Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum
SOT Annual Meeting
Agenda
Monday, March 21,
Chairperson(s): Thomas
Simmons,
Sponsored by:
Education Committee
Allegheny-Erie Regional Chapter
All those interested in undergraduate education are invited to attend this session. The goals of the Baltimore Forum are to complete a mission statement for the undergraduate toxicology teaching group, finalize a proposal for an SOT 2005 session on undergraduate education, and develop a formal structure for continuing the group. Other future activities will be discussed as time permits.
Agenda
Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum, SOT 2003; Approval of minutes
Review of Symposium Working Group meeting minutes
Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Session, SOT 2005; Proposal
Formally organizing an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group; Discussion
Mission Statement; Discussion
New business
Minutes
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Tom Simmons.
Participants introduced themselves. Those attending included: Gladys Bayse, Lisa Bain, John Duffus, Betty Eidemiller, Larry Fisher, David Freier, Henry Fogle, Bettina Francis, Eli Hestermann, Vera Husdson, Elaine Knight, Kim Miller, Mary Treinen Moslen, Adrian Nanez, Wade Powell, Bob Schatz, Karen Stine, Joan Tarloff, Rita Turkall, Philip Wexler, Kristie Willett
A brief overview of the activities from past Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forums was given.
Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum, SOT 2003
Minutes from the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum
held at the SOT Annual Meeting in
Review of Symposium Working Group Meeting Minutes
Notes from two subsequent telephone conferences held by the Symposium Working Group formed at the SOT 2003 Forum, and a report to the SOT Education Committee on undergraduate toxicology teacher activities were reviewed (these documents appear below).
Draft Session Proposal
A draft Workshop outline on “Undergraduate Toxicology
Teaching in the 21st Century” for the SOT 2005 Annual Meeting was
presented (this document appears below).
The group was supportive of the proposed agenda and format. It was suggested that an international
speaker be invited. Sponsors could
include the Allegheny-Erie and Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapters, and the SOT
Education Committee. Joan Tarloff and Tom Simmons will continue to work on the
proposal which is due by
The session would focus on innovative, evaluative &
reflective teaching, and would be a blend of didactic
presentations/demonstrations and panel discussion.
Title:
Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching in the 21st Century
Co-chairpersons:
Tom
Joan Tarloff, University of the
Sciences in
Topics:
Overview of undergraduate toxicology course offerings – Toxicology Teaching Project
Tom
New and emerging areas of toxicology in the classroom
Sue Ford,
Online resources for teaching toxicology – NLM Tox-Tutor
Computer software for teaching toxicology – Pharmacokinetic Modeling
Craig
Marcus,
Online teaching of toxicology
Kristie Willett,
Toxicology laboratory experiences in the classroom
Joan
Tarloff, University of the Sciences in
Formally Organizing an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group
The group felt that the first steps in formally organizing an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group would be to offer an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Workshop at the SOT 2004 Annual Meeting; and to recommend to the SOT Council, through the SOT Task Force for Recruitment and Retention of Students in the Field of Toxicology, that undergraduate education be strongly supported. SOT Membership and Council interest could then be evaluated.
Proposed
A draft mission statement to define the group’s undergraduate toxicology education initiatives was presented and agreed upon. The statement reads:
“To promote and support the teaching of toxicology at the undergraduate
level.”
Telephone Conference Call to Discuss
Undergraduate
Toxicology Teaching Initiative
Notes
Participants:
Betty Eidemiller (SOT Headquarters)
Sue Ford (Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group)
Elaine Knight (Chairperson, SOT Education Committee)
Tom Simmons (Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group)
BE initiated and set-up a conference call with SF, EK and TS to discuss the status of the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Group and its activities.
A draft of the minutes from the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum held at the SOT Conference on March 10, 2003 in Salt Lake City was presented by BE.
EK emphasized the SOT Education Committee’s enthusiasm for the Group’s work, and the Committee’s hope for the Group’s success.
The need for a clear mission statement for the Group was discussed. SF & TS will work on this.
The possibility of establishing the Group as either an Education Subcommittee or a Specialty Section was discussed; along with the pros and cons of each option.
EK indicated that Jody Zelikoff (SOT Education Committee) would be willing to work with the Group.
EK inquired about the “Task Force on Student Recruitment and Retention,” and TS indicated that he is serving on the Task Force; and that further promotion of undergraduate toxicology education will certainly be a recommendation in his section of the Task Force’s report to the Council of the SOT.
SF and TS decided that the next steps for the Group are to:
1) Adopt a mission statement;
2) Plan a symposium for SOT 2005;
3) Submit a proposal for either SOT Education Committee or Specialty Section Status for the Group.
SF and TS agreed to:
· Begin working on these objectives;
· Submit a progress report to the SOT Education Committee before its November meeting, after which the Committee will report on the Group’s status and activities to the SOT Council;
·
Plan another Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching
Forum for SOT 2004 in
BE will schedule an SOT 2004 Undergraduate
Toxicology Teaching Forum; from
BE will arrange a telephone conference call between SF and TS; and Joan Tarloff, Vera Hudson, Bonita Taffe, and Marti Lindsey who volunteered to serve on the Undergraduate Toxicology Symposium Working Group established at the SOT 2003 Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum.
Telephone
Conference Call to Discuss
Undergraduate
Toxicology Teaching Symposium for SOT 2005
Notes
Participants:
Betty Eidemiller, Elaine Knight, Tom Simmons, Bonita Taffe, Joan Tarloff, Judith Zelikoff
BE initiated and set-up a conference call with EK, TS, BT, JT, JZ. Unfortunately, Vera Hudson, Marti Lindsey and Sue Ford could not “attend.”
The purpose of the call was to discuss and begin planning an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Symposium for SOT 2005. BT and JT were two of four persons who had signed-up for the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Symposium Working Group during the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum at SOT 2003.
For discussion purposes, a draft Symposium created by TS for the Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum at SOT 2003 was distributed.
The group felt that rehashing the history of undergraduate toxicology education at colleges and universities would not be productive, and that we should focus on the present and future. The history of past events is available at TS’s web site at
http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/tsimmons/Tox_Teach_Project_Home.shtm .
The group did feel that an overview or review of current toxicology offerings would be useful.
The group felt that the focus of the Symposium should be undergraduate teaching; although it recognized that many of the skill sets are the same for undergraduate and graduate teaching.
The group felt that a variety or menu of topics should be offered to interest a broader audience, rather than focusing on one particular theme (e.g., distance education). **Ideally the session should focus on innovative, evaluative, and reflective teaching. More specific future symposia could result from this 1st general symposium.
Possible Title: Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching in the 21st Century
The following are possible topics for the symposium that were considered:
Possible Presenter(s): Tom Simmons
Possible presenter(s): Paul Ferguson; someone referred by SOT Bioterrorism Task Force
Possible presenter(s): Greg Moller,
Possible presenter(s): Craig Marcus
Possible presenter(s): Greg Moller, Kristie Willett
Possible presenter(s): Eva Oberdoerster, Sharon A. Meyer or Joan Tarloff
The group decided that the most appropriate format for the Symposium would be as a Workshop, with a mixture of didactic presentations or demonstrations and panel discussions. A workstation with internet access would be needed.
TS and JT agreed to co-chair the Symposium. The group felt that an undergraduate student should be invited to join the planning committee; and suggested that Adrian Nanez should be invited. BE agreed to make this invitation.
TS and JT agreed to contact potential speakers.
A tentative timeline is as follows:
Undergraduate
Toxicology Teaching Activities Review & Update
Report to
SOT Education Committee
By Tom
SOT Conference, March 2001
After attending the SOT 2000 Conference in Philadelphia, I was impressed by the K-12 activities at SOT but thought more could be done for undergraduate education to fill-in the gap between K-12 and graduate/postdoctoral educational support (recognizing the importance and success of the Education Committee’s minority student activities).
The Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Initiative was established at SOT 2001 during a largely unpublicized Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum. There were five enthusiastic participants in attendance including myself.
Action Items:
Formally establish a working group;
Find documentation and review past work on undergraduate toxicology education;
Encourage SOT to take a more active role in undergraduate toxicology teaching;
Develop survey/questionnaire to assess
undergraduate toxicology teaching in
SOT Conference, March 2002
An Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum co-sponsored and publicized by the Education Committee was held at SOT 2002. Nineteen were in attendance.
Activities:
Presented & agreed upon a vision statement: “Improve the teaching of toxicology at the undergraduate level by sharing information and resources;”
Distributed documentation and reviewed past symposia on undergraduate toxicology education;
Presented results of preliminary search of undergraduate toxicology course offerings;
Presented & discussed draft undergraduate toxicology course survey for instructors.
Action Items:
Complete more comprehensive survey of undergraduate toxicology course offerings;
Use undergraduate toxicology course survey to collect detailed information on course offerings;
Provide input to SOT on undergraduate toxicology education page;
Evaluate SOT K-12 Brochure for usefulness for prospective undergraduate students;
Begin planning SOT Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Symposium.
SOT Conference, March 2003
An Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum co-sponsored and publicized by Education Committee was held at SOT 2002. Twenty-two were in attendance.
Activities:
New Toxicology Teaching Website unveiled with undergraduate toxicology course listing and online course survey for instructors;
Working groups formed for: SOT Website Advisory Group; Toxicology Undergraduate Student Poster Session; Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Symposium.
Telephone Conference Call,
Betty Eidemiller, Sue Ford, Elaine Knight & Tom Simmons discussed status of undergraduate activities and working groups established at SOT 2003.
Sue and Tom decided to focus on:
Developing a mission statement;
Planning a symposium for SOT 2005;
Applying for status as either a subcommittee or specialty group;
Planning a follow-up Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Forum to finalize the above three objectives.
Telephone Conference Call,
Betty Eidemiller, Elaine Knight, Tom Simmons, Bonita Taffe, Joan Tarloff & Judith Zelikoff began planning an Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Workshop. Joan Tarloff and Tom Simmons agreed to co-chair the session.
The session would focus on innovative, evaluative & reflective teaching, and would be a blend of didactic presentations/demonstrations and panel discussion. A draft and tentative workshop was fleshed-out as follows:
Title:
Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching in the 21st Century
Topics:
Overview of undergraduate toxicology course offerings
Tom
New and emerging areas of toxicology in the classroom
Sue Ford,
Online resources for teaching toxicology
Computer software for teaching toxicology
Craig
Marcus,
Online teaching of toxicology
Kristie Willett,
Toxicology laboratory experiences in the classroom
Joan
Tarloff, University of the Sciences in
Undergraduate
Toxicology Teaching Website Update
The agendas and minutes (when available) of past undergraduate toxicology teaching symposia and forums are posted (1980, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003).
185 Undergraduate courses offered at 61 schools are posted (with some URL links to syllabi where available). Two undergraduate students are currently visiting ABET-accredited, ASSE-affiliated, ACPE-accredited & ACS-accredited schools in search of additional course offerings.
8 Schools offering B.S Degrees in Toxicology/Pharmacology are listed, as well as 3 schools offering minors and 1 offering a track.
About 25 faculty have submitted an online survey for their course(s). Results not yet posted.
A page with links to online toxicology resources will soon be added (e.g., NLM Tox-Tutor, IUPAC “The Science of Chemical Safety – Essential Toxicology”…)