
trainees embarking on job searches.
A summary of the Forum can be found on the
ANDP website and information about the ANDP survey will be available on
the website in the near future.
Thanks to the donation of space by the
Society for Neuroscience, the ANDP for the first time had a booth in the
exhibitors’ hall, at which graduate students and members of the ANDP
executive committee provided information about the association’s many
activities and the benefits of membership.
In addition, the ANDP again collaborated
with the SfN to host a Student Hospitality Room, staffed by
graduate-student volunteers. The room is a quiet place set aside for
students to relax, meet other students, and share meeting notes.
The 2004 ANDP spring meeting will be held on May 1 - 2, 2004, at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland.
Please consult the ANDP website http://ww.andp.org
for meeting information and registration forms.
Leslie P. Tolbert, Ph.D.
Past President, ANDP
