Professional Preparation & Placement

Professional Preparation & Placement 2002 Conference for Chairs

Preparing and Placing Political Science Ph.D.s: Programs for Doctoral Students and Faculty

Sponsored by the APSA Committee on Education and Professional Development and the Departmental Services Program Committee

The 2002 Conference for Political Science Department Chairs was dedicated to the professional preparation and placement of political science Ph.D.s.

Graduate directors and other faculty interested in the training of doctoral students for successful careers in research, undergraduate education, departmental and institutional governance are welcome to attend the conference. Because doctoral education is as important to Ph.D. programs placing their graduates as it is to all departments hiring new faculty, this conference will be of interest to all types of departments.

Several higher education projects are devoted to preparing Ph.D.s for academe and particularly for faculty positions. APSA is monitoring these projects and is collaborating, in the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) in the Social Science and Humanities Program coordinated by the Council on Graduate Schools and the American Association for Colleges and Universities. The conference will include an overview of these projects and political science departmental involvement in them as well as APSA's own initiatives to assist departmental attention to professional development.

AGENDA
Introductions: 35 minutes

1. Greetings from Susan Pharr, Chair, Departmental Services Committee (8-10 minutes)

2. Future Focus, Services for Department Chairs, Michael Brintnall (10 minutes)

3. Participants Introduce Themselves, by Name and Institution (4 minutes)

4. Overview of APSA Initiatives to Encourage Transparency and Enhancement of Professional Development for Faculty Careers (8 minutes)

5. Summary of the Questions Considered in the Morning Session (8 minutes)

Brief Break: 5 minutes

Professional Development and Placement: 50 minutes

1. Open Discussion: Evaluations on the Adequacy of Professional Development for Faculty and Institutional Responsibilities (10-15 minutes)

2. Components of Preparing Future Faculty Projects (35 minutes)

a. Teaching Skills and Strategies

b. Partnerships between Ph.D. Departments and non-Ph.D. Departments for Professional Preparation and Placement

c. Diversity

d. Funding for "PFF" as an Institutional Investment

Brief Break: 5 minutes

Questions and Discussion: 30-40 minutes
Concluding Question - How Can APSA Assist Departmental Professional Education and Placement?
Invite follow up email responses

Conference Background
The APSA Conference for Department Chairs is held each year during the APSA Annual Meeting. These conferences are devoted to discussion of issues important to political science department chairs and are part of APSA's Departmental Services Program (DSP).

For information about APSA services for chairs and departments, visit www.apsanet.org/dsp.cfm or contact

Polly Karpowicz
Departmental Services Program
American Political Science Assn.
1527 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036-1206
Phone: 202.483.2512
Email: pkarpowicz@apsanet.org

Edie Goldenberg, University of Michigan, Chair, APSA Committee on Education and Professional Development
Charles Johnson, Texas A&M University, and former Chair, APSA Committee on Education and Professional Development
Susan Pharr, Harvard University, Chair, APSA Departmental Services Committee

Directors of the APSA PFF Political Science Cluster:
Susan Clarke, University of Colorado, Boulder
Norman Furniss, Indiana University
Richard Simpson, University of Illinois, Chicago
Nicole Johnson, Howard University

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