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Professional Development
Summer C, 2004

PSY 6930 - Seminar: Professional Development  Section 8690
Dr. Barry R. Schlenker
Office: PSY 269   Phone: 392-0601, ext. 253
e-mail: schlenkr@ufl.edu Fax: 392-7985
Social Psychology Office:  392-0601, ext. 250
Meeting Times:  Wednesday 12:30-3:30 pm, in PSY 287

Course Description

The course is designed to discuss issues relevant to professional development.  We will talk about paths to professional success inside and outside academia.  The range of topics will be broad and will cover facets of seeking a job, interviewing for a job, settling into a job, dealing with power and politics, establishing a research program and lab environment, working with students, writing research, and obtaining grants.  Your interests and preferences will play a role in determining how much time we spend on these and other topics.  A second facet of the course will be developing a job talk.  Class members will work up and give presentations of their research to the class as if on a job interview.  The class can then provide feedback and offer tips aimed at improving the caliber of your talk.  The importance of the job talk in determining whether you receive an offer cannot be underestimated.  Most members of the departments at which you interview will know you primarily (only) from your talk, therefore their vote about whether to hire you will be heavily influenced by the talk itself.

Course Objectives

1.  Discuss careers inside and outside academia.
2.  Discuss the different types of requirements and expectations in different categories of institutions of higher learning (e.g., research universities, liberal arts colleges).
3.  Discuss strategies for success in the job search process, including selecting schools, preparing application materials, and interviewing.
4.  Discuss strategies for maximizing success in the early stages of one’s career, including negotiating support when hired, setting up a lab, establishing a research program, working with students, and dealing with power and politics in the workplace.
5.  Discuss preparation of a curriculum vita and support materials (teaching and research statements) for your job search.
6.  Prepare a job talk.

Readings

Darley, J. M., Zanna, M. P., & Roediger, H. L. (Eds.) (2004).  The Compleat Academic: A Career Guide (2nd ed.).  Washington, DC:  APA Books.

This book is the classic survival guide for graduate school and beyond.  I know many psychology faculty who say they wished they had read it when they were in graduate school.  The chapters, which are full of helpful advice, deal with such topics as the hiring process in academia (e.g., preparing application materials, giving job talks, negotiating salary and support), getting started on one’s first job while maintaining control over one’s career, beginning a research program, maintaining faculty-graduate student research relationships, power and politics in academic institutions, writing research grants, writing journal articles, teaching, and even working in nonacademic settings.  The chapters are easy to read, enjoyable, and a banquet of tips.

In addition to the above, I will include a number of relatively short readings, many of which will be downloadable from the web, on different facets of professional development.  This list of readings will be distributed separately as we go along.

Requirements

Grading will be based on participation and involvement.  Students are expected to attend regularly, contribute to discussions, provide feedback to others, and prepare a job talk.  There will be no exams or term papers.  I will expect that for each class, everyone comes armed with at least three questions they want to discuss about the day’s topic.

Topics
The 1st edition of in The Compleat Academic contained nine chapters.  The latest edition has ballooned to 20 chapters.  Here is the layout of the book:

I.  Starting a Career
1.  A Guide to PhD Graduate School:  How They Keep Score in the Big Leagues, Charles G. Lord
2.  After Graduate School:  A Faculty Position or a Postdoctoral Fellowship?  Kathleen B. McDermott & Todd S. Braver
3.  The Hiring Process in Academia, John M. Darley & Mark P. Zanna
4.  Broadening the Job Search:  Jobs Outside of Academic, Patrick C. Kyllonen
II.  Teaching and Mentoring
5.  Tips for Effective Teaching, Douglas A. Bernstein & Sandra G. Lucas
6.  Mentoring:  Managing the Faculty-Graduate Student Relationship, Mark P. Zanna & John M. Darley
III.  Research and Writing
7.  Setting Up Your Lab and Beginning a Program of Research, Jeffrey M. Zacks & Henry L. Roediger III
8.  Obtaining a Research Grant:  The Granting Agency’s View, Jane Steinberg
9.  Obtaining a Research Grant:  The Applicant’s View, Robert Sternberg
10.  Writing the Empirical Journal Article, Daryl J. Bem
11.  Intellectual Property, James L. Hilton & Jonathan R. Alger
IV.  Orientation to the Academic Environment
12.  Power, Politics, and Survival in Academia, Elizabeth JD. Capaldi
13.  Managing the Department Chair and Navigating the Department Power Structure, Louis A. Penner, John F. Dovidio, & David A. Schroeder
14.  Wiring the Ivory Tower:  The Interface of Technology and the Academy, Kevin M. Carlsmith
V.  Diversity in Academia
15.  The Dialectics of Race: Academic Perils and Promises, James M. Jones & Eun Rhee
16.  Women in Academia, Denise C. Park & Susan Nolen-Hoeksema
17.  Clinical Psychologists in Academia, Richard R. Bootzin
18.  Varieties of College and University Experiences, Deborah L. Best
VI.  Keeping Your Edge:  Managing Your Career Over Time
19.  The Academic Marathon:  Controlling One’s Career, Shelley E. Taylor & Joanne Martin
20.  Managing Your Career:  The Long View, Henry L. Roediger III & David A. Balota

During the semester, some of the chapters will be elaborated with in-depth discussions of selected facets of their content.  For instance, Chapter 3, which deals with the hiring process in academia, will be supplemented with short readings on:  basics of the CV; writing an appealing cover letter; making the most of a phone interview; making the most of a campus interview; likely job interview questions; and negotiating the first job offer.  I will send you a handout containing recommended sites.

Dr. Dolores Albarracin and her graduate students put together an extremely helpful web site with links to materials that deal with success in graduate school, getting a job, and launching one’s professional career.  There are also links to some amusing materials, such as the Top Ten Subtle Differences Between Grad School and Hell, Top Ten Lies Told by Graduate Students, and Fables for Graduate Students (follow the link that deals with “some funny articles and useful advice,” but don’t get too discouraged by the cogent analysis of the relative merits of a Ph.D. vs. playing Lotto).  Here is the address:
http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~albarrac/graduateschool.html