Reflections from SFN, and a Look Forward
Friday, February 7, 2020
by: Ronald Bayline, Ph.D., FUN President-Elect

Section: President's Corner


Get involved

If you are interested in serving on either the strategic planning committee or a subcommittee, or just want to learn more or provide suggestions, please let me know by email at rjbayline@washjeff.edu.
It was great to see so many FUN members in San Diego at the Society for Neuroscience meeting. Being part of FUN always gives me a home base at the meeting. I know that I can meet with colleagues at the FUN booth to exchange ideas. I can also learn about the direction of the organization at the FUN business meeting. And I can join my colleagues to see the great work that our students are doing, as well as celebrate colleagues recognized for their accomplishments, at the FUN poster session.

We need to lean on each other in our community to help share ideas, best practices, and support as we address our challenges at home.


After the meeting, We often find it hard to build upon the momentum gained from the ideas generated at SFN. Whether we are at large institutions or small, whether we have faculty positions or are seeking them, whether we have a longstanding neuroscience program or a nascent one (or none at all), we quickly get caught up in all the critical work we have to do at home. But I’m putting out a call here to ask that we build upon that momentum generated in San Diego. We need to lean on each other in our community to help share ideas, best practices, and support as we address our challenges at home. I’d like us to try to maintain that momentum for our organization as we embark on strategic planning for FUN. President-Elect Mary Morrison and I are working with the FUN executive committee to assemble a strategic planning committee of 4-5 individuals to oversee the strategic planning process. Subsequently, we will assemble subcommittees addressing specific topics in the strategic plan. The rough timeline for the strategic planning process is below.
  1. Assemble the strategic planning committee and gather data about the organization, its history, and its programs, and generate a “State of FUN” document (by end of February).
  2. Develop a plan for input from the FUN community. The strategic planning committee will propose the plan to the FUN Executive Committee for approval and implement it in the spring (by mid-March).
  3. Gather input from the FUN membership and establish the subcommittees to explore specific areas. The strategic planning committee will start to develop a working strategic plan (by end of June).
  4. Assemble a detailed strategic plan based on the reports from the subcommittees and membership. The plan will be sent to Executive Committee first and then to the membership, for comment (by early September)
  5. Bring the completed strategic plan to the FUN Executive Committee for final approval at the 2019 SFN meeting.

Throughout the process, we endeavor to make this a transparent process, providing updates to the membership on all our deliberations. We will also solicit your input. Many of you contributed to the survey that former President Leah Chase conducted last year and the results of that survey are available in this newsletter. At this time, if you are interested in serving on either the strategic planning committee or a subcommittee, or just want to learn more or provide suggestions, please let me know by email at rjbayline@washjeff.edu.