Dear colleagues,
Happy fall! I am delighted to officially greet you all as the president of the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (SBNCP) for 2022-23. It is truly an honor to be elected to this role by such an esteemed and dynamic group of colleagues and experts. I am excited to work beside you all to support and enhance SBNCP's mission to promote research and teaching in the broad areas of behavioral neuroscience and comparative psychology.
Teaching and learning are continual endeavors, often co-occurring, and in my view there is always room for improvement in both. To that end, in my presidential term, I aim to see SBNCP's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion strengthen by working with you all to update and establish (where needed) our policies focusing on these priorities. I also aim to expand our ability to promote teaching and learning by working with the Executive Committee (EC) and membership to establish a mechanism to bring in post-baccalaureate research professionals in the field and increase collaborations with the Education Directorate to promote basic science in its K-12 initiatives.
Finally, I am excited to see what our membership will bring in terms of advocacy and education, as there was much enthusiasm for these efforts in the EC and business meetings this past August. I pledge to support these efforts to the best of my ability.
With a new year comes a new EC, and I am excited to announce your EC for this year!
I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to the outgoing members of the EC for their exceptional service over the past few years: Jonathan Crystal (past president), Bonnie Purdue (newsletter editor), Todd Peterson (program chair, now supporting Erik Thrailkill as cochair), Lauren Highfill (temporary awards chair), Preston Foerder (membership & growth chair, now serving as fellows chair), and Yada Treesukosol (ECP representative). And SBNCP owes a huge debt of gratitude to Doree Fragaszy, outgoing editor of our society's Journal of Comparative Psychology, for her exceptional service and dedication in this important role.
Finally, I must address our division's 2022 election. Through a series of events that resulted in the necessary information not getting to us in time, our division did not hold its annual election for officers in 2022. It turns out we were not alone in this regard - several other divisions also missed their elections and are currently without a president-elect. So, we will have a special election in early October to fill the president-elect position. Please watch your email carefully so as not to miss it!
I look forward to this year ahead with you all. I hope you all have an enjoyable fall!
Sincerely,
Amanda M. Dettmer, PhD
SBNCP, Division 6 President
Welcome our new Executive Committee
Past president - Antonio Puete, University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Secretary - Jeremy D. Bailoo, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Treasurer - Cynthia Crawford, California State University-San Bernardino
Council representative - Juan Dominguez, University of Texas
Member-at-large - Reggie Gazes, Bucknell University
Historian - David Washburn, Covenant College
Editor, Behavioral Neuroscience - Geoff Schoenbaum, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Editor, Journal of Comparative Psychology - Michael Beran, Georgia State University
Newsletter editor - Justin Varholick, University of Florida
ECPN representative - Justin Varholick, University of Florida
Student representative - Kayla Delapenha, Yale Child Study Center
Program chairs - Eric Thrailkill, University of Vermont, and Todd Peterson, UNC Wilmington
Awards chair - Preston Foerder, University of Detroit Mercy
Fellows chair - Suzanne MacDonald, York University
Membership and growth chair - Sarah Brosnan, Georgia State University