Toulouse Graduate School

Success Strategies for Graduate Students

Victor R. Prybutok, PhD Interim Associate Dean

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TGS Fall 2010

•  Grad Students Enrolled: about 8000 •  Post-Bac: 1494 •  Masters: 4870 •  Doctoral: 1658 •  Spec-Prof: 35

•  New Doctoral Students Enrolled: about 300 •  New PhD students: 238 •  New EDD students: 19 •  New DMA students: 57 •  New AUD students: 9

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Graduate Student Development

Three Stage Model of Graduate Student Development*

1. Early Stage 2. Mid Stage 3. Late Stage

This model responds to some of the commonly encountered challenges facing graduate students. *Adapted from materials MIT model * Adapted from Stewart, Donald W. (1995). Developmental Considerations in Counseling Graduate Students. Guidance & Counseling, 10, 3, 21-24.

Toulouse Graduate School

Early Stage Efforts Results in Mid and Late Stage Success

•  Early Engagement

•  Friends, Romans, Countrymen

•  Look for professional relationships with peers and faculty

•  Early Research Opportunities

•  Conference attendance - Travel Grants

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Becoming Your Own Manager

•  5 strategies for productive graduate career

1.Take responsibility & ownership for your success

2. Know available resources 3.Think ahead 4. Have a plan 5. Identify (and deal with) obstacles

PREP

•  PLANNING for success - entry to exit

– Planning during graduate school

helps you identify and achieve your professional and career goals.

Early Planning

•  Course Projects, Papers, Etc. –  Easiest path to an A Or – Foundation for future research,

conference paper, and dissertation

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Early Research

•  First year – Course projects – Work with faculty

•  Summer 1st year •  Second year

– Conferences – Looking for a mentor

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PREP

•  RESILIENCE and tenacity through multiple career and life stages

– Resilience: the ability to adapt

effectively to adversity or change

– Wellness: The integration and balance of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being through taking responsibility for one’s own health

PREP

•  ENGAGEMENT in decision-making and skill development

– Engagement in your discipline and in

your personal and professional development is critical for enhancing transferable skills, expanding professional networks, and creating partnerships and collaborations.

Engagement

•  Faculty mentor •  Don’t wake up after comps and look for a

mentor Rather •  Look at faculty each time you interact and

look for opportunities to engage and evaluate them as potential mentors

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Selecting a Mentor

•  How do you decide who you can work with? – Personality – Work style – Fun fun fun

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Authorship

•  How do you decide order authorship – Talk to the faculty before you begin

•  Look at journals in your discipline •  Resolve any discrepancies before it

becomes too late.

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PREP

•  PROFESSIONALISM in research, teaching, and service

– Professionalism: how you reflect on

what you do in your discipline and the types of attitudes, standards, and behaviors you demonstrate throughout your career.

Mentoring and Advising Promising

Practices:

•  Orientation

•  Development/Revision of a Graduate Student Handbook

•  Development of online student progress mechanisms

•  Early advising

•  Regularity and uniformity of progress review

•  Transparency about expectations and requirements

•  Mentor/Advisor selection and quality

•  Professional Development

•  Dissertation stage

From the Council of Graduate Schools:

PhD Completion Project www.phdcompletion.org

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Activity

•  Workshop –  Make a list of class papers or projects you

have been asked to write. –  Think about how you can use these papers

or projects to build expertise that provides a foundation for your dissertation.

•  Form groups of three –  Discuss your projects and how you will use

these papers / projects to assist in completing your dissertation & publications.

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Toulouse Graduate School

Important Points •  Professional Development is both your

obligation and an obligation the faculty have toward you.

•  Your likelihood of success is greater if you make your development an active process

•  Little forms A to Z

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