Graduate Student Professionalization

The department offers a variety of opportunities for graduate student professionalization. Preparing students for conferences, teaching, and the job market is a top priority, and while much of this takes place within the classroom, much more is offered in informal settings throughout the graduate student’s career at MSU.

The department organizes frequent professionalization seminars and workshops on Friday afternoons, typically once a month during the academic year. These Friday luncheons are where students and faculty discuss some of the most important norms and standards in the discipline, and these typically coincide with upcoming conference deadlines, job talks, or other professional events. Some recent examples include:

Tips from a division chair on submitting to conferences: advice for graduate students; Ken Williams

Preparing for the Academic Job Market: A Timeline (in Reverse); Josh Sapotichne

10+1 Tips for Professional Conference and Job Talks; Eric Gonzalez Juenke

On alternate Fridays during the academic year, students are given the opportunity to see research presentations by department faculty, as well as talks given by faculty visiting from other universities. Some recent and upcoming examples include:

"Opening the Partisan Mind? Self-affirmation and factual misperceptions about politics."

Brendan Nyhan, Dartmouth College

"Forum Shopping for the Best Adjudicator: Conflict Management and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)." Sarah Mitchell, University of Iowa

"The Social Contagion Model: Exploring the Role of Public Opinion on the Diffusion of Anti-Smoking Legislation across the American States." Julia Pacheco, Robert Wood Johnson Scholar, University of Michigan

"Is There a Culture War? Heterogeneous Value Choices and American Public Opinion."

Bill Jacoby, Michigan State University

The department also organizes and supports practice conference and job talks prepared by graduate students. In the spring, students who are presenting at the Midwest or other conferences are provided a large faculty and graduate student audience to practice their presentations, get feedback, and respond to comments in a lively and informal setting.

The department also provides a one-stop resource for graduate students preparing for the job market. On our (password required) Angel website, graduate students are able to view templates for, and examples of, teaching statements, research statements, syllabi, and other components of successful job packets. The site is also a resource for the latest professional articles dealing with the changing nature of the academic job market.

The department is committed to providing the most up-to-date and relevant resources for our graduate students throughout their time in the program.