Farewell and Thank You from NAGT Executive Director

Greetings NAGT Membership,

This is my next to last day as Executive Director. I want to say a tremendous thank you for all the fun, excitement, and success of the past 12 years. Serving as Executive Director has been a tremendous experience, an honor, and a great opportunity. Thank you to all for trusting me and working with me, and for all that you have done to make the organization stronger, and teaching and learning about the Earth better.

NAGT has accomplished and contributed to many things in the last 12 years including but not limited to: establishing In the Trenches and the e-News, the Advocacy Committee, and the Divisions; supporting the blossoming of Geoscience Education Research, as well as the increasing focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; expanding recognition through awards; reinvigorating the USGS internship program; and maintaining the healthy field camp and Dottie Stout contributions and scholarships.

During this time we took on the management of Cutting Edge and its website, as well as the Building Strong Geoscience Departments program, its traveling workshop program, and its website; established the Rendezvous (with help from InTeGrate and the NSF-funded part of Cutting Edge); and made this all into a sustainable piece of NAGT. This has been joyful work and I am so grateful to all who stepped up to the plate to take responsibility, to bring new ideas, to take risks, and to nurture and care for this program.

We also established the NAGT Executive office at SERC and took on full responsibility for membership services. I want to give a huge shout out to the folks at SERC who made and continue to make this all happen with excellence and grace.

None of this would have happened without the tremendous support, volunteer efforts, leadership, and participation of the NAGT membership. We have a deep bench and it has been fun to watch it grow and an honor to help. Thank you all.

Serving as Executive Director at the center of all of this has been a wonderful experience. It has opened doors for my professional growth, allowed me to make contributions to the profession I love, introduced me to people I wouldn't have otherwise met, and allowed me to help people grow and thrive as educators. I am so pleased that Anne Egger will take over as I step away. She loves this organization as I do and will bring new energy and direction. I look forward to watching. Thank you so much.

Cathy