Welcome to the LTEN Member Experience

Directions – Dr. Kathleen Herndon

I’m looking forward to meeting you, and there are chances coming up

Greetings and salutations to the members of the Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network!

My name is Dr. Kathleen Herndon and I’m delighted to be joining LTEN as your new executive director. I’m looking forward to bringing my time and talents to bear on expanding and improving your member experience at LTEN. You can learn more about me with this short video.

But let’s talk about you, and LTEN.

For more than 50 years, LTEN has served as the essential resource for life sciences trainer education and networking, enabling members to harness their collective knowledge, apply leading-edge technology and deliver world-class learning.

During the interview process, it became clear to me that LTEN members are devoted to the craft of delivering top-notch trainer education while having fun among valued peers. Association work can often feel bogged down in administration – planning events, renewing memberships, filing taxes – but I could tell right away that LTEN was so much more.

The leadership and members of LTEN all demonstrate an obvious and overwhelming commitment to both professional growth and the development of a warm and friendly learning community. You can see this camaraderie and commitment every time we come together.

New LTEN Executive Director Dr. Katie Herndon, laughing with attendees at the 2015 VLTA event.

Speaking of which, I’m looking forward to meeting all of you, and there are chances for that connection coming up. I may not be at every one (did I mention I have six children?), but our paths will cross. This spring, LTEN members will benefit from a variety of programs and activities. You can find virtual and in-person opportunities on the LTEN events calendar, including:

Mixers – We’ll be in-person on May 3 in New Jersey to both learn and unwind at the after-work mixer. We’ll share some casual conversation and networking, and learn from Melissa Young of Pharmacosmos Therapeutics.
Workshops – Look for both live and online dates for many popular LTEN educational workshops including the 6 Disciplines (6Ds), the Science & Practice of Modern Learning & Assessment and PrimeTime! workshops.
Learning Executive Forum – I’ll meet many of you at this invitation-only event for learning leadership, taking place in March in Denver. I know a lot of great material comes out of these conversations and gets shared with all LTEN members.
Annual Conference – Of course I’m excited to meet so many of you as we wrap up spring together with this year’s 51st LTEN Annual Conference, June 13-16, in San Antonio, Texas.

At each of these events, LTEN members will have the opportunity to hone professional skills while making community-wide connections to like-minded professionals. As we lead up to that Annual Conference in June, I hope every member of LTEN will take advantage of all our network has to offer. We can all find common ground and shared experiences through:

Attending LTEN webinars.
Accessing the on-demand material in the LTEN Self-Directed Learning Library.
Perusing the popular LTEN Focus on Training magazine.
Keeping up with the latest LTEN and member news.
Learning through the microlearning training in the LTEN eLearning Lounge.
Utilizing the LTEN website with resources including white papers, studies and benchmarks.
Building your network with the LTEN member directory.

While you’re busy making new connections, I’ll be hard at work with the amazing team at LTEN building new ways to serve our community. You’re welcome to be part of that process too – I’d love to hear your ideas. You can always reach me at kherndon@L-TEN.org (and call me Katie!)

Special thanks to Dawn Brehm for a decade supporting and growing LTEN. I hope to build on her legacy of service to our members as we enter a new chapter at LTEN.

Dr. Kathleen Herndon is executive director of LTEN. Email Katie at kherndon@LTEN.org.