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Professional service - How to make it work

for you?

Barbara G. Ryder, Rutgers University

Jan E. Cuny, University of Oregon & NSF

Lori A. Clarke, University of Massachusetts

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Personal History (Ryder)• ACM

– ACM Lecturer, 1985-88

– SIGPLAN Exec Committee member 1989-1993, 1997-1999; Vice Chair for Conferences, 1993-95; Chair, 1995-97

– Member-at-large on ACM Council, 2000-

– General Chair, FCRC 2003• CRA Member Board of Directors, 2000-

2002

• Editorships– ACM Toplas 2001-; IEEE TSE 2004-; IEEE

Software 1989-1992; SP&E 2004- ;

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Learning Experiences

• ACM– ACM Lecturer, 1985-88

– SIGPLAN Exec Committee member 1989-1993, 1997-1999; vice chair, 1993-95; chair, 1995-97

– Member-at-large on ACM Council, 2000-

– General Chair, FCRC 2003

Public speaking skills

How to lead? How to organize meetings?How to be effective on a national level?

Working on profession-wide goals

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Learning Experiences

• CRA Member Board of Directors, 2000-2002

• Editorships– ACM Toplas 2001-; IEEE TSE 2004-;

IEEE Software 19xx-19yy; SP&E 2004-

Bi-annual Snowbird meetings;Lobbying Congress for CS&E research funding

Maintaining quality for published research;Encouraging others to contribute (reviewers);Learning to make tough decisions;

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Pros -- Why do it?• Personal satisfaction

– Contributing to profession outside your own institution

• Making national/international contacts– Meet interesting people and travel

• Learning to take a leadership role– Personal growth

• Effecting change• Prestige for you and your institution

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Personal History (Cuny)

• CRA-W– Careers Workshop Chair, ‘94-96– CRA-W CoChair, ‘96-99– DMP Mentor, ‘94-’03– Best Practices on Grad R&R Booklet, ‘00– Funding Czar,’99-’02– R&R Grad School Survey, ‘02-– Grad Cohort CoChair, ‘03-’05– CAPP CoChair, ‘03-’05

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Personal History (Cuny)• CRA

– Undergrad Awards Chair, ‘97.’98,’99– Board of Directors, ‘00-’05– Haberman Award Chair, ‘00,’05– Vice Chair, Executive Committee, ‘01-’05

• NSF– Review & COV panelist, ‘93, ‘94, ‘96, ‘96,

‘97, ‘97, ‘97,’99– Program Director, Broadening

Participation in Computing, ‘04-

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Personal History (Cuny)• Committees/Boards

– NCWIT Leadership Team, ABI Advisory Board, CDC Executive Board

• Conferences– Graph Grammars & their relation to CS,

‘94; SIGMETRICS Symposium on Parallel & Distributed Tools, ‘98; Best Practices in Recruiting and Retaining Women in CS&E

– Grace Hopper Celebration‘04 Program Chair & ‘ 06 General Chair

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NSF• IPA/Rotator• Program Director

Design Program; Write Solicitation; Promote Program, Answer Questions; Review Proposals, Monitor Awards

• Pros Opportunity to have an impact; Meet great

people; See lots of friends; Attend great talks; Travel; Live in D.C.

• Cons– Travel; Live in D.C.; Bureaucracy; Maintain 2 lives

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Pros --Why do it?

• Everything Barbara said, plus• Networking, Inspiration, Friends!

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Personal History (Clarke)

• CRA– Board of Directors, 99-– Vice Chair 05-07, Executive Committee 04-– Career mentoring workshop chair 02,04– Congressional visits– Snowbird program committee 04– Undergraduate award committee 01,02

• CRA-W: DMP, funding czar• ACM

– SIGSOFT: past chair 97-01; chair93-97, vice chair 89-93, sec-treas 85-89

– National Lecturer 82-84– SIGPlan nominating committee 77,79

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Personal History (Clarke)• IEEE

– Pubsboard 00-01– EIC search committee 01, chair 05– Special Editor– Assoc editor: TOPLAS 88-94, TSE 95-2000– Distinguished Lecturer 80-83

• NSF: CCR advisory board 88-92, numerous panels• Conferences

– General Chair ICSE 03, program chair 92– General and program chair TAV86– NUMEROUS program committees: International

Conference on Software Engineering, Foundations of Software Engineering, International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (Testing Analysis and Verification)

– Career workshops and doctoral symposiums

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Pros --Why do it?

• Everything that Barbara and Jan said, plus want to make things better– Shouldn’t just complain about a

problem, need to fix it– Pick your fights carefully

•Build consensus

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Cons (especially before

promotion)• Additional pressure on already tough

balancing act– Time commitment– Travel commitment

• Risk of being seen as “not a serious researcher”

• If you are a successful volunteer, you will have to learn to say NO– I.e., when you want something done, ask a busy

person to do it!

• Run the risk of being ‘volunteered’ more often as a female academic– The ‘we need a girl on the committee’ syndrome

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Cons

• Select your activities carefully– E.g., for-profit publishers, third rate

conferences

• If you make a commitment, need to do a good job