Workshops February

All MSU Teaching Assistants are invited to participate in the following campus-wide workshops sponsored by the Graduate School, MSU's TA Programs. We invite suggestions for future workshops. This listing will be updated continually. PLEASE NOTE: the individual workshops below are arranged by date; however, we will include notifications of other MSU workshop series and development opportunities available to graduate students that are not included in the dated list. Please compare the dates on the Series Announcement(s).

Registration Information

TA Program Workshops, contact kmj@msu.edu. Please include your name, department, and list of the workshop(s) you wish to attend.

Graduate School Workshops, register through gradwrsp@msu.edu.  Please contact me with any questions you have about these programs or with recommendations for future offerings. For other information for graduate students, please visit the MSU Graduate School website.

Warmest Regards,
Kevin M. Johnston
Director, MSU TA Programs

Teaching Assistant Programs      

Responsible Conduct of Research      

The Graduate School      

PhD Career and Professional Development Workshop Series      

Lilly Seminar      

ITA Orientation     

Summer English Program     

February 2009
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Workshops

February 3, 2009

RCR: Responsibility to the Subjects of Research: Animals

Location: Kellogg Center

Time: 6-8:30 pm

This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the Academy

Many research questions to benefit the health and welfare of humans, as well as animals, could not be answered without studying animals in laboratories and in their natural environments. It is important that individuals and institutions conducting such studies recognize the significant responsibilities that this carries with it to do all possible to treat these animals with care and respect. This workshop will highlight historical perspectives and events in the public discussions of whether or not it is ethically appropriate to use animals in research. It will also stress the key laws and policies that have been implemented by the Federal government to accomplish this. Examples and case studies will also be presented to explain how MSU's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee reviews proposed research and teaching protocols to ensure that research animals are cared for in a humane and ethical manner to minimize pain and distress.

February 5, 2009

RCR: Responsibility to the Subjects of Research: Humans

Location: Kellogg Center, Lincoln Room

Time: 6-8:30 pm

This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the Academy

With emphasis on university policies and procedures for acceptable practices and procedures for conducting studies of humans (concern for vulnerable populations, obtaining informed consent, maintaining confidentiality, etc.), this session will also highlight the historical basis for human research protections and how to obtain institutional approval for the conduct of such research.

February 6, 2009

Fine-Tuning Your Accent I

Presentor: Zeynep Altinsel

Location: Room 201 International Center

Time: 5:00 - 6:30 P.M.

This workshop is designed for graduate assistants and postdocs who are interested in improving their English pronunciation. The first of a series of workshops this spring, Fine-Tuning Your Accent I will focus on vowels and word stress in North American English. American undergraduates in the Speech Science department will facilitate small group activities. Altinsel will also provide materials for participants' self study.

Please send the following information to register at teamprog@msu.edu:

  1. Name
  2. Department
  3. First Language
  4. Departmental appointment/job (teaching, office hours, grading, research...)
  5. Number of Years in the U. S
  6. Have you had English instruction in the U. S?

February 11, 2009

Networking or Not-working for Ph.D.’s : Building Relationship for Your Future

Location: Student Services Building, Room 6

Time: 5-6:30

This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the Academy

In a tightly competitive job market learn how to position yourself for an effective job search. It is estimated that 75% of all jobs are not advertised, creating a “hidden” job market. Most people locate job openings through a networking process of referral, personal relationships, and informational interviewing. This workshop is intended to expose Ph.D. students to a variety of techniques associated with successful networking including the art of “small talk” and how to combat fear and anxiety in the networking process.

February 16, 2009

Defining Intended Learning Outcomes at the Course Level

Kellogg Center, Room 103 AB

Time: Continental Breakfast and registration at 8:00 am; program begins at 8:30 am

This workshop will help participants determine what is most important for their students to learn and how to specify this intended learning and high standards in effective language that can support and enhance their planning, assessment, and their students’ learning.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will:

  • be able to describe the importance for planning, assessment, and effective learning in their courses of systematically identifying their intended learning outcomes or results and formulating them as technically effective statements of outcome goals and objectives, and consistently using them at every point;
  • be able to describe specifically how instructional objectives are used to improve instruction, assessment, and learning;
  • be able to recognize and write well-formulated outcome statements; and
  • have exercises and other useful handout tools that will help them continue to develop their skill in working with outcome statements after the workshop is over.

Lilly Registration

February 18, 2009

RCR: Objectivity & Conflicting Interests in Academic Research

Location: Kellogg Center, Lincoln Room

Time: 6-8:30 pm

This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Professional Development/Understanding the Academy

Michigan State University is now advancing a strategic commitment to become recognized worldwide as the United States’ leading land-grant research university for the 21st century.One of the foundations for earning this recognition is public trust, in Michigan and worldwide. One factor contributing to public trust is faith that university efforts are carried out as objectively as possible. The Spring 2007 issue of the Research Integrity Newsletter addresses the meaning of "objectivity" and the importance of striving to minimize bias. This workshop will highlight and discuss issues and examples from varying disciplinary perspectives, including why objectivity is important to graduate students and why graduate students themselves should strive to be objective.

February 19, 2009

Fine-Tuning Your Accent I

Presentor: Zeynep Altinsel

Location: Room 305 International Center

Time: 5:00 - 6:30 P.M.

This workshop is designed for graduate assistants and postdocs who are interested in improving their English pronunciation. The first of a series of workshops this spring, Fine-Tuning Your Accent I will focus on vowels and word stress in North American English. American undergraduates in the Speech Science department will facilitate small group activities. Altinsel will also provide materials for participants' self study.

Please send the following information to register at teamprog@msu.edu:

  1. Name
  2. Department
  3. First Language
  4. Departmental appointment/job (teaching, office hours, grading, research...)
  5. Number of Years in the U. S
  6. Have you had English instruction in the U. S?

February 26, 2009

Teaching Across Cultures

Location: International Center Spartan Room C

Time: Time: 5:00 – 6:30 pm

This Workshop fulfills the certification in college teaching competency: Adult Students as Learning/Creating Learning Environments & Discipline Related Learning Strategies

This session is designed to reinforce and expand on information about teaching in the United States covered during the ITA Orientation and TA Seminar. Within the context of teaching American students, participants will cover the “basics” of effective instruction and explore issues focusing on teaching with technology, classroom management, facilitating discussion, and assessment. Utilizing “Learning through “Diversity” resources from the Center for the Integration of Teaching and learning (CIRTL), this workshop is part of a series of TAP workshops focusing specifically on multiculturalism, inclusion, and the role of culture in teaching. [NOTE: This workshop is part of a series of TAP workshops created this spring to focus specifically on international instructors’ needs, including pedagogical development, multi-culturalism, and language training. ALL TAs, post-docs, and new faculty are invited to attend, but I’m using an international “lens” through which to view these issues. See the TAP website (click on Announcements/Workshops, scroll through each month) for more information on upcoming workshops specifically for ITAs and international postdocs. Zeynep Altinsel, ITA Coordinator, will again be offering her outstanding Language Comprehension and Pronunciation workshops this spring.] To ensure that we can create workable cooperative-learning groups, workshop participation is limited to 35.

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