Professionalization and Career Development

The History Department is committed to supporting career planning for all graduate students, whether they intend to pursue an academic career or seek employment in an affiliated field. The DGS is responsible for coordinating departmental programs, but students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of campus resources including Career Services, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals.
 

Regular Workshops and Series

Regular workshops and series include:

  • Pedagogy Seminars—led by faculty and experienced graduate students

  • Future Proofing your Graduate Degree, led by Dr. Shaun Longstreet (alt-ac career

    planning)

  • Preparing a CV

  • Writing Effective Personal Statements (for MA students applying to PhD programs)

  • Grant Applications

  • Writing Cover Letters (for PhD students on the academic job market)

  • Writing Personal Statement

  • Preparing a teaching portfolio

  • Effective Skype Interviewing

Conferences and Publications

Presenting research at an academic conference is a fundamental part of scholarly life. Graduate students will regularly receive calls for paper submissions for meetings as well as publications. Before deciding to submit, however, students are strongly encouraged to discuss the venue with their faculty mentors including the DGS. Presenting and publishing are more than just a line on a CV, but should be carefully chosen for intellectual fit. Keep in mind the following:

  • You are representing not only yourself, but also the History Department and Marquette University. Be fully professional.

  • If you submit an abstract for a conference, it is a commitment to present and attend the entire conference. Keep in mind timing and budget, as well as conference prestige when submitting an abstract. If you must withdraw, do so as early as possible.

  • Attending graduate student conferences can be an excellent way to begin one’s academic career. However, they have limited value to a CV and generally are too broad in nature for you to get solid feedback on your work. Once you have done one or two, you should seek out conferences directly in your field at the advice of faculty mentors.

  • Book reviews and encyclopedia articles can be useful entries into academic publishing, but they also are not as significant as peer-reviewed articles for an academic cv. Protect your time.

Graduate students also have the opportunity to participate in organizing the Marquette University-University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate Humanities Conference.

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

Marquette University has an institutional membership with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). NCFDD is an independent center dedicated to helping faculty, post- docs, and graduate students make successful transitions throughout their academic careers by providing professional development, training, and mentoring. NCFDD resources are applicable across disciplines and focus on a range of topics that include strategies for increasing productivity, maintaining work-family balance, managing time more effectively, resolving conflicts, and writing grants, among others.

With Marquette’s institutional membership, graduate students can sign up for a sub-account at no cost; you will then gain access to weekly e-mail providing productivity tips, monthly productivity webinars and multi-week courses, NCFDD Career Center resources, discussion forum for peer-mentoring and problem-solving, mentor matches. For more information about Marquette’s institutional membership with NCFDD, please contact Gary Meyer, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs or William Welburn, Executive Director, Diversity and Inclusion.

Business Cards

Graduate students can order a set of business cards from Career Services ($3 for 30 cards). These are very useful to handout at conferences, interviews, and when working in archives.

Credentials Files

In order to provide a simple and coherent dossier for PhD students applying for jobs, the History Department maintains credential files—vitae, letters of recommendation—and will send them on request to prospective employers.