Is it arrogant for me to do this ?

[adel9216]

Hello,

I was selected this year for two very prestigious fellowships (one national and the other international). My Alma mater (Principal) even sent me a congratulations email for one of them, but my current university did not do any public announcement which surprises me. They are probably unaware of the news. Is it arrogant to send them the info myself ? I sincerely believe it is worth mentioning in an announcement, but nobody seems to aware for some reason.

[adel9216]

I sent it to my department. We'll see what happens. Women need to stop being modest about these things.

I noticed they did public announcements for students who win fellowships in previous years. One of them, the international one, I don't believe it's ever happened that any student at my university ever got that fellowship. So It's definetely worth letting them know.

I think they won't hit me because I sent them a short email about it lol

[Hegemony]

Yes, of course you let them know. Otherwise they have no way to keep track of all that kind of thing. Glad you did so.

[ergative]

This is a good thing to do, and not just for reasons of self-promotion. Your department/university has a stake in helping students get these kinds of fellowships, and knowing that they have a successful applicant in their midst means they can send future potential applicants to you for advice. You don't need to mentor future applicants, but it takes no time at all to send them your own application materials so they know what a successful application looks like.

I got a nice fellowship my last year of my PhD, and for several years after that I would get emails from people who wanted advice as they prepared their own applications. Advertising your success helps everyone, not just you.

[polly_mer]

Yes, of course you let them know. Otherwise they have no way to keep track of all that kind of thing. Glad you did so.

Yes, this is standard practice.

[Vkw10]

Good news like this should be shared, both because it reflects well on you and on your advisor, department, university. Some people avoid self-promotion because they don't want to appear to brag. You simply forward the award email with a brief cover note:

Dear [Name], I'd like to share some great news with you. I've been awarded [whatever]. I appreciate all the support you've given me to reach this point in my career. Please share this news with others who may be interested. Sincerely,  NotArrogant

Thanking your advisor, department chair, dean, or whoever is gracious and makes them want to follow your suggestion to share news. In my college, we have a well-established tradition of bragging on our students and faculty via the department mailing list, with emails beginning "please join me in congratulating...." The chair forwards the most prestigious items to the dean, for potential inclusion on college website and forwarding to university marketing. Sharing this sort of news helps your advisor, department, and university, so please share.

[dr_codex]

Echoing the need to share.

Also, let whomever sit responsible for Communications or Media Relations know. They are always looking for faculty to field questions from outside the institution, and for pieces to put in various publications that you probably never read.

Congratulations!

[Ruralguy]

Starting a few years ago my college began a web entry form for announcements related to scholarship. There's no vetting, so it can be anything. Some people announce meeting participation, some announce books that got published, and others announce grants and fellowships.  Occasionally, if its prestigious enough, the College media office will also do some sort of write up. So, there's an element of self promotion for sure, but its really just information about your accomplishments. At my school, endowed professorships and such partly depend on getting outside recognition, so this kind of promoting can be quite profitable (although at that level, f course, they'd look at CV's and other college records)!
But honestly, its not arrogant, its just what you do.

[traductio]

Good on you for asking this question now! I was ten years past my PhD before I realized I had to let people know when I did things worth publicizing. I should have figured that out a lot earlier.

[Wahoo Redux]

For a time I worked in university P.R.   

One of our consistent frustrations was that faculty and admin would fail to contact us with any good material.   

Good to let them know.

[ciao_yall]

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

Congratulations!

[clean]

Yes, you should send the news to your chair, dean and the university PR folks.  Make sure that they know what you were awarded  (the level of the honor). They should then email it to the faculty and process the news. 
IF they dont, that would be disappointing and telling. 

But it is up to you to do a lot of the work for this!  Tell them everything about the award that is relevant.  How were you selected?  Who else has won (if they would know the names)? 

[adel9216]

It's reassuring to hear all of you !I wasn't sure lol! I'm glad to hear it's common practice or that it should be ! :)

Thanks for all your your kind words.

[adel9216]

Good news like this should be shared, both because it reflects well on you and on your advisor, department, university. Some people avoid self-promotion because they don't want to appear to brag. You simply forward the award email with a brief cover note:

Dear [Name], I'd like to share some great news with you. I've been awarded [whatever]. I appreciate all the support you've given me to reach this point in my career. Please share this news with others who may be interested. Sincerely,  NotArrogant

Thanking your advisor, department chair, dean, or whoever is gracious and makes them want to follow your suggestion to share news. In my college, we have a well-established tradition of bragging on our students and faculty via the department mailing list, with emails beginning "please join me in congratulating...." The chair forwards the most prestigious items to the dean, for potential inclusion on college website and forwarding to university marketing. Sharing this sort of news helps your advisor, department, and university, so please share.

Yes, I wrote something along those lines in my email :)

[Wahoo Redux]

W00T!!!