Committees

Looking to develop your leadership skills or make a greater impact as a member?

Join a ChABSA committee and collaborate with fellow professionals to help shape the future of our organization and expand the benefits we provide. It’s a great opportunity to gain experience, connect with peers, and contribute to ChABSA’s growth and success!

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Membership Committee

Scholarship Committee

ABSA and Affiliate Committee

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ChABSA is a volunteer organization whose mission is to provide valuable content and networking opportunities for biosafety professionals which is enhanced by membership involvement. Returning to in-person and hybrid meetings has created opportunities for members to re-activate the use of committees to assist the Council in communication with the membership about resources, preferences and needs, and in communicating with other affiliates and the associated biosafety organization, ABSA. This is the perfect opportunity to gain experience in leadership roles within a Committee and to collaborate with other ChABSA professionals.

ChABSA is seeking members for the following Committees listed below. To be a Committee member, you must be a ChABSA member in good standing during the current calendar year and a member of ChABSA for at least one year. Each Committee will have its own focus and activities. ABSA will grant CM credits for serving on a Committee and credits for serving as a Chair on a Committee.  See application form.

Committee members should expect to commit to participation for roughly 10-11 months of the year beginning August in the year of their application thru the end of June in the following year. Time requirements will vary by Committee and time of year; however, a rough estimate is that ChABSA members should expect to volunteer approximately 20-30 hours over the course of a year inclusive of regular Committee meetings. Committee membership is good for one year. Committee members may renew their Committee membership up to 5 times on the same committee. Members serving on a committee for 5 years can seek membership on another committee or after a one year hiatus, may seek reappointment on the same committee for 5 additional years. One member of each Committee will be elected by Committee members to serve annually as the Committee’s Chair. Committee Chairs may serve if elected by the Committee’s membership for 3 years. There are limited slots for Committee membership which are offered on a first come first served basis. ChABSA members may serve on more than one Committee annually as long as the time requirements can be met. The ChABSA council will review and approve applications for committee membership.

Each committee will have an assigned mentor to assist the Chair and committee members with the organization, operation and reporting by the committee. All possible effort with be made to offer Council members their first choice as a volunteer for committee mentorship. Generally, a mentor will be a Council member but with Council’s approval, other ChABSA members may apply in this role. Mentors will be non-voting committee members and act a resource to each committee.

Membership Committee

Purpose:

- Promote engagement within the biosafety and biosecurity community.

- Engage and collaborate with industry representatives, local colleges, and universities.

- Interact with other professional safety-based organizations.

- Represent ChABSA to inform potential professionals about careers in biosafety and biosecurity.

- Promote new membership by creating a welcoming environment for new members at ChABSA events.

Potential Activities:

- Assist in recruiting new members by:

- Developing tools, such as surveys, to evaluate current membership status (satisfaction, needs, interests, preferences, etc.).

- Creating strategies to reach out to both established and new groups; identifying target sites.

- Recruiting candidates for upcoming vacant ChABSA council positions.

- Welcoming and identifying new members at meetings.

- Design informational pamphlets.

- Promote ChABSA awareness at local or national conferences or symposiums.

- Develop budgets as needed to support recruitment efforts.

Committee Size: Limited to 8 members.

Scholarship Committee

Purpose:

- Identify prospective students and ChABSA members who could benefit from the scholarship.

- Assist the council in detailing and updating scholarship criteria and benefits.

- Increase the utilization of this resource for ChABSA members.

Potential Activities:

- Review scholarship applications.

- Increase awareness of scholarship opportunities.

- Review and update policies and procedures for the scholarship program.

- Recruit sponsors to support scholarship opportunities.

Committee Size: Limited to 5 members.

ABSA and Affiliate Relations Committee

Purpose:

Keep the ChABSA council and membership informed of activities by other ABSA affiliates, both national and international.

- Share information about ChABSA events with ABSA and its affiliates to foster relationships.

- Promote joint activities between ChABSA and other ABSA affiliates.

- Develop and promote International Technical Meetings between ChABSA members and international ABSA affiliates or scientists.

Potential Activities:

- Maintain contact with other U.S. ABSA affiliates.

- Report on activities of other groups.

- Develop opportunities for collaborative events.

- Establish and maintain a list of biosafety expertise available through ABSA affiliates.

- Evaluate activities at other sites for potential adaptation to ChABSA and make recommendations to the ChABSA Council.

- Keep members informed about ABSA activities.

- Provide monthly or quarterly reports on upcoming ABSA events and any potential changes.

- Develop budgets as needed to support outreach efforts.

Committee Size: Limited to 8 members.