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Update from the Student Advisory Council: Ways for Graduate Students to Become More Involved in SOT
It has been one year since the reorganization of the Student Advisory Committee into the Student Advisory Council (SAC), an oversight body for both the Regional Chapter Graduate Committee (RC-GC) and the Specialty Section Graduate Committee (SS-GC). The current members of the SAC are Thomas Kannanayakal, President, Kristina DeSmet, Secretary-Treasurer, Erica Sparkenbaugh, Melanie Weed, Sheppard Martin, and Daniel Hochman.
To date, the SAC has been very successful in its attempts to create better lines of communication between the two committees to promote student involvement at the national and regional level of SOT. Upcoming projects for the SAC include the update of the Specialty Section Communication, the fall SOTudent newsletter, which will be released in early October, and a revised Student Planner for the national SOT meeting. Keep your eyes open for these three publications.
The SAC partners with other committees within SOT to promote student involvement. There are many options for graduate students to become active members of SOT. The first way would be to become a member of a Regional Chapter, Specialty Section, and/or Special Interest Group. Student members may join one Regional Chapter, Specialty Section, and Special Interest Group for free. Membership in these groups provides a great way to network within your geographical area, professional interest, or with scientists who have a common ethnicity, country of origin, or gender. Another way to get involved is by volunteering. There are many programs at the national SOT Annual Meeting where graduate student volunteers are needed. Some of these include the Sunday Continuing Education courses, K-12 activities, undergraduate programs, and the SOT Resource Pavilion.
The SOT on-line mentoring program, Mentor Match, is now open to all SOT members and should be of particular interest and importance to graduate students. This is a great way to network and receive advice from professionals about careers in toxicology.
Finally, do not forget that the deadline for abstracts for the national SOT Annual Meeting in Baltimore is October 3, 2008, and the deadline for student awards is October 9, 2008.
If you are not currently a member of SOT, complete your application now to be eligible for student awards and the reduced registration for the Annual Meeting.
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