Fridays, 9:30-11am, Atkins Room, 1st Floor SIN

Jan 11, 2008: Managing the Advisor/Advisee Relationship
A productive relationship with your dissertation advisor is arguably one of the most critical "make or break" aspects of the doctoral experience. This seminar aims at providing strategies and perspectives in building a good relationship with your dissertation advisor. Ann Zimmerman, David Ribes, and Brad Taylor will join us. Rackham's Guide: How to Get the Mentoring You Want

Jan 18, 2008: Being an Expert Consumer of Others' Work: WRITING
This session is focused on reviewing and providing feedback on written pieces. Judy Olson will be our guest speaker. We aim to outline this aspect of professionalism and developing skills to be graceful and constructive, yet discerning and critical when approaching the research work of others. PDF: General Issues In Academic Writing and Communication; Online version of The Elements of Style

Jan 25, 2008: Being an Expert Consumer of Others’ Work: LECTURES
Consuming others’ work in the form of conference talks, seminars, and lectures is a core activity for an academic. The focus of this session is active listening and providing feedback and comments during academic talks. John Carson and Joan Durrance will join us. Food will be provided by David Lee.

Feb 1, 2008: Finding Funding as a Doctoral Student
An introduction on where to find funding as a doctoral student. Applying for fellowships as a grad student. Writing a good fellowship application. Speakers will be associate dean Tom Finholt, post-doctoral researcher David Ribes, and doctoral student Marianne Ryan. Food will be provided by Ricky Punzalan.

Feb 8, 2008: Image Management and Departmental Politics
The blunt truth is that organizational politics exist everywhere, and they are largely unavoidable. This session aims to instruct students in managing their own professional image by gauging the political climate, asking the right questions, and deciding how they want to be perceived. Our speaker will be Janet Weiss, dean of the Horace. H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Food will be provided by Beth St. Jean. [ Notes from this session. ]

Feb 15, 2008: Department Finances, Operations, and Facilites
In this session we will learn about how the resources flow in an academic department. We will focus on the larger picture of understanding the operations of a department, aimed at preparing students to be more informed faculty members. Speakers will be Debbie Apsley, Christine Eccleston, and Jim Leach. Food will be provided by Ayse Buyuktur.

Mar 7, 2008: Publishing: The Truth on What Matters and What Doesn't
How do you find the right places to publish? What is the protocol and ettiquite of releasing your work? This session will present the answers to these questions and outline understanding the publishing game. Speakers will be Karen Markey and Jeff Mackie Mason. Food will be provided by Daniel Zhou and Xingxing Yao. [ Notes from this session. ]

Mar 14, 2008: Preparing your Elevator Speech
PhD visiting days is this week, and the topic for this session will serve two purposes: helping students with their elevator speeches and introducing potential future students to doctoral student research at SI. The "elevator speech" is a 1-2 minute overview of one's research topic or project, essential for conference situations when you only have a brief time to convey the information and make a good first impression. Food will be provided by Morgan Daniels.

Mar 21, 2008: Understanding the Tenure Granting Process
The Quest for Tenure is one of the most mythologized aspects of being an academic. In this session, we will learn about the tenure review process at the University of Michigan, and elements specific to the i-School environment.. The speaker for this session will be SI dean and professor Martha Pollack, and possibly former provost and current university librarian, Paul Courant. Food will be provided by Xiaodong Shi.

Mar 28, 2008: The Field Prelim
Stephanie Teasley will join us to discuss faculty expectations regarding the field prelim. Eric Cook, Lian Jian, and Jude Yew will speak about their experiences with the field prelim. This will be followed by a Q&A session. Food will be provided by Tracy Liu. [ Emilee Rader's 5 questions for summarizing papers ]

Apr 4, 2008: Managing Higher Education
What happens at the higher levels of university administration? How might an academic move into the administrative realm, and how can a career be strategically developed to move in this direction? The speaker for this session will be University of Michigan Provost Theresa Sullivan. Food will be provided by Max Chen.

Apr 11, 2008: Teaching as Junior Faculty
As doctoral students we gain experience teaching as GSIs; however, we will eventually be expected to teach courses assigned to us by our future departments, and those of our own design. This session will include things to consider when planning your first course, and the particulars of taking over courses that someone else has designed. Our guests will be Rahul Sami and Cliff Lampe, a graduate of SI's doctoral program who is now an assistant professor at Michigan State University. Food will be provided by Eytan Bakshy.