Mentoring
Graduate Students for Faculty Roles
Cecilia
Shore, Miami University
APS
Teaching Institute, Atlanta, May 2003
I. The mismatch
between doctoral training and expectations of new faculty
a. Graduate education
generally
b. Graduate training
in Psychology
II. What are we doing
about it?
a. General
recommendations for improving the preparation of graduate students for faculty
roles
b. Sample
programmatic efforts to enhance professional development of future faculty
III. Benefits/Effectiveness of academic
professional development programs
I. The mismatches among graduate student
expectations, doctoral training, and actual careers
(Gaff, 2002; Golde & Dore, 2001)
·
Reflect on the experiences of new faculty members
o
Trower,
Austin & Sorcinelli (2001). Early
career faculty report “an incomprehensible tenure system, a lack of community,
and an unbalanced life.”
o
This
personal cost is symptomatic of a broader malaise.
·
Graduate student expectations, and the training
they receive, are not consistent with actual jobs available.
o
Of students who are interested in faculty
careers, 54% of graduate students indicated that they would like to work at a
large research-intensive university; only 4% preferred a comunity college. (Golde & Dore, 2001)
source:
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/Classification/CIHE2000/Tables.htm
“Doctoral students persist in pursuing careers
as faculty members, and graduate programs persist in preparing them for careers
at research universities… The result: Students are not well prepared to assume
the faculty positions that are available…”
(Golde & Dore, p. 5)
·
Graduate students are not prepared for faculty
responsibilities.
What do primarily undergraduate hiring
institutions expect of new faculty?
o
Teaching is
a “must”.
|
Generally 8-12 SCH/semester. |
Smaller class sizes. |
|
Address needs of a wide variety of students
without sacrificing academic rigor. |
Expectation of creative, active-learning
pedagogy. |
|
Engage in course/ curricular design. |
Supervise independent study, field work. |
|
Lower-division survey courses for majors and
non-majors, interdisciplinary and general education courses. |
|
|
Integrate general undergraduate educational
goals such as service learning, multicultural perspectives and information
literacy. |
|
|
May be expected to write grants for teaching
equipment, engage in scholarship of teaching |
|
o
Research:
|
Range from “stay informed about your field” to
“develop fundable research that involves undergraduates”. |
|
May value applied research engaged with the
community, or interdisciplinary work.
|
|
Less time, resources & technical
assistance |
|
Fewer collaborators in your discipline |
o
Service:
|
Availability to students for advising on a
wide variety of issues |
Commitment to institutional mission and role
of institution in community. |
|
Involvement in campus or community events. |
Collegial—bring out the best in colleagues. |
|
Committee service and governance requires
awareness of issues such as curriculum, working conditions, distribution of
resources, and concomitant internal political conflicts. |
|
(Adams, 2002; Bushey,
Lycan & Videtich, 2001, Meacham, 2002).
Are graduate students prepared to do these
things?
Survey of 4000 doctoral students at 27
universities (Golde & Dore, 2001)
Teaching
|
Have you been prepared by your program to: |
% “very much” (vs. somewhat, not at all) |
|
Teach discussion sections |
57.9 |
|
Teach lecture course |
36.1 |
|
Create inclusive classroom |
28.0 |
|
Develop teaching philosophy |
26.6 |
|
Incorporate information technology in
classroom |
14.1 |
|
Teach specialized graduate courses |
23.3 |
Research
|
Have you been prepared by your program to: |
% “very much” (vs. somewhat, not at all) |
|
Conduct research |
65.1 |
|
Publish research findings |
42.9 |
|
Collaborate in interdisciplinary research |
27.1 |
|
How clearly do you understand customary
practices regarding |
% saying “very clear” |
|
Using copyrighted material |
55 |
|
Biosafety, human/animal subjects |
41.9 |
|
Order of authorship |
26.2 |
|
Appropriate use of research funds |
25.8 |
|
Refereeing academic papers fairly |
22.0 |
|
When & how to publish papers |
20.3 |
Service/Citizenship
|
Have you been prepared by your program to: |
% “very much” (vs. somewhat, not at all) |
|
Advise undergraduates |
26.8 |
|
Apply expertise to community beyond campus |
13.8 |
|
Review papers, serve on disciplinary society
committees |
19.1 |
|
Serve on departmental/university committees |
12.7 |
But, surely, psychology is doing better than
that—or are we?
Survey
of graduate students at 3 research universities (N=89) (Meyers, Reid &
Quina, 1998)
On
a 0-4 scale, students rated class management, academic life, ethical issues,
psychology content and research training between 2.4 and 2.60 in importance to
their preparation for a career in academia.
However, they rated the level of training they were receiving from 0.82
to 1.53.