Passer Award Committee meets to award Dorothy and Moses Passer Education Grants. These provide support for faculty in small programs and who are somewhat isolated from others in their discipline. Eligible activities include professional development activities such as workshops related to enhancement of teaching skills that take the applicant away from his/her home institution.
Out of two applicants for the September 1st application period, one of whom received funding. We have awarded Eric Woller $1,200 to attend the ACS Lab Course called "High Performance Liquid Chromatography: Fundamentals, Troubleshooting, and Method Development."
We had no applicants for the January 1st application period. We put together ads for the fall 22 newsletter (see attached) and the spring 23 newsletter (attached). With the help of Heather Johnson and Eric Woller, the spring 23 ad highlights our most recent awardee.
We had a hearty (email) discussion about the requirement that Passer Education Awards cannot be used to attend BCCE (or any other national conference). After much discussion and a vote, we decided to not try and change this provision (or find out if we even could). The division treasurer, Rick Moog, was very helpful in giving our committee additional information about the committee, committee funds, and how all of the works.
Finally, we have a vacancy. One of our members of our committee decided to not accept a third term. We will have 3 more vacancies at the end of 2023, including myself.
With that, we have made progress or completed 3 out of 5 of our "plans for the future" from last year. We continue to see this grant as a wonderful opportunity to get faculty at smaller schools additional training.
Our plans for the future include discussing the following topics:
1. Continue to do more outreach to DivCHED members to let them know about this award.
2. Encouraging and actively reaching out to educators from diverse backgrounds especially those from under-represented or marginalized populations to apply for the award and to serve on the committee.
3. Working towards posting information online about what types of awards have been funded in the past.
4. Establish a succession plan and make a smooth transitin to a new chair at the end of 2023.