MANAGING YOUR CAREER: NEW "ON THE CUTTING EDGE" ONLINE RESOURCES FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS, POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS, AND EARLY CAREER FACULTY

New online resources for geoscience graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career faculty are available on the Cutting Edge website. These resources ease the transition from graduate student to faculty member.

The “Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences” webpages (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerprep/index.html) focus on the job search process, making the transition from teaching assistant to professor, and moving research forward into a new academic setting. The job search module provides guidance for every step of the job search process: learning about the variety of jobs available; assembling application materials, including teaching statements; interviewing; and negotiating a contract. It includes case studies of successful dual career couples, documenting their job search strategies. The teaching module addresses getting teaching experience, designing a course, planning an individual class session, and documenting one's teaching. The research module focuses on getting published and moving beyond one's doctoral research.

The “Early Career Geoscience Faculty” webpages (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/index.html) address the tenure process, effective teaching, managing a research program, and balancing the demands of a career in academia with a healthy personal life. The tenure module suggests ways new faculty members can find out what the expectations are for tenure at their institutions. The teaching module provides resources for course design, teaching efficiently, research on learning styles, effective teaching techniques, teaching large classes, assessment, and building one's teaching case for tenure. The research module focuses on planning a research program, funding it, working with undergraduate and graduate research students, and making time for research. It features an online collection of successful grant proposals and several case studies of successful researchers and their collaborations with students. The balance module presents case studies of faculty members at a variety of academic institutions, as well as resources on task (time) management and balancing career and family. These pages also include tips from alumni of the “On the Cutting Edge” Early Career Geoscience Faculty Workshops.