Join SURPAS: Open Positions

August 16, 2024

SURPAS is looking for motivated and dedicated postdocs to join our leadership team and committees. We are also looking for SURPAS representatives. This is your opportunity to make a significant impact on the Stanford postdoc community, enhance your skills, and network with peers and university administration. Here are the positions currently open:

Leadership Team Positions

Co-Chair: As Co-Chair of SURPAS, you and your Co-Chair counterpart represent all postdocs at SURPAS meetings, meetings with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Faculty Senate meetings, etc. You also organize and lead the council meetings. To accomplish this, you work closely with the SURPAS leadership team and council, and it’s your job to ensure operations run smoothly and the teams work well.

Operations Manager: Your job is to run the internal operations of SURPAS smoothly. You schedule the council meetings, set the agenda for them in consultation with co-chairs and the Leadership, take minutes, and keep track of meeting attendance. You also keep track of the election cycles of each council member, plan and run elections for council members and leadership seats (including recruiting new interested postdocs), and maintain records of council and committee members. I would also like to let you know that you are also in charge of communicating the above items to the council members.

Advocacy Coordinator: In many ways, the advocacy coordinator is a connector position, creating bridges within the council and leadership team, as well as between postdocs and the University at large. This translates to staying up to date with issues postdocs are facing, as well as with the new initiatives and plans around the university. Along with the co-chairs, the advocacy coordinator works closely with the OPA, VPGE, and other offices around campus to ensure that postdoc voices are represented and taken into account. As part of this effort, the advocacy coordinator also oversees the activity of the SURPAS committees, with help from the rest of the leadership board.

Financial Officer: The Financial Officer is familiar with accounting procedures and policies, keeps all financial records of SURPAS, prepares an annual budget, and advises members on financial matters, and proceeds payments or reimbursements.

Community Engagement Liaison: The Liaison helps make resources of SURPAS available to all Stanford Postdocs. The Liaison works with Postdocs interested in working with SURPAS as a sponsor or mentor to help them meet all applicable rules and regulations.

Committee Co-Chair Positions

Family Committee: This committee ensures that the needs of postdocs with families are represented at SURPAS. The committee underpins a renewed drive by SURPAS to advocate for families to the university administration, to increase inclusivity at SURPAS events by hosting more family-friendly activities, and to raise awareness of resources available to members with family.

Affordability Committee: The goal of the committee is to tackle the financial challenges faced by postdocs, such as cost of living, supporting a more affordable and sustainable life at Stanford.

Social Committee: The Social Committee exists to foster a social life for postdocs here at Stanford. They help organize and plan a wide range of events from happy hours, to BBQs, to events around the Bay Area.

Representative Roles

Diversity Cabinet: Your job is to attend School of Medicine (SoM) diversity cabinet monthly meetings and create visibility for postdocs by speaking up and interacting with members of the cabinet, when appropriate. After every meeting, the postdoc representative should take notes and report back to the SURPAS leadership team. In addition, the rep will attend SoM Diversity cabinet – trainee group, every other month or as necessary to have an opportunity to check in and voice concerns directly to the Cabinet’s leaders.

School of Medicine Task Force on Research Practice and Culture: The task force aims to maximize the scientific rigor on campus, provide educational programs and training programs for open reproducibility of research, provide awards,  and design a new template to highlight open research for hiring processes. Your role, in collaboration with the team, involves assessing research training and support, overseeing data management, evaluating research practices and tools, analyzing professional incentives, and examining the overall research culture. This task force will make recommendations to the SoM. This task force currently has 10 professors and is looking to expand and include trainees. You will all meet once a month.

If you are interested in any of these positions and/or would like to know more about each position, please contact us at surpasleadership@stanford.edu