career development

April is Faculty Career Month in the CIE!

Karian J Wright

April is deemed Faculty Career Month in the CIE. We will host a series of seminars and panels geared toward preparing our scholars for the academic job search process. We will kick-off the series with an “Academic Job Search Overview” seminar on Thursday, April 4 at 12:30pm. Third-year IRACDA NY-CAPS Scholar, Dr. James Robertson, will provide an overview of the academic job search from the perspective of the applicant. James has prepared 40 applications, leading to 10 phone interviews, 5 visits and one job offer so far. During this seminar, James will provide valuable insight into how to prepare an application that gets noticed and what to expect during the interview process.

On Thursday, April 11 at 12:30pm, Dr. Kimberly Bell, STEM Postdoctoral Associate from the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, will lead a seminar on “Teaching Talks & Philosophy Statements”. A strong statement of teaching philosophy is an integral component of the academic application dossier and an effective teaching demonstration is a key component of the interview process for teaching-focused institutions. This session will provide strategies for developing your teaching philosophy statement and teaching demonstration.

Our third session on “Interviewing and Negotiations” will be held on Wednesday, April 17 at 3:30pm. A panel of department chairpersons will provide valuable insight into the interview and negotiations process from the perspective of the hiring manager. Panelists from Stony Brook University include Dr. Michael Frohman, Chair of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences and Dr. Aaron Neiman, Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Also included on the panel is Dr. Janet Haff, Academic Chair of the Natural Sciences Department at Suffolk County Community College.

The 2019 Faculty Career Month Series will conclude on Thursday, April 25 at 12:30pm with a CIE Alumni Panel consisting of scholars who have transitioned into faculty positions at a broad range of institutions. The panel will include Dr. Ramón Emilio Fernández, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Pace University, Dr. Inefta M. Reid, Research Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Stony Brook University and Dr. Dominique E. Williams, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Richmond. We look forward to learning more about how the panelists navigated the application, interview and negotiations process. We also look forward to hearing about their transition from graduate student to independent faculty or from postdoc to independent faculty and all the lessons they learned along the way.

The 2019 Faculty Career Month Series promises to be filled with rich insights and provide tools and strategies to prepare scholars for the academic job search process. Lunch will be provided on April 4, 11 and 25. Light refreshments will be provided on April 17. We hope to see you there! Follow this link to RSVP.

The Sky’s the Limit, not Univeristy Walls: Non-Academic Career Month

Karian J Wright

Doctoral programs might seem to most obviously prepare scholars for a career in academia, but there is no end to the possibilities of what one can do with a PhD.  The Graduate School, the Center for Inclusive Education, and the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs has organized a Non-Academic Career Month in order to prepare students interested in pursuing opportunities outside the realm of the university.  

On February 14, Karian Wright will lead an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Work Smart Salary Negotiation for Women.  American women earn only 80% of their male counterparts, with Black and Hispanic women earning even less. Even just one year out of college, women are paid 18% less than men.  The negotiating process can be an intimidating barrier for women, and this workshop is designed to help participants learn how to negotiate their salary for a new job, raise, or promotion through: identifying and articulating personal value, developing an arsenal of persuasive responses and other negotiation strategies, and conducting objective market research to benchmark a target salary and benefits.  This particular session for Non-Academic Career Month is also valuable for scholars intending to pursue a career in academia, as you can never be too prepared for the salary negotiations process.

On February 21, Alfreda S. James, PhD, the Assistant Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Career Services, will lead a Resume and Cover Letter Workshops.  Participants will learn how to convert their CV and cover letter to apply for non-academic career opportunities.  Dr. James’s role in Career Services is to work specifically with graduate students as they prepare for careers in and out of academia.  

Several CIE Alumni have gone on to hold non-faculty positions, and on March 1, a panel of alumni will share important lessons they learned along their career path as part of the CIE Alumni Panel.  Daphne Meza, who completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering is now Senior Scientist at Johnson & Johnson; Crystal Lewis, who completed her PhD in Chemistry, is now a Senior Formulation Specialist at Silk Therapeutics, Inc.; and Angel Gonzalez, who completed his PhD in Psychology, is now the Program Manager of the Dr. W. Burghardt Turner, GEM, IMSD-MERGE and LSAMP-BD Fellowships, as well as the Interim Assistant Dean for Diversity & Inclusion and Director of the CIE at Stony Brook University.  All have found ways to blend their academic backgrounds with their current positions and will offer advice for current scholars who wish to do the same.

Related to Non-Academic Career month, Stony Brook’s PhD Career Ladder Program (PCLP) will be offering an Accelerated version of the program this Spring, meeting every other Wednesday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. PCLP can help you plan for any career field you might be considering, whether inside or outside of academia, and can help you add career development goals to your annual IDP. Visit their website for more info.

We hope to see you at one or more of our Non-Academic Career Month events. You can register online or contact Karian.Wright@stonybrook.edu for more information.