Sending Prof $$?

[AlairaK]

Okay...sooo... awhile ago I e-mailed the prof with whom I'll be working and asked if I could start my research a bit early from afar.

He sent me some exercises to familiarize myself with the work and research and then asked me to let him know if I needed any extra documents to help me understand the exercises.

I'm figuring like...papers he's published, etc.

Well I said yes and today he forwards me an amazon.com confirmation for a book that he wrote that he bought on amazon and sent me for about ($50).

I feel really unsure if I should just mail him a check, or what. It's obvious to me that he doesn't EXPECT me to pay him back, but......should I? As a gesture?

My friend, who is going into a Chemistry PhD program says professors do that all the time, using departmental and grant money and it really is not out of the ordinary and I should not treat it as such.

Although...I know chemistry programs in general are better funded than psych...

So I am torn between seeming rude for not at least offering to reimburse him and seeming like an uninformed novice for not realizing that it is very normal for professors to do this sort of thing...

What should I do??

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[JockNerd]

Thank you card, handwritten and mailed, is appropriate I think. I think it would be kinda rude to not do anything, but that's just me.

I wish my adviser bought me books.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

TY card, or at least an e-mail. I've had a number of profs give me books, and they never expect anything for it. Of course, some were ones they wrote, and they always had a couple around.

 

[toby jones]

Even books they wrote cost them money (Not sure how many copies you get for free but I'd be surprised if it was more than one or two). Even if you publish in a journal sometimes you only get one courtesy copy and you need to purchase additional copies yourself.

A 'thank you' seems appropriate. I would also think it would be appropriate to ask if you can reimburse him for that. I would imagine that he would say to forget about it, but I still think that offering would be a nice gesture.

Sometimes there is a central fund for that kind of thing, but othertimes it does come out of their own pockets. In my department the ethos is that professors helps subsidise students going to dinner and buy the odd round at the pub that is not reciprocated since they have a lot more money than we do. There is no central fund for that, however, and they do seem to appreciate it when we acknowledge that this is the situation. The ethos is to 'pass it forwards' to our students one day. That being said, the ethos is also to offer to reciprocate and while they mostly turn it down the offer is appreciated.

 

[AlairaK]

Thank you guys!

I will mail a thank you note and perhaps an offer of reimbursement

He did write the book, but the "shipment confirmation" he forwarded me also included the price which he paid and listed the payment type so I know it wasn't free...but I'm not sure if it was a central fund or his own money


Thanks for the advice!