Moving Forward
For students in the middle of their graduate career.
Student
Serve on a departmental committee
Serve on the executive committee of your department's graduate student organization
Serve on the executive committee of your department's graduate student organization
Teacher
Participate in the Teaching Documentation Program
Consult the online Handbook for Graduate Teaching Assistants
Build your teaching portfolio
Seek teaching opportunities
Mentor an undergraduate researcher
- The Office of Graduate Studies provides a number of services for graduate teaching assistants to help you assess and improve teaching practices. Any TA is welcome to participate in the Teaching Documentation Program at any level.
- Consultants are available to:
- meet with you to discuss questions related to teaching
- visit your classroom and observe you as you teach
- record a class session on videotape for you to review
- hold discussion sessions with students to identify your teaching strengths and areas that could be improved
- administer a mid-semester student assessment called TABS (Teaching Analysis By Students) to help you capitalize on strategies that are working and change things that aren't
- In addition, consultants can help you plan and develop a teaching portfolio and will help you craft your teaching philosophy statement for academic job applications.
Consult the online Handbook for Graduate Teaching Assistants
Build your teaching portfolio
- Although a teaching portfolio is often characterized as a documented statement of one's teaching responsibilities, philosophy, goals, and accomplishments as a teacher, what goes into a portfolio depends on its intended purpose.
- The portfolio should be a flexible document that can be used in a variety of ways, consistent with the needs and interests of the one who compiles it.
- For example, a graduate teaching assistant's portfolio might include a reflective statement on teaching, a brief description of the courses taught, and a summary of student ratings.
- In contrast, the content of a portfolio submitted for promotion and tenure review would be more comprehensive, including representative course materials, a description of changes in content and methods that have been made over a period of time, illustrations of student learning, and supporting documentation.
- The purpose of a teaching portfolio is to build a collection of evidence that gives direction for growth and documents changes in your teaching.
- A good portfolio provides a guide for developing overall instructional abilities, for course development/improvement, and for sharing instructional knowledge with colleagues. One important function of the teaching portfolio is to make teaching public.
- We recommend that graduate teaching assistants work collaboratively with their supervising faculty to create teaching portfolios. Share your "work in progress" with peers, both within and outside your department.
Seek teaching opportunities
- Think broadly about teaching experiences. If you are not offered a teaching position in your department, seek out other opportunities in after school programs and local community colleges. Or get involved in your department's undergraduate research efforts. Many departments participate in Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), a program that provides opportunities for graduate student involvement as mentors.
Mentor an undergraduate researcher
- As a current graduate student, you are in a unique position to work with an undergraduate interested in pursuing a graduate degree, by providing invaluable information and insight based on your own experience and expertise.
- To start mentoring an undergraduate student, contact the undergraduate advisor in your department or seek out opportunities through the UCARE and McNair programs. More programs are available through Undergraduate Studies.
Researcher
Take a course in the responsible conduct of research
Participate in UNL's Research Fair
Research grant opportunities
Attend a grant writing workshop sponsored by the Office of Research
Apply for dissertation fellowships
Participate in UNL's Research Fair
Research grant opportunities
Attend a grant writing workshop sponsored by the Office of Research
- The ability to write a successful grant proposal will be an important component of your job search as you approach the end of your graduate career. The Office of Research provides several resources for grant writers, including workshops.
Apply for dissertation fellowships
- At the dissertation stage of your graduate program, a fellowship can be a critical resource, especially if your research requires money for travel, equipment, supplies, and time to collect data and write.
- But aside from the money, there are several reasons for going through the process of preparing a fellowship application.
- First, it gives you experience with a professional activity integral to any researcher's career.
- Second, it tells future search committees that your research ideas are marketable.
- Finally, the mere fact that you were funded once will make you more competitive for the next fellowship or grant.
Professional
Join a professional association in your field
Present at a professional conference
Continue building your curriculum vita
Participate in the Preparing Future Faculty program
Present at a professional conference
- This allows you to be seen and heard by professionals in your field and may provide networking situations that will be beneficial as you search for a position after graduation.
Continue building your curriculum vita
- Doctoral granting institutions are looking for future faculty members who publish as graduate students. Continue seeking out publication opportunities to add to your curriculum vita as you work your way through your graduate program.
- Candidates seeking faculty positions at non doctoral degree granting institution will need to provide evidence of teaching experience on their curriculum vita.
Participate in the Preparing Future Faculty program
- The PFF program is part of the effort in the Office of Graduate Studies to enrich graduate education at UNL, providing doctoral students with opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities at a variety of academic institutions with varying missions, diverse student bodies and different expectations for faculty.
- PFF fellows are advanced doctoral students selected by procedures internal to each participating department.
- Students should contact their department graduate chairs to express interest in the PFF program.
