Undergraduate toxicology
Teaching forum
Allegheny-Erie Regional Chapter
Society of Toxicology, 40th Annual Meeting,
Toxicology
education at the graduate school level has been well supported over the years,
and recently K-12 education has received a lot of attention. Unfortunately, it appears that toxicology
education at the undergraduate level has been largely passed over, with some
exceptions such as minority student initiatives. The purpose of this roundtable is to initiate
a discussion on the status of undergraduate toxicology education, and begin to
evaluate and address needs to support and improve teaching of toxicology in colleges
and universities. Please join us if you
are from academia, government or the private sector and have an interest in
teaching, training or hiring undergraduate students.
AGENDA
Discussion Questions
Programs, Colleges
& Universities
What colleges and universities
are teaching undergraduate toxicology?
What colleges and
universities offer an undergraduate major in toxicology?
What types of students
(majors) attend toxicology courses, and how many students are in attendance?
Post-undergraduate
Opportunities
Are undergraduate courses
in toxicology useful for graduate school?
Are undergraduate courses
in toxicology useful for industry employment?
Are undergraduate courses
in toxicology useful for government employment?
Courses
Are there accreditation
requirements for toxicology courses?
When and where in the
curriculum are toxicology courses offered?
What are the objectives of
undergraduate toxicology courses?
What areas of toxicology
are being taught at the undergraduate level?
Are there appropriate prerequisites
for toxicology courses?
What
textbooks are being used at the undergraduate level?
What
methods of delivery, or unique teaching techniques are
being used?
Is
a laboratory associated with toxicology courses?
Resources
What resources are available
for undergraduate toxicology teaching?
Is there a need to develop
undergraduate toxicology teaching resources?
How would undergraduate
toxicology teaching resources be shared?
Is there funding available
to develop resources?
Next Steps
Is there a need to
establish a working group to pursue these ideas further?
Where do we go from here?
MINUTES
Present: Bill Brown (
Although a detailed agenda
was distributed with specific questions about undergraduate toxicology
education, the discussion that ensued was more general in nature because it
became quickly apparent that answers to the questions were not readily
available (see agenda below).
Specific points raised
included:
There is a need to
recognize undergraduate degree programs in toxicology, other degree programs
offering separate courses in toxicology, and non-toxicology courses with a
toxicology component, when discussing undergraduate toxicology teaching.
Undergraduate degree
programs in toxicology are offered at
Undergraduate majors in
toxicology find jobs in pathology, clinical toxicology, forensic toxicology,
animal testing and safety.
Separate undergraduate courses
in toxicology are offered by environmental health programs (accredited by the
National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council),
industrial hygiene programs, pharmacy programs, and undergraduate programs in
chemistry and environmental science and other fields that need to be
identified.
The American Chemical
Society (ACS) has a toxicology division that needs to be contacted to identify
undergraduate toxicology programs offering toxicology. Their guidelines, if any, need to be
reviewed.
A quick survey of
undergraduate toxicology teaching texts being displayed by vendors at the SOT
conference was disappointing. Vendors
were not interested (with exception of CRC/Lewis), and some didn't know if
their company published undergraduate appropriate toxicology texts (although
some did). A thorough survey of
undergraduate toxicology teaching texts needs to be done.
Apparently, there was a
survey of undergraduate toxicology teaching taken by an ad hoc committee of SOT
in 1992, the results of which were purportedly presented at an SOT
meeting. However, none of the
participants were aware of this survey, and the list of schools surveyed
appeared to be an inadequate sampling.
The results of this survey need to be located and revisited.
There appears to be a lot
of effort developing and supporting toxicology teaching at the K-12 and
graduate school levels, but little effort at the undergraduate level. Other organizations such as the ACS may be
putting more effort into this area. SOT
needs to take a leadership role.
The Group's View of SOT''s
Role
SOT needs to begin an
initiative to address undergraduate toxicology teaching practice. SOT should focus energies on undergraduate
toxicology teaching to complete the continuum from K-12 education to graduate
school or employment. SOT should take a
leadership role in undergraduate education that has begun or is already taking
place at accredited chemistry, environmental health and industrial hygiene
programs, as well as at undergraduate toxicology and environmental science
degree programs. SOT should provide
guidance to schools teaching toxicology to ensure that the content is meeting
the needs of government, industry and academia.
Action Steps To Be Taken
Formally establish a
working group to move an undergraduate toxicology teaching initiative forward.
The previous undergraduate
toxicology teaching survey in 1992 should be investigated, and its findings
evaluated.
A white paper to SOT
should be drafted encouraging the society to take a lead role in undergraduate
toxicology teaching.
A survey/questionnaire
should be developed to assess the current state of undergraduate toxicology
teaching in the