Young or Early Career Faculty and Professional Leadership Symposium/Competition

Objective(s):
The Young or Early Career Faculty and Professional Leadership Symposium has been developed for new faculty and professionals to share their discoveries and creative work to a peer audience. ASHS looks forward to this opportunity available for postdocs, early career (untenured, non-tenure track, or within the first 5 years of service at their current position) faculty, and industry professionals to communicate the impact of their extension, research, teaching, and other scholarly activities. We have currently scheduled a 3-hour block of time at the July Annual Conference in Orlando, to have a mix of presented papers and professional development for early career professionals. In order to be included in the competition, participants must sign up for this symposium when they register for the annual conference. Each participant was required to submit an expanded 1000-word abstract (this is separate from abstracts submitted into the ASHS online system) and a standard biosketch by 1 June. The top eight papers are selected and scheduled for presentation during the symposium. The top three presenters from the symposium will receive award recognition and publication fee waivers for the ASHS journal that best fits the audience for their work. The purpose of the symposium is to provide a platform for new scholars to advance their work, reputation to their peers, and to help facilitate peer-reviewed extension, teaching, or research from a wide range of horticultural professionals. Two hours of the symposium will be devoted to the eight competition papers. The third hour will provide a forum for professional development where seasoned professionals will offer recommendations for success, whether in industry, teaching, research, or extension.