Development Programs for Grad Students

Development Programs for Grad Students Share Share via TwitterShare via FacebookShare via Google PlusShare via LinkedInShare via E-mail As Assistant Dean, Program Development,Quentin McAndrew serves as the primary liaison for faculty anddepartments interested in developing new graduate degrees, certificates, and otzu sich graduate programs on campus.Quentin McAndrew earned her Ph.D. from the Department of English at the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2015, where her dissertation garnered multiple awards for outstanding writing and research. She teaches American literature and business writing, and her students consistently rank her as one of the highest performing instructors at CU. Quentin McAndrew holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University. She also brings more than a decade of high-level corporate experience to the program.What does your office do?We are the program development group in the graduate school, through many iterations and evolutions. Our mission is to develop new graduate programs across campus. Theres a goal, on campus, to bring in 3,000 new graduate student enrollments in the next four years. Our job is to erleichterung graduate education and the departments that want to develop new programs that meet their mission and goals, in any way that we can. I love my job.Its fun, its campus-wide andits strategic. I get to meet ansicht amazing human beings who are doing incredible things.How were you able to parlay your doctoral degree into the position you currently hold?Theres always a bit of serendipity involved in these sorts of things, and Id be disingenuous to say I wasnt very lucky and that the timing happened to be right. I also had tremendous mentors who supported my effortselendhing would have happened without them. That being said, as I worked my way through the program, I also made sure to let my mentors know that I was interested in non-traditional positions after I earned my degree, and I made sure to talk about my bus iness background. I also kept conversations open across the University and in the private sector, so that when I defended my dissertation, I had three or four promising avenues to pursue. One of those avenues resulted in my learning about and interviewing for the role I took. I should also be clear none of the options I was exploring included a tenure-track position because wed decided as a family that we wouldnt relocate (I have a husband who works in a corporate job and two teen daughters). That clarified my efforts and allowed me a beneficial focus.What kinds of opportunities do you think graduate students should be saying yes to in order to enhance their marketability once they finish their degree?That depends on their goals. Obviously, if a person wants a tenure-track role, they have to go for it full bore. Im not sure you can really afford any distractions. You might explore the trends of your field and look for experience that would be helpful on the job marketfor instance, a lot of assistant English professors are asked to teach composition, so expanding your teaching experience from just literature to include writing courses could be useful. On the other hand, you might tailor your interests to a unique job search say, if youve been teaching online and designing courses, you might parlay that into an instructional design job search. This sounds hokey, but I really believe that whatever you do has to be driven by your true interests or youll end up uninspired and unhappy. So, the real questions become what are you interested in and how can you parlay that interest into an area of expertise that leads to opportunities? What else can you turn that passion and interest to, in a creative way that opens interesting possibilities on the job market?Theres nothing wrong with cruising the job boards at the University or other places. Its useful to know what kinds of jobs are available that might sound interesting. Finally, develop good mentors inside and outsid e your field. Find senior people who are willing to discuss the job market and your career with you. They can be wonderful sources of information and advice.What questions should grad students be asking themselves as they prepare for the job market?Id say the key point here is that you should start thinking about the job market long before youre actually preparing your materials or getting ready to graduate. You should really be asking yourself the primary question from day one in the program, which is what is my goal? The answer can evolve over time, but everything you do should be in service of that answer.CategoriesGraduate StudentsTagsCareer Search - Graduate Students