Pedagogical and Professional Development:

2013-2014 Seminar for Mellon Graduate Teaching Fellows

Dr. Brett Gadsden
Associate Professor of African American Studies
207 Candler Library
404-712-9442
brett.gadsden@emory.edu

Dr. Michael Leo Owens

Associate Professor of Political Science
333 Tarbutton Hall
404-727-9322
michael.leo.owens@emory.edu

The purposes of the seminar are (1) to encourage the completion of Fellows dissertations, (2) to foster dialogue
and reflection about perennial and new pedagogical and professional issues, and (3) to provide opportunities for
Fellows to prepare for the job market.

For most of you, this will be your first true academic placement, similar to stepping onto the tenure track.
This is a tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth, even if it comes at a time when you
may feel great pressure to complete your dissertations. The fellowship provides you with the structure and
opportunity to make real progress towards finishing your dissertations. Remember: Finishing your
dissertation is the most important goal of the fellowship.
The seminar provides Fellows opportunities to develop their pedagogical understanding. Recognizing that
factors such as institutional culture and the demographics of the students (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity,
socioeconomic statuses) at our partner schools may influence how you teach and evaluate students, the
seminar invites conversations about didactic and pedagogical tools and perspectives that may help Fellows
in their specific institutional and classroom contexts.
Recognizing that many of you will go on the academic job market or seek long-term employment in other
sectors during the fellowship year, the seminar is a space for inquiry, preparation, and feedback. It provides
opportunities for supplemental guidance, especially advice for constructing job applications/portfolios,
developing job talks, and performing well during interviews.
Note: The following sites offer useful information for preparing an application packet and job talk, assuming you
seek an academic position

http://www.marquette.edu/english/documents/SampleCVforPandT.pdf
http://www.otal.umd.edu/~sies/jobchecklist.html
http://pag.csail.mit.edu/~mernst/advice/academic-job.html
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2000/february9/jobtalk-29.html

Seminar Structure
We meet as a group about every 3-4 weeks. Our meetings for the 2013-2014 academic year will be on Emorys
campus. Our seminar room will be Room 204 in Candler Library, which houses the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies.
We will start at 5:30pm and end no later than 8:30pm. The dates for our seminar are September 25, October 30,
November 13, and December 11. Once we know our teaching schedules for the spring semester, well identify dates
for the remaining sessions of the seminar.
One part of each session will involve a presentation by a Fellow. Generally, the presentation functions as a mock
"job talk." However, a teaching demonstration is appropriate, too, given that some you may seek post-graduate
employment at liberal arts colleges. Fellows presentations will be approximately 30 minutes in length, followed by
approximately 30-45 minutes of questions and comments from peers and the co-directors.

Another part of each session will be a group discussion of an aspect or dimension of academe. Fellows will serve as
discussion leaders, assisted by the co-directors. The discussions will relate to and involve a small set of short articles
on pedagogical, professional, and employment issues. We draw heavily on The Chronicle of Higher Education
[henceforth CHE]. The Emory libraries maintain campus-wide direct access to the full-text online edition of CHE.
Emory users can now connect directly to the CHE without special a login or password. Regarding the non-CHE
articles, they are available as PDFs or via links from our Blackboard site.
Read and think about the articles before each meeting of the seminar. Of course, we are happy to provide Fellows
with an additional list of recommended readings and teaching resources on which to draw in the future. Just ask, so
we can customize that list. Also, for each session of the seminar, a Fellow will be designated the discussion leader.
That leader may suggest an additional article, possibly from the CHE, InsideHigherEd.com, or from the campus
newspaper of his or her host institution. Fellows can peruse an assortment of supplemental readings on current
topics by joining supplemental, daily electronic newsletters such as Inside Higher Ed
(http://www.insidehighered.com/) and Academe Today (http://chronicle.com/myaccount/newsletters). We also
recommend The Monday Motivator (http://bit.ly/aRXDH5)
Well reserve the remaining part of the session to address issue related to the fellowship program and other issues
salient to Fellows at the moment the listed topics do not confine us.
Seminar Dates, Topics, and Readings
September 25

Explaining & Demonstrating What We Know via Job Talks and Interviews
Presenter: Angel Diaz
Discussion Leader: Anne Stewart

October 30

Pannapacker, William, No DH, No Interview, CHE, July 22, 2012

Shapiro, Dan, Grim Job Talks Are a Buzz Kill, CHE, July 16, 2012
Johnson, Mary Dillon. The Academic Job Interview Revisited, CHE, October 15,
2004.
Hall, Donald, Interviewing at a Teaching-Focused University, CHE, May 28, 2003.
Kolmerten, Carol. What Small Colleges Really Want. CHE, August 29, 2005
Baron, Dennis. The Campus Visit, CHE, February 25, 2002.
Vick, Julie Miller and Jennifer Furlong, Asking the Right Questions, CHE, January
11, 2006.

Our Time is Precious: Manage It Well

Presenter: Brent Dawson
Discussion Leader: Ben Hilb

David Perlmutter, Do You Really Not Have the Time?, CHE, August 22, 2008
Jeremy Boss and Susan Eckert, Academic Scientists at Work: Where Did My Day
Go?, Science Career Magazine, April 9, 2004
Scribendi, Ten Time Management Techniques for Academics, no date
Timothy Ferris, The 4 Hour Work Week, Fortune Small Business, September 5,
2007
Irene Clark, Working With Your Committee, Writing the Successful Thesis and
Dissertation, pp. 150-153
Renata Kobetts Miller, Finishing the Dissertation, CHE, April 1, 2003

November 13

Who Are You to Others? Presenting Your Best Academic Self

Presenter: Cat Prueitt
Discussion Leader:

December 11

Benton, Thomas Hart, The 7 Deadly Sins of Professors. CHE May 12, 2006
Hall, Donald E., "Ch. 1 - Self," The Academic Self: An Owner's Manual
Potter, Claire Bond, "Dream a Little of Me: Six Easy Steps to Writing a Great Job
Letter," Tenured Radical Blog, August 12, 2008
Pannapacker, William, Screening Out the Introverts, CHE, April 15, 2012
Vaillancourt, Allison, Have You Tried Being Likeable?, CHE, July 24, 2012
Vaillancourt, Allison, What Does Likeable Look Like?, CHE, July 31, 2012

Good Planning Is Half the Battle: Preparing for the 2nd Semester
Presenter: Anne Stewart
Discussion Leader: Cat Prueitt

January

Lang, James, The Promising Syllabus. CHE September 1, 2006.

Fant, Gene, "Syllabi, in Excruciating Detail," CHE, August 12, 2010
Benton, Thomas Hart, The 7 Deadly Sins of Students." CHE April 14, 2006.
Lang, James, Did You Learn Anything? CHE March 9, 2007.
Paul, Richard, Critical Thinking, Moral Integrity, and Citizenship: Teaching for the
Intellectual Virtues, Social Worlds of Higher Education: A Handbook for Teaching in
a New Century

The Classroom: Tactics for Leading a New Class

Presenter: Ben Hilb
Discussion Leader: Katie Homan

Ken Bain, Introduction: Defining the Best, What the Best College Teachers Do,
2004
Germano, William. The Scholarly Lecture: How to Stand and Deliver. CHE
November 28, 2003
Calogero, Caroline, To Learn to Teach, Be a Student. CHE, October 31, 2008
Ms. Kate, Teaching Sensitive Topics," Academic Ecology Blog, March 3, 2009
Halavais, Alex, Learnable Moments, March 3, 2009
Dr. Crazy, Presentations in Upper-Level Classes, Reassigned Time Blog, November
27, 2006
Benton, Thomas, Hell's Classroom," CHE, April 17, 2009

February

The Institutions Where We Are Scholars

Presenter: Katie Homan
Discussion Leader: Angel Diaz

March

Newfield, Christopher, Public Universities at Risk: 7 Damaging Myths. CHE, Oct.

31, 2008.
Greenberg, Milton, Agents for Change: Off the Well-Trod Path in Academe. CHE,
Nov. 9, 2007.
Ghodsee, Kristen, A Research Career at a Liberal-Arts College. CHE, April 25,
2008.
Rothenberg, Julia, Private Troubles and Public Issues in the Classroom, CHE, April
10, 2009.
Pence, Gregory, How to Be Happy in Academe. CHE, Jan. 9, 2009.
Lane, Terran, On Leaving Academe, CHE, August 19, 2012

Its the Policy: Rules, Fairness, and Progress

Presenter:
Discussion Leader: Brent Dawson

April

Williams, Joan, Its in Their Interest, Too, CHE, August 31, 2006.
Wilson, Robin, Paid Leave at Public Colleges vs. Private Ones, CHE, April 9, 2004.
Bartlett, Thomas, Give Me Liberty or I Quit, CHE May 19, 2006.
Horowitz, David, In Defense of Intellectual Diversity, CHE, February 13, 2004.
Wilson, Robin, How Babies Alter Careers for Academics, CHE, December 5, 2003.
Ward, Champion, Filling a Gap in the Doctoral Process, CHE, October 21, 2005.
Adams, Allison, Stopping the Tenure Clock for Emory's Junior Faculty Would
Family-Friendly Delays of Tenure be Fair for All?, The Academic Exchange,
March/April 1999
Office of the Provost, Update to Emorys Tenure Policy, April 1, 2009
Pratt, Linda Ray, Disposable Faculty: Part Time Exploitation as Management
Strategy, Social Worlds of Higher Education: A Handbook for Teaching in a New
Century

Looking Down the Road: Tenure Track and Beyond

Discussion Leader:

Wright, Charlotte, " Revising Humanities Dissertations for Publication," University of

Iowa Press
Klingner, J. et al., How to Publish in Scholarly Journals, Educational Researcher,
November 2005
Mantero, Miguel, Road Signs to Tenure, CHE, February 20, 2004.
Wilson, Robin, "Tenure, RIP: What the Vanishing Status Means for the Future of
Education," CHE, July 4, 2010
Jaschik, Scott, Tenure in a Digital Era, Inside Higher Ed, May 26, 2009
Lilienfeld, Scott, Desperately Seeking Tenure, The Academic Exchange, Dec.
2003/Jan. 2004

May

Fogg, Piper, From Tenure Seeker to Tenure Counselor, CHE, February 20, 2004
Jackson, John L., "Opting Out," CHE, August 2, 2010
Hikel, Sabine, Leaving Academia: 11 Things to Know, Inside Higher Ed, June 24,
2009
Madison, Ell, The Truth About the Nonacademic Job Search, CHE November 4,
2005

Reflections and Wrap Up