Thank-you gifts for professors?
Posted by Anonymous on Apr 10, 2008 · Member since Dec 1969 · 11789 posts
So, I'm graduating in May and moving out of the area and want to get a small gift for the professors who have really helped me out along the way. One in particular has been amazing, and my other thesis committee members have also been great. I was thinking about maybe a small plant with a card or maybe a sponsorship in their name for one of the rescue animals I talked about in my thesis about companion animal overpopulation. Would that be too corny? I could always do baked goods, but I prefer to stay away from gift certificates.
Now, I know that I don't HAVE to get a gift and that they would just love a card/letter, but I WANT to do a little something more. Any ideas/input would be great! :)
Oh wow, kbuettne, you read my mind. I need gifts for some advisers and supervisors, and I don't think all of them have a sweet tooth. Ideas would be much appreciated!
i think the donation/sponsorship in their name to one of the animals is a great idea! especially since that's what your thesis was about. i would definitely not think it's corny. hopefully they're interested in animal rescue either naturally, or because of your work, so i wouldn't think they'd find it corny either. and even if they did, you're still thanking them, and an animal is getting sponsored too.
when i was in school i got my work-study boss an amaryills plant for christmas. it came in a nice pot and directions for growing. the entire office loved it and came around daily to check out its progress. it really grows a lot from start to finish.
another plant-related idea is one of those small indoor herb gardens, or an outdoor set of herbs, if he/she will be willing to plant it... i did this for a thesis advisor actually. i'm not sure if she liked it though, i had to give it to her while she was in a meeting and she never really mentioned it after that. :-\
My thesis was the assessment of an impaired stream. I studied the aquatic invertebrates in different parts of the stream. For my thesis committee I gave them all a hardback copy of a book on insects in and above the water and a thank you card.
I didn't give my instructors a thing. We had to break into groups my final year and do a big group project and I gave my group people gifts as a thank-god-it's-over-and-we-didn't-kill-each-other-even-though-it-came-close token. To the professors that counted, I just verbally gushed about how much their prodding and support meant to me. If an instructor always talked about something, like if there was a white board and he/she kept mentioning how cool it would be to have a certain set of colors, I might look around for that, but I don't know about a random gift. Maybe some sort of cool plant that you give to the department, so it could be in the department office?
I love the idea of an animal sponsorship - especially since it ties to your thesis and they've spent so much time reading it (and getting to know the animals). I don't think it's corny at all - rather cleaver, actually!
I love to handwrite cards/letters to people that have impacted my life in a positive way. I think there's nothing better than a heartfelt sentiment shared with someone. I've never been a professor (you'll have to ask BP about this) but as a former university administrator, the few times that students came back to thank me or tell me that I'd helped in some way was so rewarding. It made all the rough and horrible times worth it (and I would've gone without pay for a year for those words).
Just my two cents :)
:-D LMAO!!!!
I was a creative writing/lit major, so the fact I have an affinity for books isn't that big of a surprise. I gave my mentors/professors books and journals or a subscription to a magazine that I thought would interest them.
... as a former university administrator...
If you come back to this thread, does this mean you quit your stressful job?
yup. i agree. let me know i'm not the fuck up i think i am.
also, be a good student. that is all we ask for!!
1. do come to class ready and participate
2. don't play games or cheat on things
3. give a rip
my list of wishes for my students.
beautiful...I think I'll print this as "Nutdragon's rulz for success in class...." if you don't mind the plagiarism. I've had to give my "Give-a-shit will get you far in my class..." lecture twice this semester so far.
I'm only an adjunct, but truthfully having a student tell you how much that they've learned from you or, even better (this happened to me yesterday), after I returned to the room after evaluations were filled out, my class was all a buzz about how glad they were that I was teaching this semester and how much they learned. They even told me that the seniors were all jealous that they took the class last year because this class is so much better, etc...blah, blah.
In any case, it totally validated my decision to return to teaching. But a plant is nice, too....
How very thoughtful of you to even have posted this QTP. :)
HH - Yup, I quit the stressful job!!
I took a 50% pay cut to work at a Children's Museum and for the time being I'm living with my parents (okay so far - however, I'll be getting my own place hopefully soon - being 30 and living at home is not all it's cracked up to bed).
I absolutely love the new job and it's so much fun to work with kiddos aged 1-8 yo everyday! I lead field trips, do craft projects, do storytimes, and oversee the volunteers and community outreach. All in all it's pretty cool - it's 8:30-5:30 M-F and very rarely do I have to work on weekends or after hours. It's amazing :)>>>