North Central Branch Newsletter

October Issue - 2022

Nominees Sought for Key NCB Positions!

The ESA-NCB is looking for members interested in serving on the Executive Council and considering nominating NCB President-Elect (4-year term), NCB Early Career Professional Committee Chair-Elect (1-year term), or NCB Student Affairs Committee Chair-Elect (1-year term). If you are interested in service to ESA North Central Branch, please submit your interest via the online Branch Nomination Form by November 30th. If you have any questions about duties, please feel free to reach out to Jeff Bradshaw, NCB President.

Call for Joint NCB/SWB Symposia! 

The Program Committee is currently requesting proposals for symposia for the 2023 Joint Meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The theme for the meeting is “Branch cross-pollination: Seeking hybrid vigor in science through communication, collaboration, and societal impact.” Therefore, we are soliciting symposia that showcase members who engage in science with their stakeholders, involving them in the discovery, experimental design, and in the scientific process. In fact, we believe that the successful adoption of innovation in science requires involvement in this way. 

We particularly encourage joint SWB/NCB collaborative symposia with organizers and speakers from both groups on topics of mutual interest. Traditional symposia topics, along with topics related to professional development, topics that promote the interests of students and early professionals, and others are also welcome. Be creative in developing your submissions!

The deadline for symposia submissions is Monday, December 12, 2022. All successful applications will be confirmed and notified by mid-January. Please consider submitting your symposium proposal

If you would like to discuss a symposium idea prior to submitting a proposal, please contact the Joint Program Chairs, Milo Lewis and Travis Prochaska.

NCB Awards: Recognize Your Deserving Colleagues! 

Our call for nomination for North Central Branch Professional, Early Career, and Student Awards are announced! As noted last year, the NCB had more awards available than nominees. We are confident that we have many members that are deserving of recognition for their creative work in research, teaching, and engagement and in service to ESA. So, please take the time to nominate a deserving colleague for an award.

Call for a Vote from the Membership on NCB By-Laws Changes

Some background regarding proposed changes; Item 1, “transference of finances to the management of ESA Headquarters”. Currently, ESA management works very closely with NCB to hold our investments, assists in coordinating our Annual Meeting, and facilitates a number of our transactions. Historically, the NCB Secretary-Treasurer has had to maintain a bank account (manage transference of funds, process checks, and balance accounts) to facilitate award payments, process hotel and catering expenses, honoraria payments, etc. When our Secretary-Treasurer ends their term, typically the new member elected into this role would need to transfer NCB accounts from the previous member’s bank into the new Secretary-Treasurer’s bank of choice. This process is cumbersome. Additionally, since ESA holds NCB’s investments and often holds NCB donations that support our Annual Meeting, transfer from ESA accounts to NCB’s bank often takes very shortly following our Annual Meeting. Should ESA hold our accounts on behalf of NCB, these transfers (and any associated delays) would be greatly reduced and payments could be expedited. Related to moving NCB accounts fully to ESA, the NCB would no longer need an Audit Committee as accounts would be audited by ESA’s accounts auditors. The specific proposed changes to our Bylaws are posted here. Voting will be open along with NCB officer elections between January 9 – February 8, 2023.

2023 Joint NCB-SWB Annual Meeting – April 16-19

We held three joint planning meetings with the Southwestern Branch so far and our plans are forming and a call for symposia will be soon to come. Our theme for this year’s meeting is: Branch cross pollination: Seeking hybrid vigor in science though communication, collaboration, and societal impact. Again, please consider submitting your symposium proposal

We are looking forward to sharing more details soon about our 2023 Annual Meeting that will be held jointly with the Southwestern Branch (SWB) in Oklahoma City (OKC), Oklahoma! This will be a fully integrated meeting with SWB with a joint planning committee and an integrated program. We are looking forward to sharing more information soon! In the meantime, consider planning some extra-curricular activities while in OKC.

In addition to the ‘Bugs, Bikes, and Brews’ OKC brewery tour that we have planned, the following are a number of other events happening in OKC around the time of our joint meeting:

Seriously, folks. This is going to be a really exciting meeting with some really innovative workshops and symposia topics along with some other really exciting reasons to hang out in OKC!

From the ESA Governing Board

As you are all hopefully aware, ESA is taking a deep look at the branches and what value they add to members. This effort is called the “Branch Evolution Project”. There is no endpoint in mind, but rather it is an opportunity to reflect on the role branches play in supporting members and their entomological goals. Are there things we could be doing better or more effectively with the branches to increase their value? Would it beneficial to reshape the branches and/or their roles, and if so, how? Please review the materials on the website and share your ideas. Be creative! You can submit your comments directly on the website shown or send them to me for submission. Thanks for your engagement in this important process!

If you have any questions or concerns that you would like to have considered by the Governing Board, please share them with John Ruberson

Announcements, Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

General Announcements

Thank you to everyone who nominated their interest in serving as the NCB representative to ESA’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and ESA’s Early Career Professionals Committee. The NCB Executive Committee has appointed Anastasia Cooper (Kansas State University) to represent NCB on the Early Career Professionals Committee and Sajjan Grover (Bayer Crop Science) to represent NCB on the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. Thank you to Anastasia and Sajjan for your service to ESA!

Early Career Professionals

The NCB Early Career Professionals (ECP) Committee and the national ESA Early Career Professionals Committee concluded their career webinar series which focused on five career fields: 1) Academia - Teaching 2) Academia - Research & Extension 3) Industry 4) Government 5) NGOs & Non-Profit. For recordings of the webinar series please visit the webinar website.

If any Early-Career Professionals members have ideas for future webinars, questions and/or comments  please reach out to the NCB ECP Chair, Anh Tran.

Early Career Professional Awards 

This year, the NCB Excellence in Early Career Award will have two categories: 1) Research and 2) Education and Engagement. The award honors a student transition of early professional working within the field of entomology who has demonstrated outstanding research contributions OR contributions to teaching, mentoring, extension and/or outreach. One recipient from each category will receive a $250 check and an award plaque. Please consider nominating yourself or an ECP member and visit the awards site for more information.

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

As usual, we will have a large number of deadlines that will be coming up. Please keep an eye out for the announcements for these openings and deadlines.

2022 Joint Annual Meeting – November 13-16!

Join the ‘JAM’ – 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the ESA, ESC, and ESBC on November 13-16! I hope to see many of you at this year’s JAM in scenic Vancouver, BC. There is still time to register and limited housing is still available. The meeting is packed with exciting content and functions. In addition to the regular program, I am looking forward to the daily plenaries and the opportunity to learn of ways to broaden the positive impact of our science on the world.

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