This September marked the seventh annual celebration of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (Sept. 19-23), dedicated to celebrating postdocs’ research. According to the National Postdoctoral Association website, last year 122 institutions across the United States and Canada hosted 373 separate events to recognize postdoctoral contributions to their respective campuses and intellectual communities.
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, our own Rutgers Postdoctoral Association (Rutgers PDA) hosted an orientation and welcome luncheon at The Cove on Busch campus to bring together postdocs old and new. Roughly 50 postdocs were in attendance, representing Busch, Livingston, College Ave, and Cook/Douglass campuses across New Brunswick. We were joined by the faculty and administrators who will be working with us to create an Office of Postdoctoral Affairs in the months ahead.
In addition to a free lunch (plus coffee and dessert for those who stayed the entire afternoon), the luncheon featured introductory remarks by several of these administrators, including Barbara Lee, PhD, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Kathleen Scotto, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Research at RBHS and Dean of GSBS-RBHS; Jim Millonig, PhD, Senior Associate Dean of GSBS; and Evelyn S. Erenrich, PhD, Associate Dean of Diversity & Retention and Director of the Graduate Recruitment, Retention and Diversity (GR2aD) Initiative. Dr. Lee introduced an upcoming opportunity for women postdocs to participate in the OASIS Leadership and Professional Development Program free of charge, while Dr. Scotto spoke of the importance of learning non-scientific skills, such as budgeting and presenting elevator pitches. Dr. Millonig reflected on the pros and cons of working at an institution the size of Rutgers and mentioned a renewed commitment to providing more and better resources for all postdocs. Dr. Erenrich detailed the academic benefits that come with Rutgers’s entry into the Big Ten Conference (it turns out it’s not just about football!). And in closing out the introductory remarks, Rutgers PDA Interim President Frank Kung, PhD, thanked Associate Professor Martha C. Soto, who has served as the PDA’s faculty advisor for the past seven years, and advertised for the Spring Symposium, which will feature postdoc research.
Once the formal remarks had ended, postdocs had a chance to schmooze with one another, as well as visit our illustrious tablers, who represented different stakeholders within the larger university. Yvonne Gonzalez, Director of Faculty Development for the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, solicited input on desired professional development activities and recruited a website development team for the future Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Dr. Janet Alder, iJOBS Director for GSBS-New Brunswick/Piscataway, and Dr. Erenrich both advertised the vast array of professional development activities of which postdocs can partake, and Dr. Diane Ambrose, Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, was on hand to answer any questions. Dr. Patricia Irizarry-Barreto, Program Coordinator for the Rutgers Science Explorer Bus and Associate Director of the Geology Museum, put her science toys on display and discussed the various community outreach activities in which she is involved. Postdoc union rep Jack Yoon (AAUP-AFT) encouraged postdocs to advocate for themselves by joining the union. Rounding out the tablers were two representatives from Rutgers’s international community of scholars, Julie Hafeez (International Faculty/Scholar Adviser for New Brunswick), and Lorraine Luciano-McKeon (Senior Coordinator for the Center for Global Services in Newark).
This luncheon marked the first official orientation event targeted at postdocs across the entire university, rather than leaving orientation activities to each individual department’s discretion. It represented the first step in an ongoing effort to build a stronger and more cohesive postdoc community that spans the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
As members of the Rutgers PDA, we would like to underscore the importance of having an organization that brings postdocs together to share our experiences and plan for our future, both at Rutgers and beyond. Postdoc years can be a challenge—as a time of transition between the life of a student and the life of a full-time faculty member (or “real world” employee), it is often accompanied by both personal and professional challenges. We would like to encourage all postdocs to get involved in PDA activities. Not only will your participation benefit the wider postdoc (and university) community, but it will also afford you opportunities to learn new skills and meet new people. At the end of the day, it’s all about who you know—and who better to know than your fellow postdocs?
on behalf of the Rutgers Postdoctoral Association
To learn more about the Rutgers PDA͕, join our Facebook group at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rutgersPDA/
And be on the lookout for more information about the new Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, scheduled to launch online and in person on Feb. 1, 2017!