Congratulations Lena Struwe!

Congratulations to IAPT member and Council Member Lena Struwe, Rutgers University, on receiving the Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award from the Botanical Society of America at the Botany 2018 conference in Rochester, Minnesota (USA). The Bessey award recognizes outstanding contributions made to botanical instruction and celebrates individuals whose work has improved the quality of botanical education at a regional, national, or international level. The Bessey Award is given annually in honor of one of the great developers of botanical education. Dr. Bessey served first as professor of botany and horticulture, and later as dean at the University of Nebraska.

Lena Struwe is well known as an inspirational teacher and tireless advocate for botany and biodiversity in general, but Lena’s teaching goes far beyond the classroom and the Rutgers University campus. For example, Lena hosts a blog on botanical accuracy (botanicalaccuracy.com), which is recognized as one of the Top 50 Biology Blogs. She recently founded Botany Depot (botanydepot.com), a website that helps botany educators around the world to exchange ideas and materials. Public education and promotion of science are essential activities and Lena’s contributions are extremely valuable. The IAPT community is benefitting greatly from her skills and enthusiasm for promoting our science. Lena took the lead in establishing the IAPT social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, and very soon Instagram) so that we are able to spread the word widely about IAPT and how we support botanical, mycological and phycological research and education. Please join me in congratulating Lena in this well deserved recognition. Photo by Megan King.

Patrick Herendeen