At the risk of sounding like a peacenik, beautiful things happen when you bring people together to share their hopes and dreams. I don't want to overstate the value of this career workshop I just lead, but I am going to say, Success. We had an AMAZING turnout. I had 41 people sign up, and thank goodness our GSO president thought to put out a sign up sheet ( I was sure I would just remember both people who came). Because our department has agreed to host the refreshments for future workshops, now I can justify a sizable budget.
Our corporate sponsor didn't make me feel like a sell-out, he actually only brought one info sheet and mostly talked about how you could really do anything once you got some education in science. And then my committee talked about some really cool stuff- which I knew they would, they rock- and people added in some extra ideas. The thing that was most interesting to our attendees, and which made me most glad we chose to include that, was to have a post-doc talk just a little about how she got her job. She is a friend from Dr. Rockstar's lab, and I knew she had put some thought and reflection into her choice. A LOT of people asked questions about it, and then the post-docs who came added in their perspective too. It was a beautiful thing.
I'm starting to realize, as part of my on-going study on "what I want to do when I grow up" that I really enjoy getting this kind of thing started, using the momentum to get off the ground and prove that is doesn't have to be a big thing. Where I tend to falter is in the follow-through, although I know this about myself, and have been forcing myself to stick to 1 year commitments on things like WISC, pottery etc. After a year, then it is a habit, and easy to stick with. I'm not really sure how to leverage this into a job, but I do know I am 1 workshop on fellowships away from being the first chair of the GSO Social Workshop Committee- then I get to pass the mantle to someone who will be around in the fall.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Somewhere in the resume/CV process, an inkling of your ability to "get things started/get people involved" needs to be found. This is not new for you and it is very valuable. I speak of the high school kid that got the "Save Phoenix" program started with a spaghetti feed and School Board and administrators sitting down for a face to face on the issue. The college kid who pulled together a brand new organization in OSSA that has life beyond her pioneering efforts (http://www.nssfo.wwu.edu/outofstate/ossa.shtml). And a grad student that can lift her head out above the bench to see the need for WISC. I believe the traditional concept is initiative with a touch of creativity and leadership tossed in. It is hard to define but powerful to identify and encourage. I hope you can give yourself credit so that others may recognize it in you, too. love, Dad
Post a Comment