Is it arrogant for me to do this ?

[Parasaurolophus]

Excellent! Well done!

[AJ_Katz]

Congratulations on the recognition!  Yes, definitely contact someone at your university/college communications office.  They might even ask you to write the article (which you should so that facts are correct).  You might also ask if they have someone who can get your photo in the lab, office, classroom, or wherever you do your work. 

If someone nominated you for these recognitions, you might also send them a thank you note and a copy of the article once it comes out.

[TreadingLife]

If you aren't going to brag on yourself, who will?

Congratulations!

This!

[kaysixteen]

Remind me how it is that bragging about oneself is supposed to be acceptable?   You got the award, congrats.   Telling others about it privately is one thing, though even that is pretty darn prideful, but arranging for campus-wide publicity, let alone placement on the website, really is just prideful bragging about oneself. 

[Ruralguy]

I think informing Chair or Dean and asking PR if they want to do a release is just SOP almost everywhere.
It might be a form of bragging, but in the context of a typical academic career, it's completely acceptable.

[arcturus]

Remind me how it is that bragging about oneself is supposed to be acceptable?   You got the award, congrats.   Telling others about it privately is one thing, though even that is pretty darn prideful, but arranging for campus-wide publicity, let alone placement on the website, really is just prideful bragging about oneself. 

This is very bad career advice. It is so bad that I hope it is just some form of humor that I am not understanding through the written text.

It is important to inform people of major career milestones, including receiving awards, grants, significant publications, etc. It is not bragging. It is letting people know that you accomplished something. Your career is built by a series of accomplishments. If people do not know of your accomplishments, you cannot build on them effectively. That said, should you work it into every conversation with everyone in the department? No. That would get tiresome. But should you inform relevant people (your research advisor, the department chair, those who wrote you letters or otherwise support your career aspirations)? Absolutely.

My department maintains a web page where we boast about the accomplishments of our students (and, sometimes, faculty and alumni). This lets us recognize their accomplishments, and serves as a recruiting tool, as it highlights what our students are doing. Sadly, some names appear rarely, in part because they appear to be reluctant to tell us what they have done. In this context, I would state that it is almost your responsibilty to tell people of your accomplishments.

[polly_mer]

Remind me how it is that bragging about oneself is supposed to be acceptable?   You got the award, congrats.   Telling others about it privately is one thing, though even that is pretty darn prideful, but arranging for campus-wide publicity, let alone placement on the website, really is just prideful bragging about oneself.

People who are in the success circles aren't 'pridefully bragging' when they check the box of notifying relevant people of expected milestones that mark the individual as belonging in the circle.

At good levels of success, getting an award/scholarship/fellowship every so often is normal and expected behavior.  It's hardly bragging to flatly state 'yes, I met expected success milestone X on <date>'.

People who don't meet the milestones or who meet the milestones and never report in tend to be excluded from the success circles when membership is reevaluated.

If you're waiting for others to recognize your fabulousness as you hide out from the success circles, then you're going to be waiting a long time.

[ergative]

Remind me how it is that bragging about oneself is supposed to be acceptable?   You got the award, congrats.   Telling others about it privately is one thing, though even that is pretty darn prideful, but arranging for campus-wide publicity, let alone placement on the website, really is just prideful bragging about oneself.

There are two different worlds coming into conflict here: social and professional. Things that that are acceptable in one don't always work in the other.

Example: If your friend asks you for a favor that will take up your Saturday, you  can agree or not, but you don't ask to be paid (except maybe in lunch or beer). If your boss asks for a favor that takes up your Saturday, you make sure that you are either being paid overtime, or properly compensated in some way.

Example: If you are chatting with a new person at a cocktail party, you don't ask how much they get paid. If you are being interviewed for a job, you damn well better talk about salary.

So: When you meet someone new socially it would be prideful bragging to say, 'Nice to meet you! I'm Adel9216, and I just won an awesome award.' But at your university, it's appropriate to send an email to the PR person and say, 'I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Adel9216, and I just won an awesome award.'

Yes, applying professional standards of behavior to social situations turns you into a (prideful, bragging) jerk. But the reverse is just as bad. Applying social standards of behavior to professional situations will cripple your career.

[larryc]

Don't hide your candle under a basket.

[downer]

The OP's question has been asked, answered, and the OP has acted.

There is the more general issue of how much to self-promote. The answer is obviously: a fair amount. That's all the more true now that conferences are cancelled or being cut back.

Most academics should have their own web page, updated with lists of recent work and achievements.
If you belong to an academic group that has its own newsletter, then it is good to notify the editor of big achievements.
Tell your university news service of your achievements.
It's also good to have an academic Twitter account where you interact with people in your field, and post recent work and achievements.
For many fields there's also a lot going on in Facebook.

There is an issue about how to find balance. People who post about every time the do a peer review of a paper get tiresome. If you publish a lot, you may not need to make a spectacle of each paper that comes out.

It's also part of being a community, so you are facilitating interaction with others. If you promote your own work, you should also do something to promote the work of your students and close colleagues.

[polly_mer]

It's also part of being a community, so you are facilitating interaction with others. If you promote your own work, you should also do something to promote the work of your students and close colleagues.

Advice for early career folks: 

Read the newsletters that come out in your various professional communities and then email/call each person who you know well enough that they won't say 'who?'.  For example,

Dear Adel,

Congrats on your fellowships (per the announcement on the fora)!

It's great to see your hard work being recognized.  That offer to study abroad is very cool and I know you'll learn a lot on the trip.


Best,

Polly

Regularly recognizing other people and having them recognize you is being part of the community.  For a fair number of goodies in a given community, there won't be a general call for applications.  Instead, a small committee of people will assemble a short list and ask people on the list to interview for a position or will just plain pick the winners of awards/fellowships/goodies. 

If no one in power views you as a solid, if new, community member based on activities open to all, then you'll never get tapped for the goodies that require nominations and are not open to all.


For example, in the past month, I've been:

* contacted about my interest in a job interview based on the selection committee assembling a short list of good candidates with no job ad.  There was no application at all, just the phone call offering me an interview and then the interview.

* contacted about my interest in running for an officer position in an organization I just joined because people in the organization know of my significant officer experience in professional organizations.

* forwarded two advertised positions by colleagues who encouraged me to apply because my colleagues are on the selection committee and the current pool of applicants is very thin for these positions that would be a great fit for me, even though I'm not actually on the market.

* contacted by sponsors who already fund my work and hope I can find the time to work more on their project.

* contacted by a journal about becoming an associate editor.

* offered multiple opportunities to speak at various venues.

* offered multiple opportunities to collaborate on new publications and projects.


At a given level of success in the community, the problem is often a matter of saying no to many of the great opportunities offered because there's not enough time for everything.  Some of those opportunities are not available to new members of the community, but people who aren't being offered those opportunities in late grad school/early postdoc won't be getting certain jobs because their CV won't indicate being part of the relevant success circle.

[kaysixteen]

Putting awards on one's cv as one searches for work ain't at all the same as asking the campus PR flack to brag about you to your colleagues.  What is it that you gain by having such bragging take place, and why is it different from 'look at me, I just won an award, tell me how wonderful I am, those who did not win the award'?

[downer]

Putting awards on one's cv as one searches for work ain't at all the same as asking the campus PR flack to brag about you to your colleagues.  What is it that you gain by having such bragging take place, and why is it different from 'look at me, I just won an award, tell me how wonderful I am, those who did not win the award'?

In the collective, a win for one is a win for all.

[polly_mer]

What is it that you gain by having such bragging take place, and why is it different from 'look at me, I just won an award, tell me how wonderful I am, those who did not win the award'?

If you're doing it right, then your colleagues are also routinely winning awards and doing other things indicating how you're all advancing human knowledge together.  Unlike a sporting contest, there are lots of awards, keynotes, publication opportunities, etc, going around on a near monthly basis. 

First-rate people are happy for other first-rate people to get an award because of the value in 'let's all be awesome together'.  Having a productive community is a highly desirable state.  When the need for something special to happen arises, no one solicits CVs as the first step.  Instead, one contacts the people who immediately come to mind as good workers with the relevant skills and interests.

Even the academic job search at elite enough institutions is much more about picking among the known people than really reading through the slush pile of strangers.

Second-rate people hire and otherwise surround themselves with third-rate people to avoid being upstaged.  That's a far less pleasant operating condition than being part of a successful circle of people who are regularly doing things that are worthy of praise.

[Volhiker78]

The OP's question has been asked, answered, and the OP has acted.

There is the more general issue of how much to self-promote. The answer is obviously: a fair amount. That's all the more true now that conferences are cancelled or being cut back.

Most academics should have their own web page, updated with lists of recent work and achievements.
If you belong to an academic group that has its own newsletter, then it is good to notify the editor of big achievements.
Tell your university news service of your achievements.
It's also good to have an academic Twitter account where you interact with people in your field, and post recent work and achievements.
For many fields there's also a lot going on in Facebook.

There is an issue about how to find balance. People who post about every time the do a peer review of a paper get tiresome. If you publish a lot, you may not need to make a spectacle of each paper that comes out.

It's also part of being a community, so you are facilitating interaction with others. If you promote your own work, you should also do something to promote the work of your students and close colleagues.

+1.   And much more important for the new faculty.  Opens up  possibilities of future collaborative efforts as others read about your achievements. Also reflects well on the department for hiring you.  Win/win for everyone.