Securing Academic Position at 2- and 4- Year Institutions

Date: 

Saturday, October 17, 2015 -
9:00am to 3:00pm

Location: 

MSU Union Ballroom

Registration 8:30 AM workshop st arts at 9:00 AM. What type of academic position would you like to have aft er completing your degree or Post-doc?  What are the expectations for appl icants and potential career trajectories at different kinds of institution s?  In this interactive workshop, you will learn about the academic cultu res at a variety of institutions, and about how to tailor your applicatio n and interviewing strategies to these different settings. The morning ses sion will start with a video feature profile of former MSU Ph.Ds. who teac h at 2- and 4-year institutions, who will describe what their faculty pos itions entail, and how their preparation matched with the expectations an d demands of their positions.  Then featured panelists who are current adm inistrators and faculty members from community colleges, liberal arts col leges, colleges with religious affiliations, universities with historica lly specialized missions, and research extensive universities will discus s what they look for when they are screening applications, what interview s look like on their campus, and expectations for tenure and promotion.   This workshop is aimed at doctoral students and post-docs at all levels, from those just beginning their coursework or Post-doc and planning ahead to acquire the skills they need to successfully navigate academic culture , to those starting on their job searches and making the transition from graduate student/Post-doc to becoming an assistant professor.  

The interactive afternoon session is still under development based on the ava ilability of some speakers groups but it may entail:

A) The interac tive afternoon session will focus on talking about research in the intervi ew. Learn how to communicate your strengths and interests, set yourself a part in interviews, and get your audience excited about your work.  Are y ou prepared for all of the venues and formats you might encounter in the j ob search (telephone interview, video interview, conference exchanges, campus visit)? Can you talk about your research outside your prepared job talk or research presentation?  How do you respond when the Academic Dean who is not in your field asks you to sum up your research?  How do you tal k about your research in institutions where research is not the primary fo cus?  We will explore interview strategies through discussions of video vi gnettes and you will practice presenting your research to different audien ces, and learn strategies for managing casual conversations on campus vis its to job talks.

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B) The interactive breakout sessions wi ll focus on information related to specific disciplines.  Workshop partici pants will have the opportunity to decipher job ads,  discuss the prepara tion for faculty interviews, and practice how they may respond to  questi ons that come up in academic interviews in the humanities, social science s or natural sciences at two- and four-year institutions.  Facilitators wi ll include faculty from a variety of institutions to provide prospective o f what works and what doesn't work at various types of institutions

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C) The interactive breakout sessions will focus on discussing the challenges and opportunities for transitions into faculty life.  Parti cipants will have the opportunity to attend one of two panel sessions on: 'Transitioning to Faculty Life: Survival Skills for Tenure, Promotion and Administration or 'From Landing a Postdoc to Thriving as a Faculty Member .  Each breakout session will feature faculty members in various stages of their careers at different types of institutions

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D) In g raduate school you work diligently on your research, make presentations a t professional conferences, and perhaps have opportunities to teach cours es, but what type of additional 'insider knowledge' do all graduate stude nts need to know about their future professional opportunities?  As you tr ansition from being a graduate student to being a faculty member at a two- or four-year institution what do you need to know to be successful?  What might be the professional-level expectations of your new colleagues, you r department chair, and the university?  To discuss these topics, partic ipants will interact with the members of The Center for Research on Learni ng and Teaching Theater Program from the University of Michigan.  

Moderators: Dr. Rique Campa (Fisheries and Wildlife) Associate Dean, The Graduate School and Dr. Judith Stoddart (English), Interim Dean, The Gra duate School.   

This workshop is part of the PREP Job Search Serie s, and it fulfills the Certification in College Teaching Competency area “Understanding the University Context.” 

 

Category: 

G rad School Events