My team (Experimental Economics) was wonderful! Our facilitator Barbara was incredibly helpful. Our senior mentor, Betsy Hoffman, was everything a mentee could ask. She had tons of useful advice on how to play the academic game (and even some insight into the administrative side of the academy). Her substantive comments on our papers were extremely useful and her procedural suggestions about how to get grants, how to get papers published, etc., really helped me in planning my activities.

Many of the junior women had known each other before the experience (I knew three out of the other four members), but at this session we offered and pledged our time and energy to reading and giving feedback on each others' work, giving professional advice and help when asked, and even offering personal support. By the end of the conference I felt I had four colleagues who were "on my side," (five, counting Betsy) who I could ask to read and comment on my papers and who would give me their honest (and valued) opinions.

The group has kept in touch via monthly e-mail updates; one or two paragraph descriptions of what we've each done in the last month which are compiled and sent out to all of us. In addition, we've sent each other our papers, and I have gotten really useful feedback from them.

By far the most valuable part of the workshop for me was the ongoing academic connections I've made with my group members and mentor. Their help with my papers in progress has been invaluable.

Rachel Croson
January 1998 Participant

CCOFFE is for Tea lovers too! This I discovered while serving the past summer in China as a Faculty Exchange Scholar for my University (the University of Illinois at Springfield). The March 1998 CCOFFE workshop was a major catalyst behind my decision to organize seminars for small groups of female undergraduate students of the Economics Institute at Heilongjiang University in Harbin, China. Though my contract called only for delivery of lectures, the CCOFFE workshop instilled in me a sense of responsibility to independently create opportunities for female students of economics. After weeks of observing only male students at the campus' computer labs which I frequented, I drew from the inspiration of the CCOFFE workshop and mobilized weekend seminars on accessing Economics information using the Internet for female students. They were so thirsty for knowledge, that once I introduced them to a few technical tools, they were forging ahead and vigorously exploring Economics sites in cyberspace on their own. The CCOFFE workshop participants, particularly Professors Allen, Ferber, Pozo and Ziegert, established a momentum that I plan to capitalize on during my service as a Fulbright Scholar at Sofia University in Bulgaria in the Spring of 1999; I hope to once again share what I learned at the CCOFFE workshop with our promising female economists abroad. Thank you.

Nancy J. Scannell
1998 Midwest Participant

Before I went, I was a little unsure about what the CCOFFE workshop would entail and how it would affect my work as an economist. Now, I'm happy to say that both the workshop and the subsequent contact with my teammates has been extremely helpful and rewarding. I came away from the workshop with a lot of useful advice, including some from Dan Newlon about writing a grant for NSF which I was able to use soon after (and I actually got the grant!). The benefits continued and maybe even increased after the workshop ended. My fellow team members and I email each other every month (and sometimes more frequently), we've read each other's work and given comments, and we've organized a session of each other's papers at the APPAM meetings. Altogether I think we've been a very successful group: since January we've submitted several grants (and some have been funded), made significant progress in our research, had papers accepted, received a bunch of revise-and-resubmits, and participated in various conferences. For me the benefits of this workshop have been numerous: I not only have received a great deal of very valuable advice, but I've also gained a set of incredibly supportive colleagues across the country.

Lara Shore-Sheppard
January 1998 Participant

Thank you for organizing the workshop! It has made a real difference in my research. I am one of the experimental group members. After the conference, we have been emailing each other about our work and life once a month. We sent each other papers and work in progress for comments and always got very good and detailed comments. When I got rejection from journals I also got advice from team members on the possible outlets for the next submission. It feels great to have five other bright colleagues who really understand and care about what you are doing. This is one of the most beautiful things in my professional life. I love my team!

Yan Chen
January 1998 Participant

I really value the supportive relationship that my group from the CCOFFE workshop has maintained since last January. We have all especially benefited from the supportive mentoring of our group's senior faculty member, Kala Krishna. I'm sure we are all more confident as a result of the workshop and will be more successful researchers in the future. In addition, the workshop emphasized our need to be supportive of our fellow female economists.

Leslie Marx
January 1998 Participant

The CCOFFE workshop was a tremendous help in developing networking and grant-writing skills. Kala's tips, including the one on creating a mailing list for working papers that includes the references cited in it, and her constant encouragement to our team to publish and to present in conferences have proven very valuable to me. While our team consisted of diverse areas of specializations, we still keep each other apprised of our activities on a regular basis.

Rajshree Agarwal
January 1998 Participant

Since January, I've enjoyed a regular correspondence with my Team Four team mates and leader. It's been wonderfully encouraging to hear from them every month, with news of both personal and professional goings-ons. I think we've been very successful in our group efforts - there's been a lot of commenting on each other's research papers and grant proposals, and we've even organized our own "Economic Policies Affecting Employment" session at the upcoming APPAM conference in New York.

Sewin Chan
January 1998 Participant

I was a CCOFFE participant at the annual meetings last year. The workshop and my ongoing communications with other CCOFFE participants and facilitators has been extremely helpful. Several of my recent successes that have been enhanced by my learning from the experiences of other CCOFFE participants include: paper revisions that have lead to publications, acceptances to NBER Summer Institute and AEA session, and a job change to the University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.

Pamela J. Smith
January 1998 Participant

I have really enjoyed by CCOFFE experience. The workshop itself was quite useful, but the connection with my team has been the most rewarding. At the beginning of each month we correspond and share our successes, our problems, and our goals for the months ahead. I can't help but be motivated and inspired by the great things the women on my team are doing. The team's activities extend beyond the monthly email. To name just a few, our team has put together a session at the APPAM meetings, we read drafts of papers and grant proposals for each other, and help one another make connections with others in the field.

Jeanne Ringel
January 1998 Participants