TIP-TOPics for Students
Jaime Durley, Corey Muoz, and Andi Brinley
University of Georgia
Welcome back, fellow grad students! In case you missed the last TIP, we are your new columnists, Jaime, Corey, and Andi. Our vision for
TIP-TOPics for the next 2 years is to highlight career paths and steps that you can take now in your graduate curriculum to prepare you for these paths. Now that you are back in classes full force, you can put away the beach towels and start beefing up your resum to help secure your dream job in
I-O psychology. Focusing on ways of Developing the Student, Developing the Researcher,
and Developing the Practitioner will allow you to better prepare for each career possibility, while
Career Connections will provide you with a view of career crossover within our field. In this edition, we will be taking a trip to the wonderful world of academics.
While preparing for this journey, we were fortunate to interview an assortment of professors with experience working in a variety of universities in order to provide you with a balanced view of the types of careers along this path. Their dedication, thoughtful responses, and insight were tremendous. Unfortunately, space constraints would not allow us to include every comment. We do hope to incorporate their recommendations into our Roundtable Discussion at SIOP in 2004so be sure to stop by! But first, our job description
Teaching, research, and service are three major responsibilities of a professor at any college or university. Most of us are already aware of the requirements of teaching and research but may be less familiar with the service component. Service comes in many forms, including serving as program chair or department head, committee work, and service to the profession, such as being active members of SIOP and reviewing manuscripts for journals.
Depending on the type of institution and the programs it offers, the amount of time spent on teaching, research, and service varies. Smaller universities tend to be more teaching-focused and are usually private institutions. Of course, exceptions do exist, especially if the small school has a PhD program. Nonetheless, there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to working as an academic in a smaller college setting. Greater contact with students is one major advantage. Working with students is a bonus to a smaller school setting because they have amazing insight, motivation, and pursuit of learning. Some professors also prefer the physically smaller campus setting. Colleagues in every discipline are close at hand, and resources such as a library and recreational facilities are convenient for daily use, which may not be the case at a larger campus. A third major advantage of working at a smaller institution is the autonomy and freedom it provides. There are fewer pressures to do research and publish in top-tier journals, and there is less bureaucracy in general. Adding a new course at a smaller school is not a big deal, IRBs are relatively painless, and state legislature is not peering over your shoulder as it would at other institutions.
Although the physical size of a smaller school can be a benefit at times, there are disadvantages as well. The faculty is smaller, so there is less distribution of laborincluding teaching classes and serving on committeesas well as fewer colleagues in your particular specialty area, which may limit research collaborations within your institution. A smaller private school also does not benefit from the amount of funding that a larger state school would receive. The greatest disadvantages of working in a smaller school may be the isolation and a lack of resources. In addition, the teaching demands may conflict with ones desire to conduct a research program. And, there may be less prestige and pay associated with a smaller school.
In contrast, a larger university setting has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Contact with students is still a benefit, especially in upper-level, smaller classes; however, undergraduates in general may seem less interested in learning. The greater diversity in the faculty, staff, and student body at larger universities is also a major plus for collaborating and interdisciplinary work. Larger institutions provide more research opportunities and lab equipment that may not be available at smaller schools. While funding allocated for research may be greater at larger universities, resources geared toward teaching and teacher development may be limited.
The type of graduate program also affects the responsibilities of the faculty. A PhD program requires different responsibilities of academics than does a terminal masters program, and each has its unique advantages and disadvantages (Butts, Yanchus, & Grauer, 2002). Masters programs usually have a more applied nature, which make them very practical, interesting, and challenging. There is also greater opportunity for faculty to participate in consulting projects. However, the fact that students are usually enrolled in masters programs for only 2 years, rather than 4 to 5 as in a PhD program, poses a problem. About the time students learn enough to be really helpful in research and consulting, they graduate. It is difficult to get a research team going, much less continuously starting over with new graduate students every couple of years in a masters program. Aside from the greater experience of the students, another advantage of working in a school with a PhD program is that there is a relatively equal balance between teaching and research expectations, so you are not forced to emphasize one or the other. However, this may pose problems in balancing the twoyou cannot focus on one or the other, which sometimes makes it difficult to set priorities.
When polled about the factors they considered in choosing a career in academics, many of our respondents cited the flexible schedule, autonomy, freedom to choose their own projects, variety of work, and the potential to do consulting that academia affords. Love of teaching and interacting with students were also frequently mentioned. The ability to make an impression on students lives and to watch them develop and mature is a distinct benefit of working in academics. Those passionate about research and contributing to a field of knowledge would excel in this career. Academia is an intellectually stimulating, complex, and challenging field that fosters creativity. It allows you to continue to develop skills as a researcher and scholar after graduate school, an opportunity that you may not really have as a practitioner.
Before starting a career in academics, though, all of our respondents were concerned about salary limitations. Tenure and promotion pressures were also at the top of the list of drawbacks to this career path. One academic identified flexibility as a mixed blessing. Because work can travel with you, it is always there. Ideally, there would be more separation between work and a professors personal life. Another faculty member cited concerns about unemployment, potentially high teaching loads with no opportunities for research, and a dislike of politics in the PhD program from which he graduated, but for him these drawbacks were not enough to outweigh his desires to teach and conduct research in an academic institution. Finally, a true enjoyment of teaching in the field of psychology more than compensates for the amount of pay, and, unlike many other areas of psychology, I-O professors can usually supplement their income with consulting during their summers.
Developing the Student
Okay class, what can a graduate student do to prepare for a career in academia? Anyone? Grilling the faculty panel for advice regarding topics such as courses to take, books to read, and conferences to attend provided us with some very helpful suggestions.
A career in academia will ultimately require the art of teaching and research. Having the KSAs to prepare and teach a course is something that we should develop in graduate school. While we must have knowledge of the topics we will eventually teach, taking a course on basic teaching techniques or teaching technologies will help a student understand how to prepare for a class, from course construction to course management. Furthermore, classes on public speaking, training, and ethical issues help build the foundation of an academic. Preparing for academia by taking classes covering these professional issues will benefit graduate students by providing a competitive edge in the job market. It is also imperative to have a firm statistical and methodological background. In order to develop these necessary skills in research methods and analysis, graduate students should seek out courses within psychology, education, or the business arena that train you how to interpret your research findings and result in a publishable paper at the end of the term.
Read any good books lately? Well if you are considering a life as a university professor,
The Compleat Academic (Zanna & Darley, 1987) appears to be the book to read! The majority of our panel cited this book as a useful resource in preparing for a career as an academic. This book (2nd edition) is jammed-packed with advice on the hiring process, controlling your career, teaching tips, research, understanding grants, and journal writing. The third edition is hot off the presses and now available at your local bookstore. Another popular reference recommended for future professors is
Teaching of Psychology (http://teachpsych.org). This quarterly journal is put out by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) and suggests teaching methods, develops teaching materials, and fosters a teaching community for all teachers of psychology.
Developing the Researcher
Students can enhance their research skills in activities outside their classes as well. First off, get involved in research and learn how to do high quality work. Join forces with multiple faculty members and colleagues who utilize a variety of designs and techniques in order to broaden your training. Involvement in multiple projects at various stages aids in understanding the techniques involved at each phase of the research process (theory, methods, analysis, publishing) and enhances students confidence to eventually pursue their own research agendas and develop their own research teams. Early involvement in research also improves the likelihood that some of this research will result in publications. Publishing your research in peer-reviewed journals before you graduate is an important step in gaining a position as an academic, especially if you are pursuing work in a larger research institution (Hargis, Pratt, & Kuttnauer, 2003).
Once involved in research, you can present at conferences to further enhance your research skills. Not only does this refine your techniques, it also increases your attractiveness to potential employers. To help students prepare for teaching and research, several alternative conferences were mentioned in addition to our beloved annual SIOP conference and doctoral consortium
(http://siop.org). The American Psychological Association
(http://apa.org) as well as the American Psychological Society
(http://www.psychologicalscience.org) sponsor teaching consortiums for the training and education of faculty. For those interested in pursuing an academic position in business, Academy of Management
(http://aomonline.org) is also a good conference to attend. STP holds an annual conference catering to those in academia while focusing on improving teaching techniques, especially classroom effectiveness. These conferences are excellent forums to develop your writing, research, and presentation skills, as well as provide you with an excellent opportunity to network with future colleagues.
Developing the Practitioner
Although enrollment in the recommended courses above develops your knowledge and skills, you still need experience to enhance your abilities. A realistic job preview can be obtained through teaching as a graduate student. Any exposure, whether as a teaching assistant, team teaching, or taking full responsibility of a course will help prime your abilities as a professor. It is wise to develop your teaching style during graduate school. Allow the courses that you found enjoyable and thought-provoking as a student to serve as a model in your own classes (Hoffman & King, 2001). As you develop your own techniques and gain confidence in your abilities, be sure to request feedback from your supervisors and students to help you improve. Also, work on compiling a teaching portfolio and defining your teaching philosophy, which are often requested by many institutions. Practice, experience, and finding a style that fits your personality are all ingredients in making a great professor and securing a great job. These experiences can give insight into the inner-workings of academic life and make the transition from student to faculty member much easier.
Students interested in a career in academics should get involved with programs like Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), which is sponsored in part by the APA (Grauer, Yanchus, & Butts, 2002). The PFF program is designed for anyone interested in academia and is geared to give graduate students exposure to life in various institutional settings. Currently there are only four schools with PFF programs in psychology (Miami University, University of Georgia, University of ColoradoBoulder, and University of New Hampshire), and only one has an I-O program. You may have a teaching fellows program at your institution similar to the PFF program, where senior graduate students gain professional experiences teaching introductory psychology and I-O classes under the supervision of faculty members. We encourage students and their faculty to learn more about these types of programs and gradually implement similar components into their own schools programs.
Believe it or not, we also recommend those seeking careers in academics to pursue an internship in an applied setting. Wait, wait, we know what you are thinkingstudents geared for academics should pursue a consulting internship?? Well, these internships can give invaluable experience to all graduate students as well as open doors to do future consulting projects as an academic. These experiences help keep a hand in the real world as well as bring applied experiences into the classroom. Furthermore, the consulting experiences that you gain can help solidify your decision to pursue a career in academics.
Career Connections
Many academics today balance their faculty positions with applied experiences. Faculty members find this combination advantageous for their classroom instruction as well as their research programs. Furthermore, bringing these applied experiences into the classroom offers a real life connection between instruction and application. The practical insights gained from actually doing what you are teaching can be invaluable. A professor with no applied experience may feel rather inept at preparing his or her students for careers as consultants. However, faculty members who are active in applied projects can easily incorporate these experiences into the classroom, providing distinct advantages to their students. Also, applied experiences provide contacts that may help faculty members place their own students in internships at these organizations.
Balancing an academic career with applied experiences, however, can pose some challenges. Adding consulting projects to an already hectic position in academics will definitely require additional work hours. Also, several of those interviewed suggested that individuals in pretenure careers should limit their consulting experiences and focus on establishing themselves as academics. Consulting projects generally do not contribute to your tenure track and therefore should be limited. Taking on projects in the summer, taking shorter projects that can be completed fairly quickly, and optimizing the fit between the type of consulting projects and your own research should help in balancing a career in academics with applied experiences. Combining your applied experiences with your research agenda, such as collecting research data when working on a consulting project, also alleviates the conflict between academics and consulting.
Finally, is it possible to change paths once you have committed to academia? Through our interviews, we found that it is often more difficult for individuals to transition from consultant to faculty member than vice versa. Consultants must maintain a presence in the literature by conducting research if they wish to pursue a career in academia, which is sometimes difficult. However, if you do choose consulting and then decide your interests lie more in the academic world, never fear. Consultants who regularly attend professional conferences (such as SIOP) and find ways to publish are met with a smoother transition into academia. Students who want to transition from applied positions into academic roles should obtain positions in applied research firms where there are more opportunities to turn projects into presentations and publications. Furthermore, alternatives do exist for graduate students interested in both teaching and consulting careers, such as becoming adjunct professors or part-time lecturers.
Additional Issues
Okay, students, class is almost over. We hope you are anxious to begin implementing our advice, but we have some final words of wisdom we would like to impart to you. First, we have provided a lot of information about resources that you may not have available at your particular institution. To counteract this, you should definitely talk to your professors and find out how to obtain these opportunities in other ways. Maybe you can begin a PFF-type program at your institution or start an electronic mailing list on which teaching assistants in your program can trade lecture notes and/or activities for the classroom. The important thing is not to be passive in your training. Being proactive not only allows you to have control over the direction of your education but also lets others know you are serious about your career. This level of preparation and involvement gives you a distinct advantage over your future competitors in the job market.
Finally, we must state again that we had such a multitude of information provided by our contributors that we could not include it all in this column. If you would like more information on any of these topics, please feel free to contact us: Jaime Durley
(jdurley@uga.edu), Corey Muoz (cmunoz@uga.edu), and Andi Brinley
(amtbrinley@aol.com). We would also like to sincerely thank the academics who have provided such wonderful information for this column:
Janet Barnes-Farrell (University of Connecticut), Lynn Bartels (Southern Illinois University),
Wendy Casper (University of Tulsa), Donna Chrobot-Mason (University of ColoradoDenver),
Robert Dipboye (Rice University), Jacob Hautaluoma (Colorado State University),
Rosemary Hays-Thomas (University of West Florida), Michelle Hebl (Rice University),
Allen Huffcutt (Bradley University), John Kello (Davidson College),
Tracy Lambert (University of Georgia), Adam Meade (North Carolina State University), Tom Pusateri (Florida Atlantic University),
Belle-Rose Ragins (University of WisconsinMilwaukee), Steven Rogelberg
(Bowling Green State University), Elizabeth Shoenfelt (Western Kentucky University), and
Nancy Stone (Creighton University).
References
Butts, M., Yanchus, N., & Grauer, E. (2002). TIP-TOPics.
The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 39(3), 6067.
Grauer, E., Yanchus, N., & Butts, M. (2002). TIP-TOPics.
The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 40(1), 100109.
Hargis, M., Pratt, A., & Kuttnauer, D. (2003). Publish early and often.
The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 41(1), 103105.
Hoffman, K., & King, T. (2001). TIP-TOPics for students.
The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 38(4), 7583.
Zanna, M. P. & Darley, J. M. (1987). The Compleat Academic. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
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