Joining In

Don’t get left out in the cold.

I think of begin a college professor as a three-legged stool: teaching, research, and professional service. From what I can tell, most doctoral programs put slight emphasis on teaching, strong emphasis on research and next to no emphasis on professional service. This is in stark contrast to the reality of being a professor.

Want to get a jump on your future life as a professor? Are you ready to start giving back to profession? Are you looking for ways to meet your current/future colleagues around the world?

The OCIS division is looking for student volunteers for a number of activities. These are a great way to get involved in professional activities that will help support the division, that provide a taste of future professional service activities, and–in many cases–provide exposure to some of field’s most senior scholars.

Here’s a list of student-oriented initiatives we need volunteers for:

1. OCIS Student Web Site – ocis.wordpress.com

(a) Participate – We’re rolling out a full launch of this site over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, please continue posting comment on posts. Please continue visiting, posting suggestions on topics to cover and suggest any other ways to improve the site.

(b) Author Content – Contribute posts. Email meif you are interested and I’ll grant you the access rights to author posts. If you want to write but are unsure what to write about, Tanu Ghosh is preparing a list of topics ideas.

(c) Assist on Secret Project – Last week we recevied grant funding from AOM for an exciting initiative related to the site. [How’s that for being vague! 🙂 ] We need a couple of volunteers to help with the project. My best guess is we’re talking at most 1-2 hours per week over 8-12 weeks.  All of the work will be done “virtually” via email communication and posting/commenting on this site. The bulk of the effort will occur early Jan. to end of March.  Skills desired: attention to detail, interest in participation incentives, willingness to promptly answer emails –> in other words, nothing out of the ordinary for a doctoral student who spendstime online anyway!

2. AOM 2007 Preparations – meeting.aomonline.org/2007

(a) Network – Gather local information on low cost hotel, restaurant, transportation from Philly-area OCIS/AOM members. [The end result will look something like this.]

(b) Plan – Tuesday night student/recent graduate social event.

3. Membership Diversity and Growth – ocis.aomonline.org

(a) Reach-Out – Invite other students to participate in OCIS activities.

(b) Suggest – Is there anything else you’d like to see happen for student members?

Many thanks to everyone who is already helping out. If you’d like to join in further, leave a message in the comments or email Tanu Ghosh (tanu@mit.edu) and Steven Johnson (steven.l.johnson@gmail.com).

Let us know which items you’d like to get involved in (or with any questions) and we’ll help coordinate to avoid overlapping efforts.