After a relaxing break, the start of a new academic term is about to begin.  January, like September, represents a fresh start.  It’s time to clean off the desk, and archive the old e-mails.  Just today I dumped  several thousand e-mails from my in-box into an archive folder – if nothing else, this gives the impression of a clean slate!

In October, I became the Editor-in-Chief for The Canadian Entomologist, and in this role, I noticed some interesting human behaviour over the past couple of weeks.  A LOT of new manuscripts were submitted at the very end of 2011 – confirming that many researchers see the end of the calendar year as an opportunity to get things done before a fresh start in the New  Year.

I spent much of the day today getting my course outlines organized.   The winter term is a busy teaching term – I will be teaching two undergraduate courses (Population and Community Ecology, Environmental Research Design) as well as my graduate class in Forest Entomology.   I have always tried to include a class project as part of my graduate class, and in the past we have had some luck in getting these projects published.  Much depends on the project idea, and this depends on the skills and expertise of the students in the course.   I currently don’t have any great ideas for a project…but some brainstorming during the first meeting of the term will help.   I’ll keep you posted.

So, just around the corner will be a  busy, but productive and enjoyable term.

Happy New Year.