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After 32 years at the University of Arizona, Dr. Lynne Oland, Research Professor and Associate Department Head in the Department of Neuroscience, and Founding Director of the Neuroscience & Cognitive Science (NSCS) program, will retire in May.
Last year, Lynne began the Golden Glia Award, which each year recognizes an individual who has gone above and beyond to strengthen the NSCS community. Lynne describes the new award in this way:
“One of the hallmarks of the NSCS program is the strength of its community – with students and faculty and staff all united in their love of the brain and together deploying effort to recruit and guide new students, to share with young people at the K-12 level and with the public their enthusiasm about the brain, to build a community of scholars, to play together, and to become part of something larger than themselves. Making that happen is no small task. It takes strong leadership and commitment to a greater good. Listen to this list now. It takes monitoring and repairing, modifying patterns and stimulating new growth and guiding that growth carefully. Does that sound familiar?
As we thought about these community building roles, we naturally, being scientists studying the nervous system, saw a clear analogy with glial cells. Without glial cells, our brains would not develop or function properly. So as we watched our community grow stronger, with the efforts of dedicated student glia, we decided to honor that role with the Golden Glia Award.”
As we approach Lynne's retirement, we invite you to make a gift of any size to the Golden Glia Award fund in thanks for all that she has done in her time at the University of Arizona.
When you make your gift, please include a few words of gratitude in the comment field, which will be compiled and shared with her. Even more than a short note on the gift form, Lynne would enjoy a longer congratulatory card or note. Please mail your note or card by March 30 to PO Box 12591, Tucson, AZ 85711. If you prefer to send it as an email, please send it to tolbert@email.arizona.edu. All messages will be collected secretly and presented to Lynne at a special retirement event.
Please note, this is a SECRET effort for Lynne! We look forward to surprising her with the news and your notes later this semester.
Lynne's leadership as the Founding Director of NSCS has been invaluable! Now in our eighth year, with the end of our first decade in sight, NSCS will continue for many more years thanks to the foundation Lynne has created.
After the first two brave souls graduated in 2012, there were 21 students in NSCS's first graduating class in 2013, again, all thanks to Lynne's vision and leadership!
For 32 years, Lynne's teaching, research, mentorship and friendship have touched many colleagues and a generation of students. If you are one of them, we hope you'll join us with a gift to recognize the impact Lynne has had on your life and your work.
49 percent of NSCS students are involved in community outreach. NSCS has always had a strong and tight knit community, but Lynne also emphasizes the importance of taking the things we learn in the classroom and in the lab out to be shared with the larger surrounding community.
Over the years, Lynne has mentored in lab research a remarkable 76 undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Those who she has mentored have continued to make their own impact in the field and through their mentorship of the next generation. Lynne's legacy will continue through them.
