July 13, 2017

University Announcements 

Meet with Your Lawmakers This Summer and Help Inform Science Policy Registration is currently open for the 2017 Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits event.

This national initiative, organized by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, is an opportunity for biologists across the country to meet with their federal or state elected officials to showcase the people, facilities, and equipment that are required to support and conduct scientific research.
Now in its ninth year, the event enables scientists, graduate students, representatives of research facilities, and people affiliated with scientific collections to meet with their federal or state elected officials without traveling to Washington, DC. Participants can either invite their elected officials to visit their research facility or can meet at the policymaker’s local office.
AIBS will schedule the meetings with lawmakers and will prepare participants through online training and one-on-one support. “Participating in the Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits event was an invaluable experience to have as a graduate student. The training provided by AIBS made me feel confident and ready to go have a conversation with Representative Reed’s District Director about federal funding, especially how it has benefitted me during my Ph.D. I was struck during our meeting by how meaningful it is to ‘show up’ and participate in the political process, especially as it relates to federal funding for the biological sciences. We scientists take the importance of federal funding to do our research to be a given, but it’s important for us to be able to communicate that effectively, especially with policymakers, to ensure that federal funding is maintained in the future.” Erin Larson, Cornell University, 2016 participant.

This event is made possible by: the American Institute of Biological Sciences, with the support of event sponsors American Society of Plant Taxonomists, American Society of Primatologists, Botanical Society of America, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Helminthological Society of Washington, Natural Science Collections Alliance, Organization of Biological Field Stations, Paleontological Society, Society for Freshwater Science, and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, and the  event supporter Society of Nematologists.  Participation is free, but registration will close on July 18, 2017.  For more information and to register, visit www.aibs.org/public-policy/congressional_district_visits.html. Please share this announcement with interested colleagues and graduate students.

Quarterly lobbying reports must be filed online by Friday, July 14, 2017, covering WSU employee activities between April 1, 2017, and June 30, 2017. For your convenience, you can report your lobbying activities through an online submission form found at governmentrelations.wsu.edu/Lobbying.html. The reports will be reviewed and forwarded to the state Public Disclosure Commission and proper federal agencies. Note that you do not need to file a “no activity” report online if you did not lobby this quarter. Not every meeting, event, and interaction you have with elected officials is considered lobbying. Visit our lobbying page for points of clarification on what you should and should not necessarily report. In the future, to help you facilitate interaction with elected officials, it is best that WSU employees consult with Government Relations staff in advance of any lobbying activity to ensure that we send a coordinated message from our institution. Meetings of this nature can be multilayered and touch many parts of the WSU community, therefore communicating with Government Relations can provide for a more organized legislative outcome. Additionally, Annie and Michele on our Government Relations staff are available to help you determine appropriate and legal ways to communicate with public officials and external stakeholders on political issues:

FEDERAL RELATIONS      Michele McCarver: 509-335-5756

STATE RELATIONS            Annie Manning: 360-534-2332

Thank you for taking the time to ensure that we give an accurate report of time and money spent on lobbying.

Sincerely, Colleen Kerr  VPfor External Affairs and Government Relations

Employment Opportunities 

1. Project Specialist for Urban Agriculture, Univ. of the Dist of Columbia,
2. Faculty Pool-Biology, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
3. Agricultural Environmental Specialists 1,2,3, Louisiana St. Government, New Orleans, LA
4. Assistant Plant Diagnostician, N. Dakota St. University, Fargo, ND
5. Co-Coordinator, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
6. Research Associate (Entomology/Insect Ecology), Montana St.  Univ., Conrad, MT
7. Postdoc Researcher/Teacher, Penn State Univ., University Park, PA
8. Assistant Professor of Termite Biology, Univ. of Florida, Fort Lauderdale, FL
9. Research Scholar, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
10. Extension Educator, Ctr for Ag, Food & Natural Resources Sciences, St. Paul, MN
11. Noxious Weed Specialist IV, St. of Hawaii, Maui, HI
12. Vector Ecologist, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA
13. Extension Specialist, Pesticide Safety Education-Entomology/Crop Sci, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL
14. Technician I, Texas A&M Univ. AgriLife, Dallas, TX