First, find your postdocs...

When I arrived at Georgetown University (GU) in Washington in 2001, I went to have my photo taken for a university discount card. The clerks asked my name, and whether I was a student. I told them I was a postdoctoral fellow and they responded with a blank stare. Then they asked me if I taught classes, which would qualify me as a faculty member. Clearly, this was the first that they had heard the word postdoc. This incident was telling. In starting up a postdoc organization, the most difficult task is simply finding the postdocs. Most are not considered to be ‘real’ university employees, so they are lost in translation somewhere between the accounting office and the lab, never making it to human resources.

After attending the inaugural National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) meeting in Berkeley, California, last year, I began establishing the Georgetown University Postdoctoral Association (GUPDA) with the help of my co-chair, Paul Lea. By far the most difficult task continues to be identifying the names of GU postdocs. To find them, we had to come up with some creative strategies.

We started with a list of 20 or so postdocs in my department and asked the university for enough money to hold a barbecue. We posted flyers that didn't give the location, but which asked for an RSVP. This way, we accumulated the e-mail addresses of a lot more postdocs. About 50 postdocs came, and we collected more e-mails.

One by one I added the names and e-mail addresses to an e-mail list server. Within three months the group had grown to more than 200 postdocs, with half of them turning out for our biggest barbecue yet. Through networking, creating the e-mail list and continuing to post flyers for events, we have expanded our base.

Next we created a website, rallied support from faculty members and high-level administrators, and became a chartered organization. Now that we are ‘official’, we've found that the difficulty of finding all postdocs on campus rolls over to two other challenges — getting postdocs involved in the organization, and keeping it alive after Paul and I leave. Both could be even more difficult than knowing the exact number of postdocs at GU — a question that remains unanswered.

→ http://gupda.georgetown.edu