What Opportunities, When: A Framework for Professional

Development

Heather Macdonald

College of William and Mary

What Opportunities, When: A Framework for Professional

Development

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What are possibilities?

What can Faculty/Departments Do Regarding Student Career

Development?

• Provide information about jobs/careers

• Encourage exploration of options

• Provide experiences that develop skills, knowledge, attitudes (throughout program)

• Support job search

What Can Faculty Do?First-year students

• Provide information about jobs/careers– What are possibilities?– Photos and stories of geoscientists – Examples of “practical applications”– Job prospects (Dallas Rhodes/GSU)– Making connections options (e.g., K-12

teaching, Rowan Lockwood, W&M)

• Encourage exploration of options– Informational interviews

What Can Faculty Do? Geoscience Majors

• Provide information about jobs/careers– List of possibilities– Career brochures, web

resources– Alumni newsletter– Career panels (recent alumni)– Seminar speakers (range of

careers)

Top Ten Reasons to Become an Earth Science Teacher

Talking with students about job in a state survey

What can Faculty Do? Geoscience Majors

• Encourage exploration of options– Research– REUs and internships– Externships/Shadowing programs– E-introductions of students & alumni– Informational interviews

• Provide experiences that develop skills, knowledge, attitudes– Skills across the curriculum (field, math,

research, communication, …– Independent research– Opportunities to teach - undergrad TA, local

outreach programs

What can Faculty Do?Geoscience Majors

• Support job search– Departmental sessions and handout on graduate

school– Networking (face-to-face and electronic) – students

and alumni– Distribute job announcements on student list serv– Review resumes– Mock interviews/discuss interview strategies– “Elevator” talks re student research– Be supportive of student choices

What can Faculty/Depts Do? An Example: Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences: Resources for

Grad Students & Post-docs

serc.carleton.edu/careerprep

• Provide information about jobs/careers– Career path assignment

• Encourage exploration of options• Provide experiences that develop skills,

knowledge, attitudes• Support job search

Professional Traits

• What professional traits do we want students to develop

• How can we help them develop those traits?

Provide Range of Opportunities

Art Meets Science (in the Geology Library)

• leadership

• teaching

• and more…

Show you Care

Background: I’m here in Antarctica monitoring some USGS stream gauges. Yes that’s right- being able to measure

discharge properly will get you a job, so listen up in Hydrology.

Pic: one of our stream gauges before the stream in the background has thawed out

From E. Gercke