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President’s Letter: Advocating for Our Field
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Dear colleagues,
When we asked participants at the listening session on funding concerns that we held last February 26 how SABER could support its members, one suggestion was to provide information on how to effectively contact our congressional representatives about issues that affect our work and our lives. For that reason, I decided to dedicate this President’s letter to sharing tips for contacting your representatives. Below I share a list of ideas to hopefully facilitate our members’ ability to advocate for issues important to them.
- Contact your representatives over the phone. Calling is the most efficient way to make your voice heard. Emails and letters have to be read and sorted, and letters take additional time to arrive. When you call, your message is taken down by a staff person and passed along more quickly.
- Use a website or application geared towards advocacy. For example, the website 5 calls connects you to your representatives based on your location, contains a list of issues, and provides scripts you can use as a starting place for communicating your opinions. 5 calls is also available as a phone app. There are other platforms out there that serve a similar role, but 5 calls has worked well for me and other SABERites.
- Make your story personal. Use specific instances of how a stance on an issue has or would impact you, a family member, or a friend.
- Be polite. Remember that the person taking your message is a staffer tasked with passing messages along.
- Be concise. In my experience, staffers take down specific notes, so being long-winded is not helpful to them.
- Explain what action you want the representative to take. Be as specific as possible.
- If you don’t reach a live person, leave a concise voicemail that includes your name, email address and zip code. Different states may require other information, but this is the information I’ve been asked for.
- If your representative is fighting for what you think is right, please also call and thank them for their effort.
If you’re considering advocating for the importance of research in biology education, here are some of my thoughts on its importance. The research that we do results in pedagogical practices that improve the learning outcomes of students. Many of these practices result in increased retention of college students, which is an issue that is of great importance to state governments. Additionally, college graduates that are better prepared academically when they enter the US workforce will contribute to the economy in more impactful ways.
In terms of advocacy, you might also try reaching out to a neighbor or community member to start a small conversation on how your DBER work is helping to redesign courses for the benefit of college students and how the cuts would curtail that effort. Remember to be open to their concerns, listen and thoughtfully respond.
I hope that these tips are helpful to you. The best way to effect change is to make our voices heard, and there is strength in numbers. If you haven’t read it, please check out the statement that the SABER leadership released on the federal funding cuts. I want to end with a special thank you to Mary Pat Wenderoth, who contributed information to this letter.
Miriam Segura
SABER President |
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Self-Nominations Open for 2025 Officer Election
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The SABER Executive Committee is thrilled to accept nominations for the next President-Elect and Treasurer of SABER! All current SABER members are eligible to run for elected positions. Descriptions of elected leadership positions are available online at https://saberbio.org/SABER-elections/
Nominations will be accepted until April 30, 2025.
Please encourage individuals you believe would be outstanding candidates to carry forward the leadership of our growing and vibrant organization to submit a nomination form.
Questions can be directed to current Past President, Kelsey Metzger, at kmetzger@umn.edu |
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The SABER PEER Committee posts quarterly Spotlights on the SABER website to highlight the accomplishments and visions of PEER members within the SABER community. PEER Spotlights highlight the career paths, accomplishments, and goals of PEER (People Excluded by Ethnicity and Race) members within the SABER community. |
Our Spring PEER Spotlight is Sharday Ewell. Sharday is an Assistant Professor of Biology at University of Mississippi. She is an energetic, motivating professor, who first learned about DBER at an HHMI training session and then completed a postdoc in Cissy Ballen’s lab at Auburn University. |
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One of Sharday’s most powerful moments is when an eighth-grader said to her, “You know what, Dr. Ewell, you’re the first Black teacher I’ve had.” This powerful connection with her students is always there with Sharday. To learn more about Sharday’s research, her passion for teaching, and advice for other PEERs in DBER, please read the full interview here! |
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Broaden SABER has successfully completed the first year of its five-year grant. The PI team attended six conferences in 2024 to recruit for SABER and had over 330 individuals join the mailing list to receive more information about SABER membership and events. Broaden SABER is sponsoring the BER Seminar Series. Non-members who attend at least 4 seminars and associated learning communities will be eligible to receive a free 1-year SABER membership. Broaden SABER will be offering travel grants to attend the 2025 Annual Meeting. More details will be available soon! Questions should be directed to Broaden SABER PI, Sami Raut sraut@uab.edu. |
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Upcoming Events Free virtual seminars coming up in March - April!
Flyer PDFs are linked below each flyer. Help us spread the word by sharing them with your networks! |
Biology Education Research Seminar Series |
Join us for our next virtual BER seminar on Thursday, March 20 at 9 am PT/ 12 pm ET. Our featured speaker is Dr. Joseph Graves of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. No registration is required. This event will consist of a 1 hour seminar, followed by an optional 30-minute learning community. Seminar Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/82165158794 Learning community Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/81962225997 |
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Professional Development in Evidence-Based Teaching: March & April Seminars |
Our March PDET seminar is next week on Friday, March 21 at 11 am PT/ 2 pm ET. Join us for "Reflecting on Metacognition: An Expert Panel Discussion." Submit your questions during registration to be answered live during the discussion. This event is sponsored by CodonLearning. Details and registration link below: |
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Our April PDET seminar will take place on Friday, April 4 at 11 am PT/ 2 pm ET with "Enriching Learning Ecologies with Generative AI: Lessons from a Design-Based Research Approach," presented by Keefe Reuther, Ph.D. This event is hosted and sponsored by Pearson. Details and registration link below: |
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Plans are underway for the 2025 Annual Meeting on July 10-13 at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in Minneapolis, MN! Look for details to start coming your way later this month! Abstract reviewers: If you missed the live reviewer training on March 7, you will find the recording training and materials on the Abstracts website. |
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SABER East Registration Opens Saturday! |
Registration Opens on Saturday, March 15! Registration and housing rates are available on the SABER East website. Abstracts: Poster abstracts will be accepted until April 15. Shark tank abstract submission has been extended. Submit your shark tank today! Contact Dina Newman dlwsbi@rit.edu with questions. |
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Updates from Special Interest Groups |
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2nd Art Pavilion at the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering in Petco Park (stadium of the Padres), March 1, 2025
Art Pavilion co-sponsored by Biology through Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and National University. Interactive exhibits on neuroscience, robotics, puzzles and drawing, brains and dreaming, visual arts, San Diego fauna, human anatomy, costume design, and more. Attendance = 21,558 visitors.
Event website: https://www.lovestemsd.org/
Generation STEAM: https://www.biocom.org/generation-steam/
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Recent Posts on the SABER Job Board |
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Assistant Professor - Fixed Term
Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI
Full-time
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Posted: Mar 3, 2025
Salary: $59,000.00 - $62,500.00 Monthly
Application Deadline: N/A
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