DUE WEST, S.C. ŠErskine's Sigma Gamma Chapter of Beta Beta Beta, national biological honor society, hosted the 40th annual Southeastern Region meeting of the society, held jointly with the 58th annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB) April 16-19 in Greenville. The ASB meeting was hosted by Furman University.

Representing Erskine College at the ASB meeting were Dr. David Ritland, department chair, Dr. Mary Lang Edwards and Dr. Janice Haldeman, professors, and Margarit Gray, laboratory instructor. Dr. Ritland and Mrs. Gray presented papers at the meeting.

Senior Vicki Chung of Anderson is president of Erskine's Sigma Gamma Chapter of Beta Beta Beta. Erskine seniors Amber Shults of Greer and Susan Blanchard of Mount Pleasant served as president and vice president respectively of Beta Beta Beta District One. Shults and Blanchard presided at the undergraduate paper sessions and the annual business meetings for the district. Twenty Erskine members attended the meeting and five presented papers.

Erskine senior Anc Clarkson of Chapin won first place, Amber Shults won second place, and junior Ginger Blalock of Kings Mountain, N.C. won honorable mention. Other Erskine students who presented papers included senior Ellen Rodillo of Abbeville and junior Jana Ellis of Donalds.

Clarkson's paper reported research conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratories in New York. Shults's paper was based on plant tissue culture research conducted at Erskine with freshman Melissa Sprenne of Pelion and Erskine Professor of Biology Dr. Janice Haldeman.

Blalock's paper reported on research conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana, and Ellis's paper reported field research on Eastern box turtles done with Erskine Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Mary Lang Edwards. Rodillo wrote about research conducted at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Elected president of District One of Beta Beta Beta was Erskine's Ginger Blalock. Jana Ellis and Amber Shults were named 1997-98 Beta Beta Beta Research Grant Awardees. Erskine's Sigma Gamma Chapter received the History Award for best chapter history for the second consecutive year. Sophomore Karen Marie of Concord, N.C. serves as chapter historian.

Dr. Janice Haldeman, Professor of Biology, serves as advisor for Erskine's Sigma Gamma Chapter. She and Dr. Mary Lang Edwards of Erskine and Dr. Wade Worthen of Furman University led the Beta Beta Beta field trip to Raven Cliff Falls in Greenville County.