--- Forwarded Message from Nina Garrett <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 09:45:17 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum               <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Nina Garrett <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5094 followup, re database of job descriptions
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
Responding to Samantha's suggestion for a database of language technology
job descriptions --

        I think it's a really good idea, and not only for the reasons she adduces.
 The field as a whole needs an enormous amount of consciousness-raising in
this area, and the more information we can put out there, and the more
visible we can make that information, the better.  What's so difficult is
getting to the people who publish wrong-headed job descriptions without
even realizing that IALL exists or that this is a recognized field etc.
**before** they publish their ads -- because once the ads are published
it's usually extremely difficult to recall, revise, and re-publish them.
Some years ago I received a form-letter flyer of a language lab director
job ad expressing the hope that I would apply.   The job description was
not very well conceived, and on impulse I wrote a very diffident letter to
the head of the search committee, trying very diplomatically to suggest
what the problems were.  Almost immediately on receiving my letter she
called me up to thank me, and we talked for more than half an hour.  She
said she was just an assistant professor in a language department with
purely literary training and had no idea at all how to go about a search
for such a position, and no one at her institution had any awareness of
IALL or the field.  She said that the minute she'd read my letter she'd
called the dean and persuaded him to cancel the search until she could read
up, and indeed I saw the re-posted job ad a month later.  That incident has
really stuck in my mind.   None of us can take the time to respond to every
problematic job ad, and besides, as I said, we need to get the information
to the people who frame them *beforehand.*  

        How should we do this??

        Best,
                Nina

>I got some great information on job descriptions as well, which leads me to
>a question:  has anyone ever considered making a database of language
>technology job descriptions? (indexed by duties, type of institution, etc;
>don't have to be identified by name necessarily). Seems like it might be a
>useful resource for language departments or information technology units,
>as well as a good point of reference for people like me who know the field
>well but would like some comparison points when creating new positions.
>Or/additionally, it would be useful for people like me who need to convince
>dept chairs & senior administrators that new positions of this type deserve
>appropriate salaries.  I know IALL has kept up with job announcements, but
>I'm wondering about actual job descriptions, beyond what was included in
>the Management Manual....
>
>Samantha
>
>--------------------------------
>Samantha Earp
>Director, Language Resource Center
>Dept. of Languages and Culture Studies
>University of North Carolina - Charlotte
>Charlotte, NC  28223
>
>phone: (704) 510-6876      fax:      (704) 547-3496
>e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> 

Nina Garrett
Director of Language Study
Yale University
P.O. Box 208349
New Haven, CT 06520-8349

Tel.  (203) 432-8196
Fax. (203) 432-4485
[log in to unmask] 
Campus address: Room 308, 1 Hillhouse Avenue