Graduate Students who are Future MARYLAND Doctors of Philosophy: Yves Ngu (Electrical Engineering - UM College Park), Angela Grant (Math - UM College Park), and Robinson Kuis (Physics - UM Baltimore County) spend some time together at the SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity Teaching and Mentoring Institute, held in Miami, FL, Nov. 2003. PROMISE Co-PI Dr. Johnetta Davis (UM College Park), UM Baltimore PROMISE Coordinator, Jill Pegues, and UM Baltimore PROMISE Peer Mentor Lemuel Russell (Toxicology) were also in attendance. [Photo Credit: AL-BJ Images Photography.

PROF-it

The PROMISE Professors in Training Program

 

The PROF-it segment of PROMISE encourages graduate students of PROMISE to consider careers in the professoriate by offering training opportunities in teaching, syllabus preparation, publishing, reviewing manuscripts, and grant writing. UMBC also offers training and hands-on experience in academic advising.  

 

The major objective of PROF-it is to give graduate students “hands-on” experience in a classroom of undergraduate students in preparation for the teaching duties that they will encounter as professors. Our primary partners in this endeavor are the UMBC McNair Research Program, Howard University Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the UMBC Faculty Development Center, the UMCP Center for Teaching Excellence, and the UMBC Office of Undergraduate Admissions (Academic Advising Training).

 

Students are provided with opportunities to facilitate or teach segments of actual university courses.  UMBC piloted PROF-it in the Spring 2004 semester with two courses:

 

UMBC

AFST 495:  Research Proposal Fundamentals

(A course for the UMBC McNair Scholars, level:  Jrs. and Srs.)

 

Howard University

ECE 303-499: State-of-the-Art Technology Research:  Technical Entrepreneurship-Transforming Ideas into Products

(A Special Topics in Electrical Engineering course, level:  Jrs. and Srs.)

 

Spring 2005 will offer opportunities to teach and be involved with the courses listed above and a new addition, "Introduction to Electrical Engineering" at Howard University.

 

PROMISE graduate students who participate in PROF-it will:

• Participate in a training seminars (Facilitated by the UMBC Faculty Development Center and the UM College Park Center for Teaching Excellence)
• Be video-taped as they practice and present their lectures
• Begin their teaching portfolios.

 

Students who participate in the PROF-it activities will be trained to take away the following skills:

 

• Confidence
• Preparation
• Competence
• Teaching strategies

Successful participants of PROF-it have or are scheduled to teach at least one lecture or section of a course and have completed training hours by attending one or more of the following seminars and workshops:

• PROF-it Seminar Series Fall 2004 (includes the "Strategies for Classroom Teaching Series" by Dr. Jack Prostko - Director, UMBC Faculty Development Center, and seminars by the UMCP Center For Teaching Excellence - Dr. Spencer Benson, Director.)
• PROF-it Seminar Series Spring 2005 (New!!!)

• UMBC Graduate School: Dr. Scott Bass, Dean; Dr. Janet Rutledge, Associate Dean
  • Faculty Careers (Feb. 2004, Presented by Renee Baker, Manager Faculty Recruitment, Rochester Institute of Technology), segment of UMBC Graduate Student Success Seminar in conjuction with the Weekly Wednesday Workshop of the UMBC Career Development Center.
  • Mentoring Conference (April 2004)
    • Sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering Mentoring.
• UMBC Faculty Development Center: Dr. Jack Prostko, Director
  • Preparing for Teaching (November 2003)
• UM College Park Graduate School Office of Graduate Student Diversity and Retention: Dr. Johnetta Davis, Associate Dean, and the UM College Park Center for Teaching Excellence: Dr. Spencer Benson, Director
  • How to be a Good Mentor, A PROMISE requirement for Preparing Maryland Trained Future Faculty (August 2003)
  • How Learning Takes Place (August 2003)
  • How to Command Respect in the Classroom as a Student and a Teacher (August 2003)
  • The Merits of Academe (March 2004)
• PROMISE Summer Success Institute 2004
  • Developing a Teaching Portfolio (August 2004), Dr. Spencer Benson

 

• Graduate Student Teaching Resources for Teaching Assistants at UM College Park

  TA Development Grants
  The Center for Teaching Excellence and the Graduate School award a number of small grants each year to departments and colleges working to improve the professional development, support, and recognition of graduate teaching assistants. Application deadline: December 1.

  Distinguished TA Award
  At the end of each academic year, the graduate teaching assistants from campus, who have been named as the most outstanding by their departments, are recognized and honored. These awards are sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Dean for Undergraduate Studies, and the Dean of the Graduate School. Deadline for nominations: mid-March.

   

Successful participants of PROF-it (2004)

UMBC students taught in the PROF-it sponsored Classes, UMCP students taught as part of their graduate responsiblities in their respective departments.

Course activities for Spring 2004

• Lianko Garyu, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Mechanical Engineering,

  • "The Research Proposal", McNair Research Course lecture
• Jessica Soto-Perez, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Chemical Engineering

  • "Science and the Scientific Method",Pt. 2, McNair Research Course lecture
• Sylvester Mosley, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Chemistry
  • "Science and the Scientific Method", Pt. 1, McNair Research Course lecture
• Stacey Nicholls, UMCP, Ph.D. student, Applied Mathematics
• Sonia Arteaga, UMBC, Ph.D. student,Psychology
  • "Variables, Constructs, and Research Ethics", Pt. 1, McNair Research Course lecture
• Angela Grant, UMCP, Ph.D. student, Mathematics
• Chris Whitt, UMCP, Ph.D. student, Government and Policy
• David Riley, UMBC, M.S. student, Computer Science
  • "State of the Art Technology Research and Technical Entrepreneurship", Howard University, Deparment of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Robert Alexander, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Health Policy
  • "Approaches to Research Using the Quantitative Method", Pt. 1
• Curtis Durham, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Chemistry
  • "Approaches to Research Using the Quantitative Method", Pt. 2, McNair Research Course lecture
• Vera Roquemore, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Psychology
  • "Research Hypotheses", Pt. 2, McNair Research Course lecture
• Shahza Somerville, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Neuroscience
  • "Writing the Research Proposal", McNair Research Course lecture
• Keondra Phillips, UMBC, Ph.D. student, Psychology
  • "Research Hypotheses", Pt. 1, McNair Research Course lecture
  • "Variables, Constructs, and Research Ethics", Pt. 2, McNair Research Course lecture