Submitted by Rhiannon Hardwick, SOT CE Committee Member
The Continuing Education (CE) Committee is looking forward to receiving your CE course proposals for the 2018 SOT Annual Meeting and is happy to provide feedback in the planning process! The deadline has been extended for CE course proposal submission for 2018 to May 15, 2017.
In preparation for the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the CE Committee began working with Course Chairs in June of 2016 to shape the content of the 2017 CE Courses. Perhaps the most critical factor in the development of a successful course is the creativity and dedication of our membership. The CE Committee relies on the valued members of SOT to organize and generate course proposals each year immediately following the Annual Meeting. The topics covered in CE courses are largely driven by feedback provided by course attendees as well as a survey of areas addressed in previous years.
For the 2018 SOT Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, the CE Committee is soliciting CE courses in specific fields in order to fulfill growing needs across multiple sectors. We highly encourage submission of course proposals in the following topic areas:
- Alternatives to Mammalian Models
- Bioinformatics/Computational Toxicology
- Carcinogenesis
- Chronic Toxicology
- Developmental Toxicity
- Immune System, Biotech Products
- In Vitro Methods
- Risk Assessment
- Safety Assessment
The Scientific Program Committee (SPC) and CE Committee are committed to facilitating high quality CE course proposals each year and has provided the following guidance on the submission of successful CE course proposals.
- One chairperson must be a member of SOT, and speakers should be confirmed prior to proposal submission.
- Full funding support may be provided for one nonmember speaker per course. Course Chairs should identify speakers potentially in need of funding at the time of proposal submission. Additionally, a $500 stipend is provided to all course speakers.
- Reach out to Specialty Sections and Special Interest Groups to seek endorsement when preparing course proposals and to align courses with the goals and interests of these important leadership groups. All courses are required to have one endorsement; however, in order to ensure interest across the broader SOT audience, multiple endorsements are encouraged (up to three endorsements may be submitted) and can increase the likelihood of acceptance.
- Successful CE Course proposals generally include the following characteristics: Course objectives are clearly outlined with a full description of the overall course. The abstract and descriptions of each talk are provided for all speakers, are clear and complete, and demonstrate course cohesiveness, in order to convey to the Committee how each speaker’s presentation relates both to the overall goal of the course and other speakers within the course.
After proposal submission, endorsing groups will have a period of time to review, score, and rank proposals. The SPC/CE Committees will then review proposals, and if your CE Course proposal is tentatively accepted as a 2018 course, you will receive notification following the CE Committee meeting in late June. Course Liaisons will work with tentatively accepted Course Chairs and provide suggested changes as needed.
For further details, please refer to the proposal guidelines for the 2018 SOT Annual Meeting on the SOT website.
