Advanced Graduate Experiences

Professional Development Seminar

The goal of the Professional Development Seminar is to give the participants the best possible preparation for the issues they will face as faculty members at four-year colleges. This seminar is run by mathematics faculty with several sessions offered by the Coordinator of Graduate Student Training and Development for the UNL Graduate College. Topics include writing grant proposals, navigating service commitments, strategies for teaching courses outside one’s area of expertise, tips for incorporating active learning in courses, and time management. In particular, because we want to give extra emphasis to the issue of writing grant proposals, participants begin working in this seminar on proposals to the NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships program.

Academic Job Search Workshop

During the fall of the fifth year of graduate school, graduate students apply for jobs. This task is tackled collaboratively through the Academic Job Search Workshop. Participants work together in sorting through job announcements and writing CVs, cover letters, research statements, and teaching statements. Each participant will prepare a talk that (s)he can give on interviews and they present these talks to each other. Follow-up mentoring is provided in the spring, as graduate students receive guidance on negotiating job offers and encouraged to apply for programs such as Project NExT.