History

The society was formed following a meeting called by Eileen Anderson-Fye mid-2004. Graham Davies setup a dynamic website for the society and soon several career and social events were organized by a core team of half-a-dozen postdocs.

In December 2004 the society became a registered student organization, drafted a constitution and elected officers. The society's name was changed from SPS to SoPS, or Society of Postdoctoral Scholars to avoid confusion with UCLA's Student Psychological Services.

In 2005 SoPS secured a budget with the assistance of the Graduate Division to fund activities relevant to postdocs. To date we have used this money to provide refreshments at workshops, pay professional speakers, fund travel to UC Council of Postdoctoral Scholars meetings and pay for a summer BBQ.

In the intervening time SoPS has grown steadily with the help of a few willing volunteers. SoPS officers and committee members have arranged numerous events, many of which were filmed and are available on this site for viewing.

Our Mission

Our mission is to enhance the postdoctoral experience at UCLA by providing resources to aid postdoctoral scholars with their professional and personal development. We aim to provide information and support on a range of topics including career advancement, financial support, and childcare/family issues. We are also focused on representing postdoctoral causes to the university administration. In addition, we would like to facilitate social interaction between postdocs at UCLA, with the goal of building a community who can benefit from each others’ knowledge and experiences.

Membership

Anyone is eligible for membership, simply create an account on this website using the registration form. We also encourage you to join the uclapostdoc-l mailing list. This list is reserved for official postdoc-related announcements only and is very low volume (at most a few messages per week).

Officers and Committees

The society is run by a President and 5 Vice Presidents who chair committees dedicated to promoting Advocacy, Business and Entrepreneurial Development, Career Development, Communications and Social Activities. Any SoPS member can serve on the Executive Committee and elections are held every year. Positions often open up during the year so please don't hesitate to contact us if you are interested in becoming more involved.

Committee meetings are held on a roughly monthly basis and all SoPS members and UCLA postdocs are encouraged to attend. Times and locations of meetings are published on this site. For more information about each committee see the Committee Guide.

Reasons for helping out

• Boost your resume with team-building, leadership and entrepreneurial skills
• Help your fellow postdocs, especially those from other countries, who may benefit from your knowledge and experience
• Learn organizational skills by helping to arrange an event on campus.
• Interact with high ranking UCLA administors and faculty to influence how postdocs are treated and viewed.
• Meet new people and see experience life beyond your lab.

Website

This SoPS website is a collaborative project to provide information of interest to UCLA postdocs. The society is run by postdocs and everyone is encouraged to post messages to our forum, join our mailing lists and get involved. We hold regular career development and social events so check back here often. If you have any comments or suggestions you can send the officers a direct message. For more general postdoc information you should visit the Graduate Division Postdoc Site. To post a message to our forum please login or create an account (use guest & postdoc if you don't want to create an account) and then choose a forum here.