Since 2007, ESA has offered four subject matter-oriented Sections for members to join, each focused on a broad set of related sub-disciplines in entomology. In September 2023, the ESA Governing Board approved a pilot project that may in the future create a fifth Section focused on the practice of teaching entomology.
The Formal & Informal Teaching (FIT) Section operates on a trial basis, with specific phases and milestones to meet related to membership, programming, and leadership. At the end of the pilot project, if all milestones set by the Governing Board are met, ESA members will vote on whether to make FIT a permanent Section of the Society, as required by ESA’s Bylaws.
Background
In 2022, a group of ESA members, led by ESA’s Education and Outreach Committee, drafted a proposal to create a new ESA Section focused on the needs of scientific educators, calling it the Formal & Informal Teaching (FIT) Section. The ESA Governing Board discussed this proposal in depth at its November 2022 meeting and decided that more information and research were needed. The Board formed a task force to further assess the needs of scientific educators in entomology and to formulate a process for serving this audience.
A source of concern was that ESA’s existing Sections each have a responsibility to create programming related to scientific outreach, public policy, program development, continuing education, and fostering interest in entomology. In other words, the existing Sections should already serve this need. But—at least according to members proposing the FIT Section—they do not, as their primary focus is on research. A Section dedicated to guiding the practice of teaching entomology, the proposal argued, would better serve members who specialize in teaching, outreach, and science communication.
The Task Force on Education was charged by the Governing Board with assessing how a new Section would support and build ESA’s membership, defining the financial consequences of a new Section, and determining if there were other ways to meet the needs of members who teach entomology. The task force spent much of 2023 discussing these charges and, in September, presented the Board with a proposal for the pilot project to assess and validate the FIT members’ needs. The Governing Board approved the test project, which initiated the launch of the pilot FIT Section. Specific benchmarks were set for membership, programming, and leadership targets. As these are met, FIT can move closer to permanent Section status.
ESA members, though, will have the final say. If FIT meets all the benchmarks, the final step will still be a vote on amending ESA’s Bylaws to add the new Section. That decision is some years in the future. For now, any member of ESA who works in education can add the pilot FIT Section to their membership for free.