BBTAD Training Program
Community Building Activities
Several features of the BBTAD Training Program foster interaction among the community of BBTAD Trainees and between them and the BBTAD Training Faculty.
Annual BBTAD Retreat. Each summer all BBTAD Trainees and Training Faculty meet for a day-long retreat away from campus. One of the primary purposes of the retreat is to provide a forum for initiating collaborations among the Trainees, as well as an opportunity for Training Faculty to discuss novel collaborations among themselves. The retreat is also an opportunity for the faculty to systematically address any unforseen needs of the Trainees, for example, discussion of specialized ethical issues and opportunities for Trainees going out on the job market to practice 'job talks' before a critical audience.
Annual BBTAD Colloquium. Each spring, an internationally prominent researcher whose work epitomizes the goals of the BBTAD Training Program -- namely, integrating the study of typical and atypical development using behavioral and biological methods -- is invited to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for a two-day visit. The colloquium speaker presents a one-hour lecture, open to the entire University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, and leads a 2-hour discussion with the BBTAD Trainees. In preparation for this colloquium and small-group discussion, each invited scholar assigns two or three key papers for the Trainees to read.
Small Conference on BBTAD. Every five years, the BBTAD Trainees, in conjunction with the Training Faculty, organize a small, national conference on the topic of Behavioral and Biological Approaches to Typical and Atypical Development. A model for the involvement of postdoctoral Trainees in conference planning and implementation is the Symposium for Research in Child Language Disorders, which is held annually on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Common Workspace. Although the BBTAD Trainees' primary offices are in the laboratories of the BBTAD Training Faculty, an office suite is available for small group discussion, reading, and informal interaction.
