Prepare for a successful Fall semester: Communicate with your faculty (A message for new and continuing grad students.) 

The new semester is starting and we know that first and second year graduate students are generally immersed in classes, while more advanced doctoral students are working on experiments, preparing for exams, writing the dissertation, preparing for the defense, and preparing for a job.  As part of the writing, studying, and preparing, it is important to note that all graduate students (regardless of status, whether in the first year or in the last semester of PhD candidacy) must maintain strong levels of communication with your faculty members. If you attended the 2012 Summer Success Institute, you heard about the importance of working with and connecting to faculty in several of the presentations.  Earlier in the year, we posted 5 things that you should do to be successful BEFORE classes begin.Now that classes are starting, let’s talk about 5 things that you should do DURING the semester as they pertain to faculty/student interactions.

1. Go to office hours for your faculty members … all of them. The Guaranteed 4.0 Book by Donna O. Johnson and Y.C. Chen describes the POH – Professor’s Office Hours as a must. Talk to your professors about the content that they taught in class. Talk to them about updates in the field (you are graduate students, therefore you should be able to “see” your research and topics in everyday life, in the news, in the latest journal articles, etc.) Discuss your understanding of what they are teaching.  [Faculty pay attention to the people who are coming to their office hours. Ask questions! Discuss the research! If something isn't going well, and the faculty are asked about the student, if they say "well, _____insert name ___ never came to see me," then there will be an assumption that the student isn't serious.]
2. Always keep your appointments! If you are going to be late, contact the professors in advance. If you need to request a change of appointment date or time, contact them in advance with the request. Once you make a change, do not continue to make changes. Try to maintain your scheduled appointment. [Regularly missed appointments make faculty wary of trying to make future accommodations for students. Don't fall into the category of having a reputation of missing appointments.]
3.  Go to the department’s seminars and ask questions. Faculty need to see that you are engaged in scholarly pursuits. [All graduate students need to attend the departments seminars and colloquia, even when it is not "mandated."  Schedule it like a class. This is an unwritten rule.]
4. Go to your advisor’s and committee members’ research talks. Whether the talk is within your department, or in other departments, or even at a conference that you’re attending, you should be in the audience. You should also go up to them after the talk and let them know your thoughts, ask additional questions, share some praise, or ask about something that wasn’t clear.  [This is an unwritten expectation.]
5. Make sure that you talk with all of the faculty in your department regularly. It’s not good enough for you to know your faculty. They need to know you. This is simple. They should know you beyond what your admissions file says, and beyond what  the grade beside your name says on Blackboard or their grade book.  This connection doesn’t need to extend to sharing personal business. The faculty in your department should know about your research interests, your career aspirations, your skills, and your ideas. You, the graduate student, need to open the lines of communication and make plans and time in your schedule to talk with your faculty. Some faculty have open door policies, some will talk with you by appointment, and some will have conversations with you at departmental events.

Don’t view talking with the faculty as a chore. They are people too! Enjoy the character-building exercise of taking time to know people of different academic ranks, and people with a variety of personalities. Strengthen this attribute. It will serve you well, both as a graduate student, and as you progress in your career. Have a great semester!

__________________________________________________

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Prepare for a successful Fall semester: Communicate with your faculty (A message for new and continuing grad students.) 

The new semester is starting and we know that first and second year graduate students are generally immersed in classes, while more advanced doctoral students are working on experiments, preparing for exams, writing the dissertation, preparing for the defense, and preparing for a job.  As part of the writing, studying, and preparing, it is important to note that all graduate students (regardless of status, whether in the first year or in the last semester of PhD candidacy) must maintain strong levels of communication with your faculty members. If you attended the 2012 Summer Success Institute, you heard about the importance of working with and connecting to faculty in several of the presentations.  Earlier in the year, we posted 5 things that you should do to be successful BEFORE classes begin.Now that classes are starting, let’s talk about 5 things that you should do DURING the semester as they pertain to faculty/student interactions.

1. Go to office hours for your faculty members … all of them. The Guaranteed 4.0 Book by Donna O. Johnson and Y.C. Chen describes the POH – Professor’s Office Hours as a must. Talk to your professors about the content that they taught in class. Talk to them about updates in the field (you are graduate students, therefore you should be able to “see” your research and topics in everyday life, in the news, in the latest journal articles, etc.) Discuss your understanding of what they are teaching.  [Faculty pay attention to the people who are coming to their office hours. Ask questions! Discuss the research! If something isn't going well, and the faculty are asked about the student, if they say "well, _____insert name ___ never came to see me," then there will be an assumption that the student isn't serious.]
2. Always keep your appointments! If you are going to be late, contact the professors in advance. If you need to request a change of appointment date or time, contact them in advance with the request. Once you make a change, do not continue to make changes. Try to maintain your scheduled appointment. [Regularly missed appointments make faculty wary of trying to make future accommodations for students. Don't fall into the category of having a reputation of missing appointments.]
3.  Go to the department’s seminars and ask questions. Faculty need to see that you are engaged in scholarly pursuits. [All graduate students need to attend the departments seminars and colloquia, even when it is not "mandated."  Schedule it like a class. This is an unwritten rule.]
4. Go to your advisor’s and committee members’ research talks. Whether the talk is within your department, or in other departments, or even at a conference that you’re attending, you should be in the audience. You should also go up to them after the talk and let them know your thoughts, ask additional questions, share some praise, or ask about something that wasn’t clear.  [This is an unwritten expectation.]
5. Make sure that you talk with all of the faculty in your department regularly. It’s not good enough for you to know your faculty. They need to know you. This is simple. They should know you beyond what your admissions file says, and beyond what  the grade beside your name says on Blackboard or their grade book.  This connection doesn’t need to extend to sharing personal business. The faculty in your department should know about your research interests, your career aspirations, your skills, and your ideas. You, the graduate student, need to open the lines of communication and make plans and time in your schedule to talk with your faculty. Some faculty have open door policies, some will talk with you by appointment, and some will have conversations with you at departmental events.

Don’t view talking with the faculty as a chore. They are people too! Enjoy the character-building exercise of taking time to know people of different academic ranks, and people with a variety of personalities. Strengthen this attribute. It will serve you well, both as a graduate student, and as you progress in your career. Have a great semester!

__________________________________________________

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

This afternoon, Dissertation House co-founders Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale and Dr. Renetta Tull joined Oregon State University Physicist Dr. Rubin Landau, and Dr. Phoebe Lenear from the Empowering Leadership Alliance at Rice University to lead a webinar on “The Dissertation Proposal.”   The next webinar will discuss “The Final Defense.” If you want to join, here are the instructions:

*The Final Defense: Thursday, August 30, 10 AM Pacific, 12 PM Central, 1 PM Eastern.  Sign up for this session here by Wednesday, August 29, 2012.  If you previously signed up for the webinar, it is not necessary to register again.  

This webinar is sponsored by the Empowering Leadership Alliance and is open to any graduate student, from any school.  About the Empowering Leadership Alliance:

The Empowering Leadership Alliance (ELA) is a program that was launched in 2007 and is funded by NSF. The program’s director and PI is Professor Richard Tapia at Rice University, and engages underrepresented minority students in computing disciplines at research institutions in a nationwide network composed of dozens of leading universities, professional societies, laboratories, research centers, and corporations.  Read the original press release here.   

This afternoon, Dissertation House co-founders Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale and Dr. Renetta Tull joined Oregon State University Physicist Dr. Rubin Landau, and Dr. Phoebe Lenear from the Empowering Leadership Alliance at Rice University to lead a webinar on “The Dissertation Proposal.”   The next webinar will discuss “The Final Defense.” If you want to join, here are the instructions:

*The Final Defense: Thursday, August 30, 10 AM Pacific, 12 PM Central, 1 PM Eastern.  Sign up for this session here by Wednesday, August 29, 2012.  If you previously signed up for the webinar, it is not necessary to register again.  

This webinar is sponsored by the Empowering Leadership Alliance and is open to any graduate student, from any school.  About the Empowering Leadership Alliance:

The Empowering Leadership Alliance (ELA) is a program that was launched in 2007 and is funded by NSF. The program’s director and PI is Professor Richard Tapia at Rice University, and engages underrepresented minority students in computing disciplines at research institutions in a nationwide network composed of dozens of leading universities, professional societies, laboratories, research centers, and corporations.  Read the original press release here.   

If you have participated in the Dissertation House in the past, and if you still have work to complete, then you are invited to join us for the Dissertation House at the 2012 PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI).  “Alumni” of the DH know how to get down to business immediately. So if you need time and space to jump right into DH mode, use the regular application process, and use “DH @ 2012 SSI” in the subject line of your email. This invitation is open to any graduate student, from any school, who has participated in at least one FULL 3 or 4-day DH Session (e.g., any campus, at a PROMISE retreat, any year) or the 2011 SSI DH Marathon in Columbia.  This event will take place on Friday, August 17, 2012, from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, in Room Commons 329, on UMBC’s campus.

Guidelines and Requirements

•  Be an alumnus of a previous Dissertation House
• Be registered for the PROMISE Summer Success Institute, and  plan to fully participate in the other parts of the conference (outside of the DH)  all day Saturday, 8/18 at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve, http://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/2012-summer-success-institute-august-17-18-2012-umbc-the-hotel-at-arundel-preserve/
  
• Follow the traditional application procedures and apply by Monday, August 13, 2012: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/, use “DH @ 2012 SSI” in the subject line of your email.
• Login to the DH 2012 Summer Challenge and join the conversation with #TeamGetItDone:  http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2012-challenge/
  
• Outline your goals for the 2012 online (using the challenge link above) by Wednesday, August 15.

Coach: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale

This DH session includes breakfast refreshments, a buffet lunch, and an afternoon snack. 

Related articles

• Annual PROMISE Summer Success Institute: August 17-18, 2012 @ UMBC & The Hotel at Arundel Preserve (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• “Get it out of your head, and put it on paper!” (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)
• Finish the dissertation, because you can’t put “Almost PhD” behind your name (renettatull.wordpress.com)

If you have participated in the Dissertation House in the past, and if you still have work to complete, then you are invited to join us for the Dissertation House at the 2012 PROMISE Summer Success Institute (SSI).  “Alumni” of the DH know how to get down to business immediately. So if you need time and space to jump right into DH mode, use the regular application process, and use “DH @ 2012 SSI” in the subject line of your email. This invitation is open to any graduate student, from any school, who has participated in at least one FULL 3 or 4-day DH Session (e.g., any campus, at a PROMISE retreat, any year) or the 2011 SSI DH Marathon in Columbia.  This event will take place on Friday, August 17, 2012, from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, in Room Commons 329, on UMBC’s campus.

Guidelines and Requirements

•  Be an alumnus of a previous Dissertation House
• Be registered for the PROMISE Summer Success Institute, and  plan to fully participate in the other parts of the conference (outside of the DH)  all day Saturday, 8/18 at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve, http://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/2012-summer-success-institute-august-17-18-2012-umbc-the-hotel-at-arundel-preserve/
  
• Follow the traditional application procedures and apply by Monday, August 13, 2012: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/, use “DH @ 2012 SSI” in the subject line of your email.
• Login to the DH 2012 Summer Challenge and join the conversation with #TeamGetItDone:  http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2012-challenge/
  
• Outline your goals for the 2012 online (using the challenge link above) by Wednesday, August 15.

Coach: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale

This DH session includes breakfast refreshments, a buffet lunch, and an afternoon snack. 

Related articles

• Annual PROMISE Summer Success Institute: August 17-18, 2012 @ UMBC & The Hotel at Arundel Preserve (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• “Get it out of your head, and put it on paper!” (dissertationhouse.wordpress.com)
• Finish the dissertation, because you can’t put “Almost PhD” behind your name (renettatull.wordpress.com)

The results are in! The Dissertation House at College Park was a success. Dr. Carter-Veale and Dr. Alexis Williams recorded the full range of sentiments, reflections, and take-home messages on our Summer 2012 Challenge, and on the PhD Completion website.   Here is a subset of those highlights:

• Own the dissertation process
• Don’t try to avoid it
• Visualize yourself in your cap and gown
• Change your perception of productivity
• Trust yourself, own your process
• Set a date and create a schedule. Start the countdown!