The TAShip: the Ultimate Professional Development Experience

1
The TA-Ship the Ultimate Professional
Development Experience

• Matt Helm, Ph.D
• Director, Ph.D. Career Services
• Teaching Assistant Orientation, August 2009

2
Goals

• To discuss the skills academic and non-academic
  employers value
• To identify the skills TAs develop and possess
• To help students identify goals and plan for your
  professional development.
• Finding or being your own AGENT
• AMSO (Awareness, Motivation, Skills,
  Opportunities)

3
Who is at workshop?

• How many Ph.D.s? Masters?
• Current Career Goal? Who would like to teach in
  the future has had teaching experience?
• Who would like to teach in the future has not
  had teaching experience?
• Who isnt interested in a teaching position in
  the future, but is doing it to pay the bills?
• Who is uncertain about their career path after
  graduate school?

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6

• Professional development
• Socialization and integration into a
  professional context and the continued process of
  learning and growth throughout a career.
• Transferable skills
• Practical abilities that are fundamental to
  success in professional contexts (academia to
  industry, corporations, and agencies)

7

• PLANNING for career and professional goals-entry
  to exit
• Planning during graduate school helps you
  identify and achieve your professional and career
  goals.

8

• RESILIENCE and tenacity through multiple career
  and life stages
• Resilience--the ability to adapt effectively to
  adversity or change.
• To be resilient in graduate school, you must
  adapt to the expectations placed upon you.
• Wellness The integration, balance, and harmony
  of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual
  well-being through taking responsibility for
  ones own health. Wellness assumes that the
  whole is greater than its parts.
• http//grad.msu.edu/wellness/

9

• ENGAGEMENT in decision-making and skill
  development
• Engagement in your discipline and in your
  personal and professional development is critical
  for enhancing transferable skills, expanding
  your professional network, and creating
  partnerships and collaborations.

10

• PROFESSIONALIM in research, teaching, and
  service
• Professionalism-- how you reflect on what you do
  in your discipline and the types of attitudes,
  standards, and behaviors you demonstrate
  throughout your career.

11
Three Stage Model of Graduate Student Development
1. Early Stage
2. MID Stage
3.Late Stage
This model illustrates some of the commonly
encountered challenges facing graduate students.

• Adapted from materials MIT model
• Adapted from Stewart, Donald W. (1995).
  Developmental Considerations in Counselling
  Graduate Students. Guidance Counseling, 10, 3,
  21-24.

12
Thematic Areas of Professional Development
Stages of Professional Development
13
Graduate Student Career Developmental Process
CAREER
Job Search/
Late
Action Plan
Resumes, interviews, researching options
(Networking)
Focusing
Which organizations are a good fit? What do I
need to be competitive? Who can connect me to
these organizations? (Networking)
MID
Exploration
Whats out there? What options do I have? What
jobs fit my skills? What careers and industries
can use them? (Networking)
Early
Self Assessment
Who am I? What are my interests? What kinds of
skills do I have? What are my work-related
values? What is my work style?
Adapted from Peter Fiske To Boldly Go Practical
Career Advice for Scientists, Workshop at MIT,
April 1998. Modified from Stanford University
Career Development Office.
14
What are TA Tasks and Responsibilities?

• Based on these responsibilities, what skills are
  developed?
• What do you think are the values of having
  Teaching Assistant Experience
• What skills and abilities do graduate students
  develop while in graduate school?

15
Graduate student tasks responsibilities

• Define course of study, research topics
• Learn and develop expertise in your subject area
• Learn research practices to manage your
  research responsibilities
• Publish, present research to diverse audiences
• Support funding for research
• TA, and develop teaching proficiencies
• Become a member of your community of
• practice

16
Important Transferable Skills

• Research
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Leadership and Management
• Resiliency, Balance, and Integration
• Ethics and Integrity

17
Fiske-22 scientists asked, Of the many skills
that people develop while in graduate school,
which are the most valuable in the real
world? ability to work productively with
difficult people ability to work in a
high-stress environment persistence
ability/courage to start something even if you
dont know how
A few others diverse communication
skills consensus building working with diverse
groups
18
Fiske. Put Your Science to Work
Employers want to hire good colleagues personal
qualities are important good listening
skills cooperative resourceful sensitive to
different perspectives willingness to work
hard/well under pressure
19
e.g., Environmental Protection
Agency Environmental Protection Engineers and
Scientists Skills- -understand and apply EPA
laws and regulations -solve many kinds of
problems using logical reasoning -use symbols
such as numbers to express complex technical
and scientific information -make decisions based
on information that can be verified or
measured -work on different projects adjusting
quickly to changing conditions -communicate
with various kinds of people Degree-Chemistry,
Geology, Environmental Science, or Engineering
20

• Arizona State University English Education
  Associate Professor, Tenure-Track. Required
  Earned doctorate in English Education or closely
  related field teaching experience at the
  secondary level evidence of mentoring graduate
  students in research and publications experience
  in supervising student teachers and supporting
  in-service teachers research, publications, and
  college teaching appropriate to rank. Desired
  Secondary expertise in a relevant area such as
  critical perspectives on English Education media
  literacy and instructional technology/theory/resea
  rch an understanding of culturally responsive
  pedagogy and its importance to students in our
  geographical area evidence of national or local
  involvement in political and scholarly
  decision-making processes that influence English
  teachers.

21
Meta-ProfessionThe Multiple Roles of a College
Professor

• College Teaching is a profession built on top of
  another professiona meta-profession.
• Research and scholarly activities is the base of
  the academic profession
• NEA Higher Education Advocate, Thriving in
  Academe

22
(No Transcript)
23
Meta-Profession Skill Sets

• TA Self-Assessment
• What are your strengths?
• What areas do you need improvement on?

24

• When students begin to plan fully to achieve
  their goals and to exercise their strengths, the
  effect is synergisticthey get more done and are
  more connected to the community for support.

25
The P-A-R-K Method

• PARK your skills and abilities
• Problem
• Action
• Results/Resolution
• Knowledge What did you learn?

26
PARK Your Teaching Assistantship

• Problem Why did MSU hire you? What problem are
  you solving for them?
• Action What action will you take to solve the
  problem?
• Results What did or will you achieve?
• Knowledge What did you learn or what new
  knowledge do you possess as a result of this
  experience?

27
PhD Student Utilization of Institutional Career
Related Services Programs at 3 Developmental
Stages
Teaching/Writing Ctr.
Ideal Non-academic Career Planning Timeline
Grad Dean/ Student Orgs.
Institutional Points of Contact
Ideal Academic Career Planning Timeline
Career Office
Typical Academic Non-academic Career Planning
Timeline
Department
Early Middle Late
28
How ToSelf-Management with PREP

• Managing your professional preparation

29
How to Becoming your Own Manager

• 5 Strategies for Success
• Take responsibility and ownership for your
  success.
• Know available resources
• Think ahead
• Have a plan!
• Identify (and deal with) obstacles

30

• As a T.A. what developmental goals do you hope to
  achieve?
• Think about where you think youd like to be in
  2, 5, 10 years. . .
• Professional Development Timeline
• Think about options career planning EARLY
• Allows for greater flexibility and better
  outcomes later.

31
Best Practices THE ADVISORS ROLE IN PhD STUDENT
CAREER PLANNING
Best Practices Academic advisors who know their
advisees career objectives. A good mentor
seeks to help a student optimize an educational
experience, to assist the students socialization
into a disciplinary culture, and to aid the
student in finding suitable employment. From
Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend On Being a
Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering,
National Academy Press, 1977.
32

• Questions

33
Ph.D. Career ServicesMatt Helm, Ph.D. Career
Consultant113 Student Service BuildingEmail
Helmmatt_at_msu.eduhttp//grad.msu.edu/career.htm

• Students may schedule their own appointment with
  Dr. Matthew Helm at http//www.careernetwork.msu.e
  du.
• Interview Consultation and Practice for Academic
  and Non-Academic Interviews
• Academic and Non-Academic Workshops and
  Conferences
• Online Resources
• Bio Career Center
• Self-Assessments and Consultations
• Ph.D. Career Resource Library