next »

[Ms Etty Kett]

I just got a t-t job and want to thank those who wrote me letters of reference and who also spent a lot of time talking with the search committee members about my qualifications. It seems to me that these individuals played an important role in helping me get this job. I thought a small gift would be appropriate. I want the gift to be useful to them, yet not embarrassingly ostentatious and expensive. (I'm in the social sciences, if that helps; and no, they aren't my graduate advisors -- they are my colleagues and dept chairs.) Any ideas?

[%sig%]

[local]

How about something small and typical for the area where you will work. I am assuming that you'll move, so you could write a note letting them know your new address, thanking them for their help to get there and a small gift.

[Senior Scholar]

What local suggests -- something typical of the new locale, whether it be a food item, a craft item, or something from the gift shop of a local museum -- is exactly the kind of gift I've been given several times, appreciated, and not felt embarassed by. (Indeed, I'm looking right now at something from the Southwest that sits on top of the stack of paper reams to the right of my desk, and which always makes me think of its giver.)

[anon]

A handwritten thank you note usually suffices. One tradition is to give everyone a signed copy of your dissertation or first book.

[Ms Etty Kett]

Thanks for your ideas so far . . . Is it okay if I wait until I've relocated to send the gifts? (Originally, I had thought of dropping the gifts by their offices at the end of this semester, this week). . . Or is the idea of a gift "overkill" -- and the last post's point of just sending a hand-written thank you note a more accepted way of saying "thanks"?

[40P]

Barnes and Noble gift card

[anon]

I'd assume you want to say a few personal words to these people who have helped you? Again, how well do you know them? Whaat's the CONTEXT of each relationship? Easy enough to drop the presents by on your way out of town to say a personal farewell and thank you. OR a very nice note afterwards, including the thanks and your new address and a hope you'll stay in touch, if you do feel that way. I think you're worrying about this act of simple gratitutde too much--just do it!

[Senior Scholar]

I'd nix the gift card idea: anything with a cash value is embarrassing to senior faculty, since we are aware that we earn a heck of a lot more than recent grad students/junior faculty. That's why EITHER a sincere note (on a really attractive card, perhaps one from a local museum or a gift shop that has unusual/hand-painted notecards) or a local gee-gaw from the place you move to (sent mid-fall, after you've settled in) creates nice memories.

And of course for the chair of your dissertation committee (not, I understand, the question here), the copy of your first book with a sloppy sentimental inscription is absolutely essential -- and much more exciting at this stage of my career than yet another publication of my own.

[tacky]

I know it is common these days, but I find gift cards incredibly tacky. If you can't take enough time to personally pick a gift for someone you supposedly care about enough to make a gift - just don't bother. There are exceptions of course. But this is not one of them. Your references probably have enough money to buy anything they want. A personal memory is much more valuable.

[history grrrl]

I just emailed my department administrator about what to get my advisor (we're friends and she's also very close to my advisor), since I haven't been around for the last five years. She suggested a bottle of bourbon and even told me the brand!

[%sig%]

[squidward]

A good bottle of wine.  That is, if you know they drink and know what they like.  This is a thank you gesture as well as a celebration, after all.

[to history grrrl and squidward]

I totally agree, but only if you are sure the person in question is not a recovering alcoholic or a miltant non-drinker.