More on connecting with faculty

Tera, one of my former students and a reader, posted the following as a comment to my post last week about connecting with faculty. I thought her idea was a good one, and so decided to include it as a full post, for those who don't read the comments.

Pearce states "to commit to follow a leader down an uncertain path, they have to know the leader’s personal motivation."

Personal motivation is central to trustworthiness. Perhaps before meeting directly as that might be intimidating, try some in class connection. Participate more in discussions and relate your experiences to the Professor's. Create dialogue to encourage connetions with classmates and the professor. Establishing small connections helps to build trust and soon you will see that the relationship may have just been "slow to warm up".

Saturday morning cartoon - Evolution of Dance!

Hi Folks,

Here is an old favorite to bring you cheer on this Saturday as you begin your weekend work:

Evolution of Dance

All the best,

Harriet

Connecting with Faculty

Hi All, This is a continuation of my last post, in response to an anonymous reader who wrote to say that she or he is having difficulty connecting with faculty.

To be most helpful, I would need to know more about you and your faculty and whether you have tried to connect and it has not worked, or whether you aren't sure how to initiate those relationships. However, for now, I will address how to initiate a more personal/professional connection with your faculty.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Make an appointment to get help or support with class work. Certainly, if you are having trouble with any papers, projects or reading, this is a very good reason to meet with your professor. Make an appointment and be prepared with your materials and questions. Work-specific conversations can be a nice bridge to a deeper professional connection and even a mentoring relationship.

2. Look for common ground, and then make an appointment. Has your prof mentioned her or his research and/or professional interests in class? If not, that's what google is for... see if your professor has published in any areas that interest you. If you find common ground, read your professor's work and then make an appointment to discuss. Or if your professor has professional experience that interests you, ask for a time to meet and discuss.

3. Simply ask to meet. I have had a few students email me and say "you are someone I'd like to get to know professionally, can we meet for coffee?" I have really appreciated this straight-forward approach (and the compliment!). We have had terrific meetings, discussing the student's career goals and questions, my research interests and other parts of my professional background.

Other readers -- how have you connected with your professors?

Good luck with the work, all.

Harriet

Grad students and campus community

An anonymous reader responded to my question "how can I help" last week with a few issues. I will address one each over the next few posts.

Here is the first issue raised in the post: "...what i am struggling the most with right now is feeling like I am part of the campus community. i am a fulltime student, commute to campus, and work."

Feeling as if you are part of the campus community, as a graduate student (who works) can be a challenge. Given that you are in student affairs (that is my background too!), I can imagine that you were an involved undergraduate so the transition is even trickier.

I encourage you to think more about how it is that you would really like to feel "part of" the campus community. Is it about having a group on campus with which you are affiliated, is it about connection with faculty, is it about contributing to the campus community? Other ideas?

I think that it is generally more difficult for grad students to get connected -- the opportunities are not as obvious as they were on the undergrad level, plus as you noted, in many cases, we are commuting to campus and/or working.

We'll talk about connecting with faculty later in the week. For now, a few other ideas (and keep in mind, I don't know what your time constraints are):

- Graduate student organizations? Graduate student government?

- Committees on campus that seek graduate student participation? Check with the provost and or dean of student affairs to explore this.

- Undergraduate organizations that may be interested in a grad advisor?

- Recruit others from your dept to field an intramural team

Do any of these resonate? What kind of campus connections you are seeking?

Cheers,

Harriet

Saturday morning video -- post-its!

This is one of my favorites:

On deadline with post-its

Enjoy! And good luck with the work this weekend!

Harriet

How can I help you?

Time management? Stress management? Connecting with faculty? Setting goals? What are the aspects of your academic experience that are the most challenging? How can I help? This is your turn... send me questions, dilemmas, or topics... and I'll respond in a future post.

Either post here to comments, or email me at harrietschwartz14@gmail.com

cheering you on!

Harriet

One day at a time

This week has felt like a rush, and not the good kind. Several of my friends and students have said the same thing -- life is feeling hectic and stressful. So today's reminder is to breathe, prioritize, and do what we can to lower the stress level.

Good luck with the work.

Deep breath.

Harriet