Graduate students and postdocs quickly find that their academic experience is about a lot more than books. The Graduate School takes motivated, talented scholars and places them in a hands-on learning environment that emphasizes original research, scholarship. extension and engagement, real-world partnerships, teaching experiences, and mentoring provided by graduate faculty members.
Preparing Future Leaders (PFL) is the Graduate School’s newest professional development initiative, comprising training and education in responsible conduct of research, professional development seminars, and programs that support teaching. By providing transferable skills, PFL helps prepare graduate students and post-docs to be competitive in the global market and readies them for fulfilling and successful professional lives after they earn their degrees.
Professional Development Seminars (PDS) offer training in many skills graduate students and postdocs won't find included in coursework—skills that can prepare them for life beyond graduate school or postdoctoral training. Topics such as writing grants, navigating institutional grant processing, providing effective leadership, resolving conflicts, and communicating in a variety of situations can help them realize their professional goals, whether those goals include work in government, industry, nonprofits, or academia..
The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) program prepares beginning graduate students for their research endeavors, provides the foundations for conversations about responsible conduct of research throughout graduate students’ careers, and offers faculty a supplement to class discussions about ethics. Our program prepares both graduate students and faculty to recognize ethical issues as they arise, reason correctly about these issues, formulate appropriate moral arguments, and behave in a morally responsible manner. Online training and resources are complemented by speakers and other area events related to research ethics.
Preparing the Professoriate (PTP) offers advanced doctoral students a preview of a career as a faculty member through a year-long mentoring experience with distinguished faculty who have been recognized for teaching excellence. Successful applicants to this competitive program work closely with faculty mentors to develop successful teaching practices, culminating in a teaching portfolio that participants can use in future academic job searches. Monthly seminars complement the teaching work of participants and mentors as they prepare participants to teach or co-teach their first course on their own.
The Certificate of Accomplishment in Teaching (CoAT) offers graduate students at all levels a chance to demonstrate their commitment to teaching excellence by fulfilling a set of requirements related to teaching and learning. The program offers graduate students specialized workshops about teaching and learning in the university classroom as well as ongoing assistance with teaching strategies and professional development. It concludes with the development of a professional teaching portfolio or major project that can complement participants’ non-academic career goals by helping them “package” their teaching experience as a set of marketable skills.
Postdoctoral Resources include links to campus policies and services, benefits, and resource information as well as links to community services and organizations to help you feel at home at NC State and Raleigh.
All Preparing Future Leaders logos designed by Michèle Wong Kung Fong.