Dear Student Members:

We hope that everyone is off to a good start this semester and excited about the upcoming meeting in Vancouver. We have a few things to share.

BSA student membership is still holding well above the historical average and now would be a good time to recommend joining the the Society to all of our new peers. Did you know, you have the ability to provide new members with "gift memberships" for $10 through the online form at https://payments.botany.org/bsamisc/giftmemberships.php.

There are several travel awards available to help students get to Vancouver this year, including the Cheadle Award (www.botany.org/awards/VICheadleSTA.asp) and the Conant “Botanical Images” Awards (www.botany.org/awards/ConantSTA.asp). Graduate students should be sure to apply for the Graduate Student Research Awards (www.botany.org/awards_grants/detail/bsagrad.pdf). The deadline for awards submissions is April 1. Please note, there are a number of sectional awards available as well - see www.botany.org.

We are also very pleased to announce a competition for students to design a new Botanical Society of America tee-shirt for release at this year’s conference. Tee-shirts with the winning design will be available for purchase in Vancouver, with the proceeds helping to fund future student events. The winner will receive free registration for the 2008 Botany conference and a one-year of the American Journal of Botany in print. Submit your designs in to Bill Dahl (wdahl@botany.org) as soon as possible. We'll vote on designs in April.

We are nearing the time for BSA elections and are ready to receive nominations for the new Student Representative, as Mackenzie’s term will be coming to an end. The student rep is our voice helping to shape the future of the Society. Send in your nominations as soon as possible. If you have any questions about what the position entails, contact Andrew or Mackenzie (aschwend@ku.edu or mtaylo37@utk.edu) for more information.
Send nominations to wdahl@botany.org by February 15^th.

Progress is still being made on the new student web interface that will allow students to connect with each other, discuss research, and seek the advice of their peers. Look for this to appear sometime before this year’s meeting.

As always, if you have any suggestions for student activities or any ideas for ways in which the BSA can better serve its student members, send an email to Mackenzie or Andrew and we will see if we can make it happen. Andrew recently finished serving on the Bylaws Revision Committee and Mackenzie will be working on the Strategic Planning Committee.

As student, we have a unique opportunity to develop the future of the BSA - make a difference, get involved!

Cheers,

Mackenzie Taylor            Andrew Schwendemann
mackenzie@utk.edu         aschwend@ku.edu

Student Representatives
Botanical Society of America
www.botany.org
www.BotanyConference.org
www.PlantingScience.org

Mission: The Botanical Society of America exists to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere.