[Entm-beu] Entomology Outreach updates and revised Travel funds policy

[Christiane Weirauch]

Hello everyone and welcome to the fall quarter,

A few updates on what is going on with Entomology Outreach. As many of you
are aware, GSR funds for our fabulous outreach program have now completely
dried up, so we had to come up with a plan on how to care for our Live
Insect Collection and coordinate outreach events for the upcoming academic
year. While this is very frustrating, it is also an opportunity to better
involve our undergraduate students in outreach. We revised the Travel funds
policy (attached) to better reflect a) the desperate need for students to
volunteer their time for outreach events (thanks in advance!!); and b)
provide undergraduate and graduate students with the same opportunities for
travel funds. Please let me know if you have any questions on the revised
policy.

Quick updates on Outreach:

   - *Undergrad Insect Keepers and Outreach Coordinator: *We hired three
   Entomology undergraduate students to maintain and grow our live insect
   collection and coordinate and help with outreach events. Sydney Wilson
   and Troy Manzano (Insect Keepers) started last week and Emilia Burnham (
   Outreach Coordinator) two weeks ago. Emilia will coordinate outreach events
   with schools etc. and liaise with EGSA, BEUSA, and the Outreach
   Committee to recruit volunteers for outreach events.* So, when you see
   an email from Emilia, please read and respond and volunteer!*
   - *Outreach requests:* are way up compared to last year, which is great,
   but also means we need to energize everyone to volunteer their time!
   - *Outreach coordination: *We created an Outreach Google Calendar that
   will be shared to all Entomology students later today. Emilia will manage
   the calendar and follow up with emails to recruit volunteers. As you will
   see, there are lots of volunteer opportunities on the calendar for October,
   so please don't be shy!
   - *Display drawer competition "Oh My and More" heads up: *Dr.
   Redak agreed to fund a display drawer competition with the goal to 1)
   assemble informative and cool looking drawers that can be taken to
   outreach events; our current inventory starts looking a little frayed;
   this could be anything from "Oh My" drawers to more thematic displays, and
   2) fill some of the empty displays on the 3rd floor in Entomology.
   Submissions could be from individuals or from labs or student clubs/groups.
   We did this once before and it resulted in a number of new display drawers.
   Deadline will be around the end of October and winners will be announced
   during the November First Friday. We will supply the drawers and
   competitors can use the (mostly unprepared) insects/arachnids in the
   Outreach drawers in the Museum (plus specimens from the teaching
   collection), but we will not cover additional costs. A separate email
   with more details will follow, but please let me know if you have questions
   at this point!
   - *Social media:* You are probably aware that we have an Entomology
   Outreach Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/ucrentomologyoutreach/> account
   (different from the EGSA Instagram). Please follow and let me know if you'd
   like to contribute content and we'll share NetID and login.
   - *New Outreach and SciComm class:* Dr. McFrederick and I submitted a
   course proposal for a new class. While it'll take a while until this class
   will be in the catalog, we are planning on offering it in spring 2023 for
   the first time (as a ENTM 149/249). We'll keep you posted.

Cheers, and happy start to the quarter, Christiane

-- 
Christiane Weirauch
Professor of Entomology
Department of Entomology
University of California, Riverside

Ph: 951-827-5707
Email: christiane.weirauch at ucr.edu <Christiane.weirauch at ucr.edu>
https://profiles.ucr.edu/christiane.weirauch
Center for Integrative Biological Collections http://cibc.ucr.edu/
Editor, Systematic Entomology
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3113>
President, International Heteropterists' Society (2022-2026)
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