Welcome to the Preparing Future Faculty Project
Our mission...
The Preparing Future Faculty Project is an initiative created in conjunction with the Reinventing the Ph.D. Program here in the geography department at UWM. It is made possible by a grant from the UWM Center for Instructional and Professional Development (CIPD). The project is being planned and implemented by Harold A. Perkins, a second year Ph.D. student in the department. He is being supervised by the geography department faculty, including the following: Dr. Nikolas Heynen, Dr. Judith Kenny, Dr. Mark Schwartz, and Dr. Chris DeSousa. The project will provide incoming and experienced teaching assistants with the necessary training and support to help them become effective teachers and researchers.
Methodology...
Survey material and project planning is being drawn up during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 academic year. The project will be implemented during the 2003-2004 academic year. Four components will primarily comprise the project. They include:
- Administration of a confidential graduate survey during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 academic year. This survey is designed to help the department determine what instruction graduate students feel they need from the department in regard to pedagogy, service, and research related issues. It is expected that the survey will be administered once every year, and changed if necessary to reflect the concerns of graduate students- primarily those who hold assistantship appointments.
- An enhanced teaching assistant orientation. This will be integrated into the traditional departmental orientation that generally takes place shortly after the graduate school orientation. Attendance is mandatory for all graduate students holding an appointment for the 2003-2004 academic year. This event will take place during the mornings of August 27th and 28th, 2003. Meetings will be held from approximately 8:00AM until noon on both days. It is during this time period that new teaching assistants will be able to meet the faculty members with which they will be working, other teaching assistants, and plan for the upcoming semester. Activities will be scheduled that include a departmental tour and explanation of procedures, syllabus writing, effective research methods in the Golda Meir Library, and a tour of the city of Milwaukee.
- Experienced teaching assistants and faculty as mentors. Faculty and graduate students can provide invaluable feedback to new teachers, when providing it in a constructive manner. All new teaching assistants will be paired with at least one "experienced" teaching assistant at the beginning of the year. This mentor will be responsible for helping the new teaching assistant to adjust and to learn about department policies and expectations in regard to teaching. Mentors will set up a couple of times throughout the first semester to sit in on the new teaching assistants' classes, in order to provide comments. This should be done in the first week of classes, and then toward the middle or end of the same semester.
- Four colloquia throughout the year geared toward issues in teaching, research, grant writing, and service. Special colloquia will take place through the school year in order to further shed light on topics pertinent to becoming a successful faculty member. Each colloquia will be mandatory for all graduate students in the department. Completion of the Ph.D. or Masters degree in this department requires that all four special colloquia sessions be attended- participation will be noted. More information on the content of these sections can be found by clicking on the links provided above.
- Creation and maintenance of this website designed specifically for the ongoing support of this project. By providing a link from the departmental website to this one, students can readily examine specific aspects of the project, ranging from the long-term goals of the project to expectations made by the department of its graduate students. This site provides links to various resources on and off campus that will help graduate students be successful in their academic endeavors.
Graduate Student Resources...
Links to helpful websites and online resources.Contact Information...
Feel free to contact Harold Perkins at any time with questions related to this project. He can be reached by email at the following address:
Harold A. Perkins
hperkins@uwm.edu
414-229-5818
