Wow, what a wonderful annual conference though so different than anything a long-time NACTA member has ever experienced. Thank you to all who made it such a success. Even though virtual in delivery, the 2020 conference provided an opportunity for us to learn from our professional colleagues, a venue for us to conduct the business of the association, and a vehicle to honor the best among us. 

Foy Mills, Jr., PhD
Immediate Past President
NACTA

A Look Back at the
2020 NACTA Virtual Conference

We hope you were able to attend all or part of the 2020 NACTA Virtual Conference, held June 16 through June 18. The program boasted 603 registered participants and consisted of more than 100 pre-recorded abstract presentations, both poster and oral; one workshop; live discussions and our annual business meeting and awards presentation. This content is available on the Virtual Conference website, using your existing username and password, until August 16, 2020. Both the poster and oral abstracts have been subjected to rigorous peer review and have been published in a special edition of the NACTA Journal.

The NACTA Educational Issues and Teaching Improvement (EITI) Committee coordinated the APLU-APS Workshop on “Integrating Employability Skills into the Classroom, Laboratory and Beyond*.” There were 285 registered for the workshop, representing 117 different institutions, of which 208 attended, and 70 participated in one of the “Workshop Deep Dive Sessions.”

If you couldn't attend any of the live content but would still like to view the archives of the presentations, simply register for the meeting. Most content is now available on-demand.

We look forward to seeing you next June in Wooster, Ohio for our 2021 Annual Conference! More information about that event will be available in the coming months.

*The APLU-APS Workshop is not included in the virtual conference archives.

NACTA 2020 Bylaws Revision

In September 2019, Past-President Foy Mills (LCU) appointed a special committee to revise the NACTA Governing Documents as needed. Prior to this version being presented, the special committee deliberated extensively in consultation with an external parliamentarian. In Spring 2020, the NACTA executive committee reviewed and refined the proposed version for the membership. It is estimated that over 20 hours of group deliberation on the proposed document has occurred prior to being presented to the membership.

NACTA Parliamentarian, Daniel Foster, led an informational session on Tuesday, June 16 to discuss the proposal with the membership and field their questions. Each article (N=12) was individually reviewed and opened for debate and amendment at the annual business meeting on Thursday, June 18th. Amendments to articles required a majority vote to pass. Upon consideration of each article, the entire revision was voted upon and adopted by the membership. The proposed, and subsequently adopted, revisions can be found here.

NACTA 2020 Award Winners

NACTA seeks to inspire achievement at the highest levels of excellence. Recognizing and honoring individuals whose efforts represent the very best in the teaching of agriculture, environmental, natural or life sciences at the post-secondary level is one of the central purposes of NACTA. At the same time, NACTA seeks to encourage these colleagues to share with us their methods of achieving excellence. 

From left: 2020 Distinguished Educator Award winner Lurline Marsh, 2020 Murray Brown Award winner Mark Russell & 2020 John Deere Award Winner Santosh Pitla.

Each year, educators from across North America are nominated and award winners are recognized at the NACTA annual conference during the annual business meeting. This year, NACTA bestowed 31 Educator Awards, 40 Graduate Student Teaching Awards, three Journal Awards, as well as the John Deere Award, Teaching Award of Excellence, the Teaching Scholar Award, the Murray Brown Award and the Distinguished Educator Award. The full list of winners can be found below, as well as in the 2020 Awards Book found here. 

Welcome New NACTA Members!

NACTA had 187 new and renewing members in June 2020. We hope you will join us in welcoming them!