Career Selection and Professional
Skill Development Workshop Series
Careers In and Out of Academe

The goal of this workshop series is to help students develop a better understanding of the skills and decision-making needed to meet their career and professional objectives. Specifically, The Graduate School at MSU is striving to build a career and professional development program that will help:

• promote graduate student retention and completion.
• add to professional development opportunities in graduate school.
• give students a competitive edge securing professional positions.
• supplement departmental advising activities.

Throughout this workshop series students will interact with successful, nationally known professionals in academia (i.e., 2- and 4-year institutions), industry, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations. This workshop series is primarily for doctoral students as they transition into seeking professional careers. Each workshop is a full day in length to facilitate discussion among students and workshop panel members, and to provide hands on skill sessions. Morning sessions are organized as panel discussions while students spend afternoons in concurrent breakout sessions getting applied advice on specific issues associated with their professional development.

• Securing Academic Positions at Two- and Four-Year Institutions 10/27/07
• From Graduate Student to Professor: Stages of Professional Development 1/26/08
• Translating Academic Success into Expanded Career Opportunities in Agencies, Industry, and Academia 4/5/08

Securing Academic Positions at Two- and Four-Year Institutions
October 27, 2007 –Gold Room AB, MSU Union

Dr. Tom Deits (Chair, Science Department, Lansing Community College)
Dr. Michael Stob (Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Calvin College)
Dr. Fred Antczak (Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Grand Valley State University)
Dr. Karin Wurst (Dean, College of Arts and Letters, Michigan State University)

What type of academic position would you like to have after completing your degree?  Do you want to teach, do research, develop and conduct outreach programs, or a little of each?  What kinds of institutions best fit your interests?  What are the expectations for applicants at different kinds of institutions, and what are the potential career trajectories?

This workshop will focus on academic cultures at a variety of institutions: community colleges, liberal art colleges, colleges with religious affiliations, universities with historically specialized missions, and research extensive universities.  What are the expectations at these institutions, from the job interview to the tenure process?  Panel members in the morning session will include administrators and faculty members from a variety of institutions who will talk about the process of applying and interviewing for academic positions, expectations for new faculty, and advancement opportunities and the tenure and promotion process.

The afternoon breakout sessions will focus on information related to specific disciplines.  Workshop participants will have the opportunity to decipher job ads and to participate in mock interviews for positions in the humanities, social sciences, education, and natural sciences at two- and four-year institutions.  Interviewers will be faculty from a variety of institutions.  Participants will interact with the interview panels to discuss the strengths of candidates, what to do and what not to do in various types of interviews, and what to do to make your application more competitive.

From Graduate Student to Professor: Stages of Professional Development
Saturday, January 26, 2008 - Big Ten C, Kellogg Center

Featured Presenters:
The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Players (University of Michigan)
Dr. Deb Feltz (Chair, Department of Kinesiology, MSU)
Dr. Weiming Li (Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife)
Dr. Meredith Gore (Post Doc, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife)
Dr. Kay Holekamp (Director, Department of Zoology, and Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Behavior)
Dr. Julie Brockman (Assistant Professor, School of Labor and Industrial Relations)
Dr. Diane Ebert-May (Professor, Plant Biology)
Dr. Michelle Tomaszycki (Visiting Assistant Professor, Psychology)

As you transition from being a graduate student to a working professional at an academic institution what are the survival skills you'll need to know to be successful?  What will be the professional-level expectations of your new colleagues, your department chair, and the university?  In graduate school you work diligently on your research, make presentations at professional conferences, and perhaps have opportunities to teach courses, but what type of additional “insider knowledge” do all graduate students need to know about their future professional opportunities?

Presenters at this workshop will discuss and answer questions on what research reveals about the match between graduate school training and life as a faculty member, as well as on survival skills students should cultivate now to better prepare them for future academic positions, including developing strong mentoring relationships in graduate school and the first faculty position.  The afternoon breakout sessions will focus on expectations for promotion and tenure, on making transition from graduate student to faculty member, and on teaching and managing teams in the classroom, the lab, and professional work environments.  A panel of nationally known researchers, educators, and administrators from Michigan State University will also present their insights and answer questions on how to prepare for and survive the tenure and promotion process.

This workshop is aimed at doctoral students at all levels in their programs, from those just beginning their coursework 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 to faculty colleague.

Translating Academic Success into Expanded Career Opportunities in Agencies, Industry, and Academia
Saturday, April 5, 2008 – Big Ten B, Kellogg Center

Featured Presenters:
Dr. Tina Riley (Assistant Professor, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, MSU)
Dr. Woody Self (Dean, School of Business, Northwestern University)
Dr. Nailah Orr (Dow Chemical)
Amy Rosewarne (Senior Analyst, Government Accountability Office)
Dr. John Kinch (Avadhi Finance and Technology; Adjunct Professor, MSU)

You have worked for years to learn the “tricks of the trade” of your discipline and academy.  How will those skills and your education help you negotiate jobs in government, industry or in administrative positions inside the university?  What translates well, and what will you have to adapt to new settings?  This workshop is designed primarily for doctoral students who are considering traveling beyond the tenure-track or post doc route.  Whether you are beginning your degree or about to complete it, what do you need to know before you send out a CV?

Three panelists in the morning session who have negotiated these transitions will tell you what your professors often don’t know and can’t answer.  From a range of backgrounds (humanities, social, and natural sciences) they will talk about their career moves, and offer practical advice and strategies on learning a new culture and set of assumptions.  Topics will include how to effectively present what you do know, how to identify what you don’t know, how to present yourself in a resume and an interview, and how to adjust to expectations in different settings.  The workshop will also include small group discussion and dialogue with the panelists.

In the afternoon, short interactive workshops will engage students in practicing interviewing skills for non-academic positions, identifying and applying networking strategies, and finding a federal job.