UNC biology chairs to discuss educational challenges

Nearly a dozen biology department chairpersons from across the UNC System will gather Feb. 1 on the East Carolina University campus to discuss educational and research approaches that best benefit the various groups.

“Given the challenges and changes we all face in resources, curricula, staffing, distance education…it might be quite useful to get together and discuss which approaches work in which situations,” said organizer and ECU Biology chairman Dr. Jeff McKinnon. “Opportunities for collaboration and coordination may also present themselves.”

The participants will discuss such topics as vision and change initiative, fundraising and advancement, graduate program challenges and departmental research profiles, research/teaching loads and balancing fixed term/tenure track, and cooperation and coordination among departments and campuses.

The gathering is hosted by Dean Alan R. White, the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Biology.

For additional information, contact McKinnon at 252-328-5258 or email mckinnonj@ecu.edu.