62
votes
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
I agree with @Arno and @Marianne013's answers, but - if you're joining a research team, you could consider some kind of a mass token-gift. For example: Some confection/candy from your country which ...
- 40.8k
30
votes
Accepted
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
PhD students giving gifts to their supervisors is not a part of (central) European academic culture. Thus, there should be no expectation that you bring anything.
Giving a gift with substantial ...
- 48.7k
27
votes
Accepted
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I very much prefer option (1) as a general blackboard cleaning policy, mainly for the reasons mentioned in the questions, but there are some other points:
Efficiency: Where I am, cleaning staff ...
- 39.3k
24
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
Please clean up your own mess
You could just as easily broaden your enquiry to cleaning up any resource that is used by multiple people in a communal fashion. Should I put my rubbish in the bin, or ...
- 73k
23
votes
How can I politely decline a request to join my project by a free rider professor
This is hard, especially if the professor is willing to act unethically to force his will.
One approach, that is "polite" is to say that you are sorry, but you already have the necessary ...
- 399k
22
votes
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
The short answer is no, you shouldn't.
The slightly longer answer is that it is not uncommon for students to bring their supervisors token gifts (e.g. tea, sweets etc) from their home countries at the ...
- 1,734
14
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I admit that I am firmly in camp (2) --always erase at the end and leave a clean board for the next class. But I also recognize that I'm sure some of that is just "the way we've always done it.&...
- 241
10
votes
How can I politely decline a request to join my project by a free rider professor
Frame change: You do not have to say yes/no to him joining the project. Say that you welcome his contributions.
e.g.
Dear Senior Professor,
We are happy to hear you wish to contribute to our project. ...
- 1,141
6
votes
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
Personal gifts have different meanings in different cultures.
In Central Europe, you are not expected to give gifts in this situation. First, to be acceptable, the value of a gift in Central Europe ...
- 25.3k
6
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I think @Lars Seme's answer captures my sentiments already pretty well, except that I would add the following argument:
Let's just all be good humans and do something nice for the person who comes ...
- 105k
5
votes
How to handle offers of auto-transferring a paper to another journal following a desk rejection?
Don't worry about "rudeness" as long as you are polite. The paper is yours and a publisher benefits from publishing it, given sufficient quality.
But, your alternate scheme seems sub-optimal ...
- 399k
4
votes
Accepted
How to handle offers of auto-transferring a paper to another journal following a desk rejection?
You are probably overthinking this. Springer likely has the same editorial management system configured for every journal, i.e., every journal has its own submission system. These journals don't ...
- 137k
4
votes
How appropriate is sharing a recommendation letter with a student nowadays?
Don't share. This relieves letters from the pressure to satisfy the candidate and them being confidential makes them more believable from the perspective of the recipient.
A second, less common, but ...
- 52.8k
4
votes
How to Contact a Professor on Sabbatical for a Letter of Recommendation?
Normally, department staff and/or the head of the department has a way to contact people on sabbatical. In a few situations, such as someone doing field work off the grid it might not be possible, but ...
- 399k
3
votes
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
Do not bring it to your supervisor specifically, but to the research group. I have visited and stayed with several research groups during the past few years and I always brought sweets (pre-packaged, ...
- 651
3
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I've been erasing before-and-after for decades, and counting on allowing time for it. Once-upon-a-time I tried to argue with people about whether they should erase (or not) at the end of their classes ...
- 91.2k
2
votes
How to handle offers of auto-transferring a paper to another journal following a desk rejection?
Some good answers were posted already, I would just like to add that in my experience the time-saving factor is vastly overestimated by the journals. I once went with the transfer option for an ...
- 1,380
2
votes
How appropriate is sharing a recommendation letter with a student nowadays?
I have a different view than was expressed by Captain Emacs. I don't claim that you should always show the letter, but think that it is ethically fine to do so. But ethics also assumes that you give ...
- 399k
2
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
What is the culture of your institution?
This is, in my experience, very much a matter of institutional culture. In the mathematics department where I earned my BA and MS, the culture was very much ...
- 7,062
2
votes
Should I receive an extra letter of recommendation from a non-PhD researcher?
A letter from someone that doesn't have a doctorate is much less valuable than otherwise. A good letter needs to be able to accurately predict your success in doctoral study, research, and a career in ...
- 399k
2
votes
How can I politely decline a request to join my project by a free rider professor
We are lacking some context on this question. For instance, we don't know if you have previously met with this senior department member, or whether they have made contributions to a similar area or ...
- 11k
1
vote
Should I bring a gift for my supervisor based in a university in Central Europe?
look up what you can acutally take with you... don't make a big fuss about it.
just bring something small, like 2 bars of chocolate and a big bag of candy that you liked as a kid or something.
Bring ...
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