Thursday, December 23, 2010

'Tis the Season...

...for job hunting and writing recommendation letters! So I want to highlight Kelle Cruz's post at Astro Better on advice for writing good recommendation letters, particularly regarding letters written for women. The first link is about a study showing that "qualities mentioned in recommendation letters for women differ sharply from those for men, and those differences may be costing women jobs and promotions in academia and medicine." The second link is to a post by Julianne Dalcanton at Cosmic Variance, who notes that"for some reason, some fraction of letter writers insist upon doing these comparisons only within a single gender, when the applicant is a woman." I should also note that both male and female letter writers are guilty of these things, so all letter writers should pay heed!

The 217th AAS Meeting in Seattle is fast approaching! Some sessions to pay attention to:
  • Monday Poster session 145: Career Paths, Professional Development, and STEM Diversity
  • Monday 10:00 AM Special Session 110: Strategies for Addressing Harassment and Prejudice. Room 4C-4
  • Monday 12:45 PM CSWA Town Hall: What Can Men Do to Help Women Succeed in Astronomy Ballroom 6A
  • Tuesday 10:00 AM Special Session 208: Two-Body Issues: Balancing Work and Life. Room 608
  • Thursday 11:40 AM Plenary Session: Addressing Unconscious Bias: Steps toward an Inclusive Scientific Culture, Abigail Stewart. Ballroom 6AB

Happy Holidays, whatever your traditions might be!

No comments :