Career Development Resources to Help You Succeed
Learning to Teach
The high quality research experience that Ph.D. students at McCombs earn is supplemented with training that prepares them to also be excellent instructors. In addition, due to the small and highly selective nature of the programs, faculty members can devote considerable time to each student.
All Ph.D. students strengthen pedagogical competence through teaching assistantships and some even gain experience as the instructor of a class. This experience allows students to demonstrate their effectiveness as a teacher, something that will be important when applying for academic positions. In addition, rare among business doctoral schools, McCombs offers Ph.D. students a specialized course in instruction (BA398T), a doctoral-level course designed to prepare business students to teach a college-level class in their discipline. The course takes an experiential approach, emphasizing hands-on workshops, instructor observation and practice of teaching techniques. At the end of the course, students will have a working syllabus and course design that they can implement in future teaching assignments.
Professional Development That is immediately Applicable
Outside of the McCombs School are other key resources that aid in your professional development, including University’s Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment’s ASPECTS courses, which encourage ongoing pedagogical, personal and professional development throughout your career as a graduate student instructor through courses including course assessment, the use of instructional technologies such as Blackboard, etc.
PUBLISHING HELP
Several McCombs programs have summer research paper requirements that can produce unique publication opportunities; check with your department of interest for detailed information.
ESL Resources
The University’s ESL (English as a Second Language) Office offers resources and services that help hone English language skills. Students for whom English is not the primary language may also consider talking to their department about the possibility of teaching one or more courses and what the requirements to do so would be (if offered). Past international Ph.D. graduates have found that teaching courses can be tremendously helpful in terms of signaling competence in English-based classrooms to potential employers.
SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Many find a life in academia to be a perfect balance of intellectual pursuit and service to others. This balance can also be found (and enhanced) through unique service-learning opportunities at The University of Texas at Austin.
