Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019 - 9

Society Reports
verify and update your information. Membership has taken
over some responsibilities from the Treasurer position and
will now be responding to all membership-related enquiries.
Please feel free to contact Tiffany (email above) if you need
assistance-and please make our job easier by renewing your
membership on time (by February 15 for all annual memberships)!
Respectfully submitted,
Tiffany Adrain, Chair

Professional Development
Committee News

Nick Drew from the Smithsonian has
started as co-chair of the Professional
Development Committee (PDC). Welcome, Nick!
The PDC met in Chicago at the SPNHC
conference this past May. The agenda
covered the Travel Grants Mentorship
program, general mentorships, Demo
Camp, workshops, course announcements, and the wiki page. The meeting
was well attended with a number of
SPNHC members new to the committee
joining, adding ideas and enthusiasm.
Nick and Jeff edited the PDC portion of
the Leadership Manual to bring this up
to date.

Travel Grants Mentorship

Elise Lecompte chairs the subcommittee on Travel Grants
Mentorship.
The 2019 recipients for the Fitzgerald Travel Grants were:
*

Erin Berkowitz, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

M. Alejandra Camacho, Zoology Museum, Pontifical
Catholic University of Ecuador

Andrés Julián Lozano Flórez, Instituto de Investigación
de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt

Laurel Kaminsky, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and
Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History

The 2019 recipient for the Christine Allen Travel Grant was:
*

Irene Finkelde, National Museum of Natural History,
Smithsonian Institution

Elise is leading a team to provide opportunities for upcoming
grant recipients for Edinburgh. Please look for upcoming an-

nouncements. The subcommittee has also been discussing the
use of informational ribbons with the Conference Committee. We have decided to add several categories as ribbons or
stickers, including Emerging Professional, first-time attendee,
and possibly pronoun identifiers for future conferences (2021
and beyond). They will be printed on the name tags for the
Edinburgh meeting.

General Mentorship

Kari Harris and Travis Marsico co-chair the General Mentorship subcommittee.
The continued success of our travel grants mentorship program, together with a great deal of enthusiasm from many
members in SPNHC for a broadened approach to mentoring
opportunities, has led to a discussion on how we might identify and implement additional ways to match professionals for
their mutual benefit.

Demo Camps

Demo Camps used to be organized by the PDC; these now
have been taken over by the LOCs for each conference.

Workshops

The PDC role in workshops is to maintain a list of popular
(and necessary) workshop subjects, and note if a subject may
be due. We will be sending out a survey for SPNHC members
on workshop topics to make sure the list is up-to-date and
remains relevant.

Course Announcements

The PDC provides a compendium of online courses in museum studies and collections management. This list is provided
by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Professional Development Committee as a monthly
service for NHCOLL-L subscribers. Please contact the course
providers or instructors for more information or questions.
As a reminder, NHCOLL-L is not open for advertising by
individuals; however, if you would like to have your courses
appear in this compendium, please feel free to submit your
offerings to jeff.stephenson@dmns.org, and we'll see that
you get in.

Wiki
The committee has discussed updating the Professional Development wiki site. In consultation with the Best Practices
Committee, new content provided can include self-guided
learning opportunities, infographics, FAQs, and links to relevant sites. The wiki will aim to allow collaboration and mentorship across institutions through connecting new and existing members to senior experts in the SPNHC community. The
wiki is designed to be a living document, with information
regularly updated to best serve the community's needs.
September 2019 * 9

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019

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