Minutes from OPA Meeting 2-19-15 I. 4:00 call to order II. Roll call a

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

Minutes from OPA Meeting 2-19-15

I. 4:00 call to order

II. Roll call

a. Attendees: all board members except treasurer (Ann)

III. Approval of minutes of previous meeting, all current members present voted to approve, no

dissenting votes

IV. Officer and committee reports

a. Treasurers report

i. State of the accounts

1. We are fully funded and all current expenses paid

2. We have two accounts

a. OSU Foundation

b. Index fund (cannot be used for alcohol)

ii. Motion to have majority approval for all expenditures over $50

1. Motion seconded

2. All in favor, no dissenting votes

3. Expenses under $50 will be approved by the board

b. Active committee reports

i. PAW planning committee (no report)

ii. IEP committee

1. Upcoming workshop on resume writing on April 14

~4-7 pm

a. Proposed schedule

i. First hour peer review of resumes

ii. Second hour presentations

iii. Third hour round table sessions with representatives

from a variety of companies

b. Primary audience is postdocs, grad students welcome (space

may be limited)

c. Plan is to have some kind of catering

d. Space still needs to be reserved

2. Visit to HP site in Corvallis is still being planned for ~May

a. Would HP be interested in sponsoring some of the resume

workshop?

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

3. Met with OSU Advantage people to start up a program to create

“industry postdoc” opportunities here at OSU and to increase

mentorship and networking

iii. Professional development

1. Amanda brought a list of professional development ideas and themes to

be the basis for upcoming events

a. New event topics will be post doc oriented

i. Can postdocs attend new faculty events/workshops?

ii. Suggested topics

1. Job hunting, grant writing (academic focus to

distinguish from IEP events)

iii. Suggestion to hire “the professor is in” consultant from

Eugene

2. Primary focus is professional development awards for spring

a. Intent to announce award winners at spring picnic

b. Award application due date ~mid May

c. Application announcement to be sent soon (next few weeks)

i. Previous award template will be updated (Jim has the

2014 version)

ii. Motion to approve awards

1. Approved, no dissenting votes

iv. Welcome

1. No events planned currently

2. Challenge: how to get postdocs involved?

3. ideas

a. call new post docs

b. send personalized emails (check formatting, sometimes emails

are coming through with odd extra spacing)

c. bring coffee to new people (face to face meetings)

d. meet and greet (bring flyer/business card of upcoming events)

e. Free coffee monthly for all postdocs?

v. Social events

1. Feb peers and beers had 8 attendees (all board members)

2. Upcoming peers and beers will be after board meetings too unless there

in another event/workshop ending before 6:00

3. Brown bag lunch is now cancelled (poor attendance)

4. Proposed to have free pizza lunches instead and try for community

connections

V. Unfinished business

a. Advisory board

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

i. Not currently needed, will revisit topic in ~ 1 year

b. Space situation

i. Dorthe has kindly volunteered her office if we need some storage

ii. We have a physical address (300 Kerr Admin)

iii. We have OPA letterhead

c. Archiving newsletters

i. We will add a tab to the OPA website for newsletters

d. NPA meeting

i. We can all be NPA members (FREE)

ii. Dorthe and Kate will attend the NPA meeting

e. Meeting schedule

f. OPA website updates

i. The website will be refreshed/reformatted

1. Kathleen will send out some example formats soon

2. Add event calendar, newsletter lab, meeting minutes

ii. Dorthe still has the LinkedIn administration

iii. We can spruce up the Facebook page ourselves

1. Add some recent photos

VI. New business

a. Set dates for upcoming events

i. Regular social events planning

1. Peers and beers

2. Pizza lunches

3. Coffee with faculty

ii. Other social events calendar

1. Student success series

2. IEP events

3. Spring picnic

4. Annual poster symposium

5. Postdoc working group

6. Collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning

7. Follow up with Terri Fiez

VII. Open forum

VIII. Adjournment

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

OPA Treasurer’s Report February 2015

Submitted by Ann Sitomer, 19 February 2015

1. State of the accounts

Dorthe tracked down the funds pledged to the OPA by individual units and by both the Graduate

School and the Research Office. We are now fully funded, and our expenses have been paid, less

one professional development award-- $1000 – that has yet to be dispersed. (I am spending that

money as I type.)

We have two accounts. The OSU Foundation (OSUF) fund that cane be used for things that

can not be paid out of an index account (e.g., alcohol for functions) and a second ‘index’

fund for other expenses.

OSU Foundation Income

$5,700.00

OSU Foundation Expense

-$4,619.05

Total OSUF Funds

$1,080.95

GRD040 Index Income

$13,907.41

GRD040 Index Expense

-$4,609.15

Total GRD040 Funds

$9,298.26

2. Motion: (I know I cannot make a motion if I am not there, but perhaps one of you will. I am

comfortable with whatever decision the board makes.)

A motion must by made to approve all expenditures over $50 (or whatever refreshments for a

meeting might course).

Discussion: This is a way to be accountable to our funders for the decisions we make for spending

the moneys they have entrusted us with.

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

IEP Meeting February 5, 2015

Minutes:

In Attendance: Linnéa Andersson, Amanda Brown, Shawn O'Neil, Jeff Oliver, Paul Schrader

1. Progress reports

» Post-doc discipline data – Dorthe Wildenschild has updated statistics, and will share these with

us once they are cleaned up. The 2013 data are available in the shared IEP folder on Google

Drive (OSU_Postdocs_2013).

» Web presence – No action to date

» OSU Career Services

◦ The level of service the OSU Career Development Center can provide is unknown.

◦ Future conversations should scope out how well they might handle clients with post-doc /

graduate experience (as opposed to undergraduate experience).

» HP on-site visit – HP is still receptive, we need to plan event, perhaps starting with date(s)

» Report from meeting with Brian Wall, Ann Schmierer, & Dorthe Wildenschild (January 27)

◦ Brian Wall and Ann Schmierer are supportive of sponsoring two types of programs from

their office:

▪ An industry post-doc / internship program

▪ An intra-campus mentorship program

◦ Brian, Ann, Linnéa, Dorthe, and Jeff are currently outlining the details of the programs.

» Other reports

◦ Paul contacted some local recruiters and learned that they are primarily hired by companies

to fill specific openings. The recruiters also made a few points:

▪ Job seekers should have an active presence on social networks such as LinkedIn.

▪ Using keywords in resumes is critical, many HR departments use automated word

searches for initial screening of applicants.

▪ As the recruiters' clients are the companies, the recruiters themselves are of limited

utility to job seekers.

◦ Shawn updated the IEP Pitch statement (IEP_pitch_SO.doc on Google Docs) to make it

appeal to a broader audience.

2. Planning

» Workshop

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

◦ Resume writing (not academic CVs), networking, and “elevator speeches”

▪ The key to success will be engaging representatives outside the university (in addition to

whatever resources OSU can provide).

▪ Amanda suggested that initial contact to potential industry participants be via phone

(rather than e-mail).

◦ Target date range: week of April 13-17.

◦ If possible, coordinate a peer-review process or resume sharing effort before the workshop.

◦ At the very least, provide resume examples (or links to resources with examples), so post-

doc/graduate student participants have some guidance.

◦ A start time of 4 pm may be ideal, to appeal to post-docs (who are already on campus) and

industry reps (who may not be able to take two hours of work off in the middle of the day).

◦ The current plan is a three-hour workshop:

▪ Hour 1: Peer-review of resumes and elevator speeches.

▪ Hour 2: Presentations (list is tentative, no commitments have been made)

• Ann Schmierer (OSU Advantage) on the hiring process and importance of resumes

and networking

• Marion Moore (OSU Career Development Center) showcasing the services CDC can

provide

• 2-3 Industry representatives presenting their take on the hiring process and/or keys

to getting a job in industry. Given the diversity of the post-doc community, it would

be ideal to include representatives from biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry as

well as the engineering/physical sciences sector.

▪ Hour 3: Mini round table sessions, with experts providing feedback on resumes and

networking skills. For this to be effective, management of the groups is essential, in

order to avoid over-loaded and under-utilized groups.

◦ A room in the LaSells Stewart Center or the CH2M HILL Alumni Center might be best for

workshop.

» HP visit

◦ Linnéa is in contact with HP representatives.

◦ We need to make a few decisions for planning to proceed:

▪ Date – mid-May? (ideally it would be not too long after the Workshop)

▪ Format?

OSU Postdoctoral Association

Oregon State University

300 Kerr Administration Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon 97331

http://oregonstate.edu/opa

• Lab tours

• Talk with / presentation by HR about how to get hired at HP?

• Informational interviews

▪ Size? A smaller group of 10-12 participants seems ideal.

3. New business

» Linnéa is co-ordinating with International Scholar and Faculty Services (ISFS) on an event in early

April. The event will focus on a variety of topics relevant for international post-docs (e.g.

immigration, documentation, visa issues).

» A certification program, per suggestion from January 27 meeting with Brian Wall and Ann

Schmierer, was briefly discussed.

» A future event focused on policy-oriented jobs is still supported, but should be considered for

later in the year (i.e. fall term).

» There is a career fair hosted by the Career Development Center on February 18. If it is open to

post-docs, the event should be advertised to the post-doc community, ideally through the Office

of Postdoctoral Programs. Jeff has e-mailed the contact person (Talley Richardson) to see if

post-docs can attend.

» The next IEP meeting will be in early March.