One of my former advisors once threw my thesis at me, literally, and eight years later we're still in touch with each other. I'm big on maintaining relationships with people because you never know when you might need them (and also, I just like to keep in touch, so it's not as if I'm being totally selfish). To me, it's easier to ask someone like a former advisor for a favor when we've been in touch regularly over the years.
With the aforementioned advisor, I keep in touch by sending her a Christmas card every year. I also have a professor I did research for as an undergraduate a decade ago with whom I still make an effort to keep in touch. I'm in a totally different field now, but I keep in touch just because. Usually this is in the form of a short e-mail anytime I hear him on NPR or read him quoted somewhere.
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Posted by Salmon Ella to academicsecret at 8/13/2006 04:57:47 AM
