3.12.2009

The Invisible ESA Award: Ten Months and Counting

For those who are unaware, I applied for an ESA award in May 2008. The Forrest Shreve Award to be exact. It is sponsored by the Desert section of ESA. Full of nice people, I'm sure. I attended the ESA conference in Milwaukee (missing only by hours meeting my internet boyfriend). Award winners were published in the ESA program for most of the other section awards, but not for the Desert section.

I waited until mid-August to inquire about the winner. I contacted the person to whom I submitted my application. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

I wrote the same guy again in October. [crickets]

Not wanting to appear, you know, anxious, I sat on this for a while. I remembered that I hadn't heard anything when ESA began to send me reminder notices about re-upping my membership. So I called the folks in Washington. I was given contact information for the head of mucky-muck something or other, so I emailed this person. That was three weeks ago. Nothing. Not a peep.

So I called Washington again. They suggested I talk to one of their staff, who was out to lunch. They couldn't take a message because they don't have voice mail. [waits for the concept to sink in]

I know. I'm thinking the same thing.

So I sent another email. Can you guess what happened next? That's right. Nothing.

My hero and internet boyfriend, D-fav J, happens to know the current Prez of ESA and mentioned this to her. Still, nothing. But I'm not without hope. Just thought I'd let you know where your hard-earned membership dollars are going over at ESA. Needless to say, I haven't renewed my membership and don't intend to until I hear from these folks with an answer.
I'm such a rebel.

1 comment:

  1. ESA awards are managed by volunteers. The last volunteer to do it was snoozing, frankly. I am currently handling the Shreve Award (and some others) and we are BACK ON TRACK. The Prez did hear the complaints and handed the job over to someone reliable, that's me. Jessica Gurevitch, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University. These awards are now being, well, awarded on a regular basis. Yes, I loved your blog.

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