Presidential Farewell
August 24, 2020
Dear SNEB Members,
As I join our august group of SNEB past presidents, I want to thank all of you for your support during my three years in the top leadership track and for the trust you placed in me as the Society’s 52nd president. Serving as your president has been my great honor and pleasure. I leave the office with a deep sense of gratitude for the unwavering commitment shown by our leadership and members.
As I said at the business meeting on July 23rd, this has been an extraordinary year. Five months into my presidency, the novel coronavirus had been detected and would soon upend life as we knew it. The pandemic forced us to make some difficult and quick decisions, most notably, transitioning our conference to a totally online event. As anyone who attended our annual meeting knows, our staff and conference chair, Dr. Pam Koch, rose to this unexpected challenge.
As the 2020 annual report details, despite this unprecedented and challenging time, our achievements and activities are numerous and underscore the strengths of what I’ve come to think of as SNEB’s pillars of excellence: our Board of Directors, our Raybourn Staff, our Divisions & Committees, the Advisory Committee on Public Policy, the Foundation, our Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, and crucially, you, our members.
A quick look at some highlights from the 2020 annual report will make you even more proud to be a part of this organization:
* SNEB hosted nearly 40 webinars this past year. These are Division, Committee, Journal, and member driven and are highly responsive to ever-evolving public and professional interests.
* Our journal continues on a trajectory of ever-increasing excellence as indicated by established and recognized impact metrics.
* Our Foundation continued its history of supporting, planning and organizing the George M. Briggs and the Bee Marks Symposia, and coordinates with the Board to develop vital fundraising strategies.
* The Advisory Committee on Public Policy continues its record of participating in policy discussions at the national level, providing relevant and useful policy updates, keeps SNEB engaged in critical policy collaborations, and providing exciting opportunities for members to be involved with and to learn about policy.
* Our Divisions have had another engaged year as the report of their activity shows.
* Our listserv SNEEZE continues to provide a platform for sharing resources and posing interesting questions.
I am particularly proud of a few more accomplishments. First, while presidents have traditionally laid out their vision for the organization, one of my goals was to reinstate the Presidential Address as a formal part the Business meeting. I am pleased that Dr. Pam Koch has continued this practice and gave an absolutely inspiring speech at our recent annual conference in which she laid out a clear direction for the Society. Second, together we reinvigorated the resolutions process. Third, we initiated a process to continue on-going clarification of our policy related to external funding and external relationships, which I will continue to lead in the months to come. Fourth, we revised our mission and vision statements to strengthen our commitment to addressing planetary health and food justice. Finally, and most recently, our board initiated a process of learning about structural racism and inequities in the food system and committed to becoming an anti-racist, multi-cultural organization.
Together we have accomplished so much and there is much more to do. We are committed to growing SNEB, both our membership numbers, and our prominence in the field of nutrition. One way we can all help grow SNEB is by talking to colleagues who are not yet SNEB members and encouraging them to join and get to know SNEB by signing up for our webinars and other activities.
I thank you all for your engagement in and commitment to the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior!
Jennifer Wilkins, PhD, RD
SNEB President 2019-2020
