Hi All,
I would like to comment on the need for training in teaching mentioned
in earlier posts in this thread, and the comment below that students
often have little opportunity to gain such training or experience.
Things are changing rapidly: many universities now offer programs that
provide training specifically aimed at graduate students who expect to
have teaching (or outreach) be a significant part of their career. This
follows from an increasing awareness that providing rigorous training in
one aspect (research) and none in another (teaching or generally
communicating science) when both are likely to be crucial components of
future careers makes as much sense as training pianists to play with
their right hand and expect the left hand to follow along at the first
concert (this analogy was first provided by Jo Handelsman in her 2003
article "Teaching scientists to teach", HHMI bulletin 12:31). For
example, at my university we have just submitted the paperwork to have a
12-credit Certificate in Teaching and Outreach aimed at graduate
students in the sciences. Students who complete this will have practical
training in course development, active learning techniques, evaluative
techniques etc., they will have completed an internship (with a mentor
faculty member in a college classroom, in a K-12 classroom, or in an
informal educational setting such as a museum or visitor's center), and
they will have a teaching portfolio, including a teaching philosophy
statement based on experience rather than just ideas, that should help
them obtain employment. Of course this takes more time initially - but
in the long run it probably saves time as the level of frustration in
teaching is reduced. And of course it should increase the quality of
teaching that undergraduates are exposed to in the next generation.
With respect to training in budget management and similar skills: I
would strongly encourage graduate students to get together and ask their
faculty for skills-based courses. These could be short courses or
weekend workshops. It too will save you time in the long run.
Good luck to everyone entering the job market.
Sincerely,
Christa Mulder
On 10/22/2012 1:03 PM, Tyler Hicks wrote:
I've been following this thread with great interest. I've found many of
the comments to be on par with my own graduate school experiences. My
graduate school experience has been a mixed bag of positive and negative
experiences. However, I've found that overall the graduate school
experience has not been everything that I hoped it would be. When I
originally made the decision to go to graduate school I did so because I
was interested in pursing an academic career (teaching/research).
Personally, I am still on the fence about a research versus teaching
position but giving the saturation of the job market the choice may be
made for me (at the least at the entry level). However, in many ways I
feel that graduate school has not prepared me as well as it could to
become a professor.
For instance opportunities to gain teaching experience are limited. TA's
often do not provide lecture or lesson development opportunities and
tend to be structured in advance. Some graduate students seem to enjoy
this as it reduces their work load and provides time for research, which
is certainly important, but it does seem to reduce opportunities for
active engagement in teaching and development of teaching skills by
graduate students. I was fortunate to partake in NSF GK-12 program which
at least provided some of this experience albeit at the 7th grade level
which may count for very little when it comes to acquiring a job.
On the flip side looking at research I also find the graduate school
experience failing to provide opportunities to help develop the skills I
need to do research or one day run my own lab. Reduced library and
departmental budgets make ready access to literature and software
challenging. Additionally, I've been fortunate enough to write and
secure my own fellowships and grants. However, being "only" a graduate
student I am afforded little opportunity to actively engage in the
management of those research funds. Managing large grants and fellowship
funds seems like a rather useful skill to possess when exiting school
with PhD. Instead much of the financial matters take place behind a veil
of administration and bureaucracy until one day someone tell you that
your out of $$.
A former graduate student in the same department as mine once referred
to graduate students as the "illegal immigrant workforce of the academic
world." In many ways I think he is right. Many, but not all, graduate
students work tremendously hard and long hours for little pay. Of course
the pay doesn't bother me as much as some of the other issues. For one I
find the level of healthcare coverage provided to graduate students to
be ridiculously poor. I know of many graduate students that have
suffered through pain simply because of the poor level of health care
coverage or the hassle that low quality health care providers cause with
each claim. Additionally, graduate students have very little rights
within the university. I've known others and myself who have appealed
to the Ombudsum or other intra-university avenues for legal advice and
the general consensus is that we graduate students should just grin and
bear whatever difficulties we are having with administration, advisors,
or other faculty. We are after all ephemeral and if you can just deal
with it for another couple years you can go away. It seems that there is
an unfair conflict of interest when a graduate students wishes to bring
a complaint against a university when the only avenues to do so are a
part of the university system itself. It seems in the best interest of
the university to protect itself rather than deal with an ephemeral
graduate student's issues.
Not to focus entirely on the glum. One opportunity graduate school has
provided for me is the opportunity to work with a variety of
governmental agencies and ngo's on natural resource issues. I've found
that experience to extremely rewarding. So much so that I am considering
working for an agency or organization such USFWS, USGS, or TNC upon
graduating (if any positions exist!). Prior to graduate school I would
have never considered a science based management or research position
within the government. Whether or not all the time I have dedicated to
working on applied natural resource management questions (e.g. reports
and consultation) rather than producing copious amounts of publications
will come back to haunt me remains to be seen.
I will finish by saying that my comments are based primarily on my
experience at my institution. Other people have had very different
experiences at other institutions and even at my own. Every graduate
student has different expectations of what they expect from graduate
school. I realize they can't make everyone happy but I do feel that
universities could do a little better.
Cheers,
Tyler L Hicks
--
Dr. Christa P.H. Mulder
Chair, Department of Biology and Wildlife
and Professor of Ecology
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
email: cpmul...@alaska.edu
tel: +1 907 474 5493
fax: +1 907 474 6716
office: Rm 212 Irving I (enter through rm 211)
website: http://www.iab.uaf.edu/~christa_mulder/cv.htm
