Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Summer Letters

You would think that summer would be a time when I did not have to pore over anyone's CV or read letters of reference and such, but no; not this summer (or last summer or, apparently, next summer).

So, I read 58 letters of reference this summer. For the most part, these were the usual "X is great, blah blah blah" letters, so when there was something a bit different, that something really stood out. For example, after reading one particular letter, I wondered

WHO WRITES THIS KIND OF THING IN A PROFESSIONAL LETTER OF REFERENCE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF A PROFESSOR OF SCIENCE?:

Bob and his wife have spent many vacations over the years in Bavaria, organizing their walking routes to coincide with the locations of breweries.

Apparently someone does write this kind of thing; I saw it with my own eyes.

Why would I care that Bob likes beery Bavarian rambles, or even that he has a wife? Was the letter writer grasping for things to mention about Bob? Was the letter writer drunk on Bavarian beer when writing the letter? Are we supposed to think that Bob is a cool guy? Oh how we wish we could go hiking in Bavaria with a wife and drink beer, just like Bob?

The Bob-Bavaria-beer statement was completely irrelevant to the purpose of the reference letter. The letters were for moderately senior to very senior professors being nominated for an award related only to research accomplishments. The nominees need not have any hobbies or interests outside of research, and need not have any particular interest in Bavaria or beer. We, the committee reading the letters, need to be convinced that the nominee's research accomplishments are enduring, extensive, and awesome; that's all.

22 comments:

  1. perhaps the point is that bob has diverse research interests since he enjoys researching breweries in bavaria? LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  2. By chance was this from someone in engineering?

    Perhaps this is just my experience (undergrad coursework in ChemE, acquaintances with EE degrees), but I seem to run across ppl in engineering disciplines who have an interest in beer - both drinking and brewing. And from conversations I've heard in my current bldg, it's a good networking topic. *shrug* I guess it beats talking about the weather?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read a reference letter for a postdoc that mentioned how well the postdoc took care of the pets while the letter writer was away, and that the postdoc is a delight to travel with.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe the statement wanted to demonstrate the ability of the professor to generate optimal routes that satisfy multi-objective criteria for optimization? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. FSP, you just don't know how to read a fucken LOR. This was obviously meant as an allegorical comment on Bob's inability to make truly creative advances. When he walks through the landscape of scientific discovery, he always keeps his path close to the known methodological and theoretical constructs (i.e., the Bavarian breweries), rather than having the courage and fortitude to explore unkown territory and make novel discoveries. Bob only finds what he already knows he is looking for.

    ReplyDelete
  6. uhm.... this is pretty hard to fathom! Maybe letter writer was messing with bob - he/she but Bavaria-Beer stuff in to see if it would come out the other then (in interview conversations or something). It seems it was notable enough to grab your attention! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I once read that human resources departments have their own secret language when writing letters of reference. Everyone in Austria has the right to receive such a letter from his/her employer, but it must not contain something negative.
    For example, he/she likes to hang out with the people from the office and people come to him/her with their problems means something like he/she likes to gossip. So by saying something superficially positive, they really convey some negative information to the reader of the letter who knows the secret language, viz. another human resources department.
    When they speak about how he/she likes to relax after work with people from the office in the next bar, it could mean he/she is an alcoholic.
    So although this is of course completely irrelevant for research accomplishments, the writer of this particular letter could have had something like this in mind when he/she mentioned beer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Perhaps he is interested in voluptuous breasted Bavarian beer maids.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree that for your purpose mentioning this gentleman's hobbies was extraneous, but for other letters of reference, I can see how those kind of endorsements would be useful. For example, if I am hiring a new professor or a new post-doc for my department or lab, I know that I have to live with that person everyday for a long time. It's nice to know that they know how to be sociable. We all know that isn't a universal characteristic among science folk...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, at least it isn't "Mary is an excellent baker and brings wonderful baked goods to department meetings. In addition, she is so helpful when I have to bring my kids to work!".

    ReplyDelete
  11. Was the letter writer from Europe?I'm asking because a colleague from Europe shared her CV with me and the last part had a section "Hobbies". Apparently this is very important in Europe because they want to make sure you are not just a bookish type.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Perhaps the person writing the letter was sleep-deprived and/or on heavy medication? I could see throwing that in there if you are going on lack of sleep, writing a lot of those letters, and are running out of things to say. That's my best guess.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The best one I read was from the chair of a chemistry department in a small university in India, who recommended one of his faculty for an assistant professor position in our university on the basis that "he is very good at respecting authority and following orders".

    ReplyDelete
  14. If I saw a comment about brewery tours in Bavaria or the like in a letter of recommendation, I would interpret this to mean that the letter writer does not have enough good things to say about the candidate's scientific qualifications.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think I agree with CPP on this one : it sounded like a red flag statement to me that Bob will do the same thing over and over instead of venturing into new territory. He likes the familiar, the planned, the known. The unusual or unexpected doesnt work wrll for him. Either that or the person writing it has never had to evaluate a LOR before? Maybe they had NO IDEA what to write..

    ReplyDelete
  16. Could this make sense on Gricean grounds? Perhaps the recommender means that there is nothing true and good that (s)he could say about Bob's research.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Haha, the writer is probably having him or herself a laugh. The writer probably assumed that readers don't thoroughly read recs or wanted to catch the reader's attention who happened to read it. Perhaps not the best way to "stand out" but kind of funny.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Entertaining. Two guesses: (i) letter was written quickly and/or (ii) adapted from an earlier one for a different audience.

    A question: How important are letters for something like this? Doesn't the work speak for itself?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Stuck in your mind, though, didn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm with those who would take it as a flag for further inquiry. Either the author thought it was appropriate, useful, and positive information or it was intended as a politely-coded warning. I'd want to find out which before hiring the person. As others have pointed out, it could well be either.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Maybe the letter writer figured the nominee was a shoe-in for the award, and that he may as well throw in some lighthearted background info that folks introducing the award winner at award acceptance time might use? People like to hear a "humanizing" fact or two about somebody winning an award.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds negative to me. On the other hand, perhaps it is Old Boys talk to say that Bob Is All Right. Bob has a good wife at home and he is not threatening.

    ReplyDelete