The MSA Student and Postdoc Section was initiated in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2011 and launched in 2012 at the annual MSA meeting in New Haven, Connecticut. The very first Student and Postdoc Section event was a professional development workshop led by professor Anne Pringle: “Using fungi to get a job”. The Section also organized a mentorship pairing whereby all interested MSA students were matched with a senior mycologist who served as their mentor for the duration of the New Haven MSA meeting.
During the 2013 join MSA and American Phytopathological Society meeting in Austin, Texas, the Student and Postdoc Section organized a well-attended Student Social Mixer and our first official Board Meeting. Most importantly, the MSA Council unanimously voted to formally recognize the Mycological Society of America Student and Postdoc Section. Member-wide vote occurred later that fall.
Today, the MSA Student and Postdoc Section works closely with the general MSA leadership to provide content at annual meetings, develop outreach activities and modules for teaching, and support the professional and personal development of early career mycologists.