Women In Wetlands Section
Our mission is to advance research and the development of Women In Wetlands.
Section News and Current Events
The Annual Review Process 12/4/09
This is often the time of year when many of us start thinking about setting goals for the new year. For many of us this takes place in the form of an annual review. I am posting a note that I recently sent to the participants in the WiW Mentoring Program regarding the annual review process that many of participate in at this time of year. Even if you aren't participating in the mentoring program or if you don't participate in an annual review process, you may find this nudge to reflect on your professional development helpful.
Also, as you consider your professional development goals for the coming year and would like more information on being a mentor or a mentoree, please contact me at dball@harveyecology.com. We currently have a number of mentors available and are always looking to add both mentors and mentorees.
Happy Holiday Season to all Mentors and Mentorees!
It’s been awhile since we have communicated and I just wanted to check in with you all to see how your mentoring activities are coming and maybe to give you a nudge to get back in touch if you haven’t had the opportunity to communicate with each other in awhile.
For many professionals, this is the time of year when we are involved in self-evaluations for reviews or in the process of being reviewed by our supervisors, or maybe in the process of reviewing staff. Or for others, many of us tend to use this time of year to take stock of where we are and where we would like to go. This presents a great opportunity to communicate with your mentors/mentorees about the goal-setting process or professional development areas of interest or concern.
For graduate students, this is the time of year when some graduate students can use that extra push or encouragement to grind through classes, data analysis, or help with procrastination through the dreaded writing process. This presents an opportunity to communicate with your mentor/mentoree on how to push through this time of year and to get excited about gearing up for that next field season, data collection, hard class, or the final writing push.
Some suggestions for topics or questions that you might discuss with your mentor/mentoree:
· What skills did you gain this past year that furthered your professional growth? What skills would you like to gain in the coming year? Think of short and long term goals to help you with the acquisition of these skills.
· Did you set professional goals for yourself last year? Did you achieve those goals? If so, what helped you reach those goals (mentors, supervisors, friends, personal tenacity)? If you did not set goals, what goals could you set for yourself next year? These could include: develop better writing skills, professional advancement, finish that thesis early, to present at a conference or to publish a paper. Be creative and don’t limit yourself in the goal-setting process.
· What new responsibilities did you take on this year? Did you step up for that professional volunteer opportunity or did you offer to help on a difficult project beyond what you thought you were capable of? What new responsibilities could you take on in 2010?
These are only discussion starters. Feel free to generate your own questions and ideas. I would also encourage you to search through some of the online resources to better understand the annual review process and to use it to help beneift the development of your professional career.
Cheers,
Donna
End of Summer News 9/1/09
Where has the summer gone? Here's to hoping that everyone has had a busy and productive field season.
As you may have noticed, I have been trying to get our website up and running with general information. One of the things that we are still missing is a Logo for the Women in Wetlands Section. If you are interested in helping to design a simple logo that we can use on our website and that will help identify our Section to others, please send me an e-mail at dball@harveyecology.com
This website has been designed so that we can include current news, upcoming events, and interesting activities to help inform and encourage the development of women in wetland science. Please feel free to forward any of these types of items to me and I will try to include them on our webpage as appropriate.
Also, if you haven't yet visited the WiW blog, be sure to check it out. Karen McKee has included some great information on how to write a good abstract for a professional paper:
http://www.womeninwetlands.blogspot.com/
Enjoy the last days of summer!
Donna
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