A:\PFFPROPOSAL2
PREPARING FUTURE POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY
A TRAINING PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
BY
THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
in cooperation with
CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO
CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY
JOLIET COMMUNITY COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD
JUNE 1, 2000
PREPARING FUTURE POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY
The Department of Political Science of the University of Illinois at Chicago,
in partnership with the political science departments of:
City Colleges of Chicago
Chicago State University
Joliet Community College
University of Illinois Springfield
is pleased to submit this application to the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program of the American Political Science Association. This proposal for PFF funding builds on the UIC Department's two decades of experience in preparing teachers for careers in a variety of higher education institutions, and UIC's efforts since the early 1990s to develop techniques and technology to improve instruction of its own students. Since 1977, UIC has been training future political science faculty via the Political Science specialization in the Public Policy Analysis Ph.D. program. A proposal to convert the PPA program to a Ph.D. in Political Science is before the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and we expect approval during the Summer of 2000. The activities which we propose under the PFF program will begin in the Fall of 2000 whether or not the name change has been approved.
I. Program Goals.
During our students' doctoral training in the substance and methodology of Political Science, the PFF Program will:
a) Introduce all students to the range of career opportunities available in the profession, including careers in public service, in research organizations, and in teaching. Since students will have had limited exposure to the diversity of American higher education institutions (small and large; public and private; church-based and secular; two-year, four-year, five year, and doctoral institutions), we hope to make our students aware of the nature of the "markets" in which they will compete at the end of their studies.
b) Introduce students who see teaching as a primary or secondary career goal to the issues which they will encounter as teachers - recognizing the range of students' abilities and interests; planning courses, classes, and activities; lectures, discussions, and classroom management; testing and evaluation; and ethical issues.
c) Assign students to faculty members as teaching assistants.
d) Assign students as instructors in independent courses, either at UIC or at partner institutions. Opportunities to teach at partner institutions will provide hands-on understanding of the needs of different types of students and expectations of various types of institutions.
e) Prepare students for the placement process, including preparation of placement files or portfolios, supervising the application process, and conducting mock interviews.
II. Rationale
When we began our doctoral program in 1976, all of our efforts were focused on the content of the program - the courses, research requirements, and examinations which would turn our students into new versions of ourselves: graduate level scholar-teachers. As we should have anticipated, however, only a few of our students seek that type of career and even fewer are likely to end up there. What we have produced are graduates with a broad knowledge of Political Science who are finding satisfying careers in government and university administration, in survey research and other research settings, and in the classroom. With the support of the Preparing Future Faculty initiative, we want to develop and implement components of our program which will enhance students' preparation for such careers and ability to compete for them.
The department of political science at UIC views the teacher training opportunities we currently provide as a strong point in our graduate program. We have traditionally offered Ph.D. students opportunities to work in political science undergraduate courses as teaching assistants and independent course lecturers, polishing their teaching skills under the tutelage of senior faculty members. Building on training received at UIC as scholars, researchers and teachers, our students have gone on to teach political science and allied subjects in local community colleges and universities. Upon graduation, our students have won placements in these institutions locally and in other parts of the country and abroad.
In addition to training our graduate students to be policy analysts, scholars, researchers and university teachers, we have another responsibility. As an urban university we are surrounded by institutions attempting to "bridge the gap" for undergraduate students (many of whom represent a family's first generation of college students) who may not be fully prepared for university study. To become productive in the 21st century, these students need to learn how to be successful in higher education and specifically how to study political science. To help them requires unique pedagogical techniques. Part of our mandate in preparing graduate students to become the faculty of the future is that they understand the specific requirements of teaching political science to this population. As opportunities for education beyond the high school level become greater and institutions of higher learning reflect more accurately the diversity of the United States population, our Ph.D. graduates must also develop sensitivity to ethnicity, gender, and disability issues. Preparing our graduate students to consider their roles as political scientists within these contexts will make them better teachers and scholars.
In recent years, the department has attempted to organize and standardize our teacher training activities. We are supported in this effort by campus-wide programs sponsored by the UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Our mutual goal is to provide training and placement opportunities to our graduate students and, at the same time, to provide quality teachers in our undergraduate courses. With the support of the Preparing Future Faculty Initiative and in partnership with other local institutions, we can expect to further refine and improve our teacher training program, developing a series of steps whereby future instructors can learn appropriate pedagogic skills, build effective placement portfolios, and address professional concerns. This will allow our faculty to develop a useful protocol for preparing future teachers of higher education.
III. Proposed activities
Our PFF program begins when a student first enters doctoral studies with a semester-long course on the profession of political science. This course (Pols 501) introduces students to the subfields of the discipline and research activities (many of our students were not political science majors as undergraduates), to pedagogical techniques, to professional ethics, and to career options. The teaching training elements of the course will constitute about ½ of the total content.
1.Pols 501, The Profession of Political Science (Semester #1) includes eight 50-minute sessions on teaching introductory classes in subfields of Political Science (American Institutions, Methodology, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Urban Politics, and Public Policy). These sessions will be conducted by faculty from our department, and the course will be coordinated by Professor Barry Rundquist.
In the second semester of doctoral studies, students who want to work as TA's or Adjunct Professors will be required to take another semester-long course (Pols 505) which continues pedagogical training in more detail. Two hours of graduate credit will be given for each of these courses. Grading will be "satisfactory or unsatisfactory" and based on class attendance and participation.
2. Pols 505: Topics for Teaching Political Science (Semester #2) will be coordinated by Professor Constance Mixon from City Colleges of Chicago which is one of our partner institutions. It includes fifteen 50-minute sessions divided into several elements led by various PFF participants as follows:
a.) Sessions conducted by political scientists from partner institutions on topics relating to their curriculum needs and student bodies they serve.
b.) Sessions conducted by the UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning personnel on topics related to classroom management.
c.) Sessions conducted by current and former senior department TA's on learning to teach political science at UIC.
d.) Sessions conducted by our Director of Graduate Studies on building a placement portfolio and curriculum vitae for 2 and 4-year schools, on preparing to teach secondary fields of study in related social science disciplines, and on conducting a successful job search.
Other elements of our PFF program are:
3. Participation in the 2-day campus-wide seminar run by. This annual event is comprised of sessions devoted to topics relevant to TA's in all departments at UIC. Topics include roles and responsibilities; teaching in multi-cultural environments; course planning and teaching strategies; testing, evaluation and ethical issues, campus resources; issues for first time and international TA's. The seminar is held before the beginning of each academic year and has special sessions for new TA's and international TA's.
The UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is developing an optional certificate program for teaching assistants. We will encourage our students to complete it. This program will begin in fall 2000 and entail attendance at TA orientation sessions and workshops scheduled throughout the academic year as well as review of individually prepared teaching placement portfolios
4. TA's participating in our PFF program will be assigned to department faculty teaching the following courses. Assignments will be based on subject knowledge and experience.
At UIC
Pols 101: Introduction to American Government and Politics
Pols 103: Who Rules, Introduction to the Study of Politics
Pols 120: Introduction to Political Theory
Pols 130: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Pols 184: Introduction to International Relations
Pols 190: Scope of Political Science
At partner institutions, courses similar to those listed above
Senior faculty act as teaching mentors and carefully monitor the lectures and discussion sessions of TA's. Weekly planning meetings between senior faculty and TA's are held.
5. Independent teaching at UIC or partner institutions. Qualified advanced TA's may apply for independent teaching assignments at UIC or partner institutions. They will be expected to have completed the four training opportunities already listed.
6. Placement service. The political science department will continue to create placement files for our students on the job market. The files currently contain transcripts, letters of recommendation, faculty teaching evaluations, curriculum vitae, dissertation and publication abstracts, and student course evaluations. Under student direction we will continue to mail these out to hiring schools. We will also continue to post and alert our students of placement opportunities. With the help of the PFF program, we will train students on the preparation of teaching portfolios and interview techniques. In addition, we will more actively pursue jobs for our PFF-trained students and recent graduates by annually sending information on the PFF program and on individual job candidates to local community colleges, four-year colleges and universities hiring political scientists . All of our current students and graduates are encouraged to give papers at professional meetings and to publish on their teaching and research. Mock conference sessions are held to improve their presentations. These activities improve our graduates' CV's and makes them more hireable as well.
IV. Timeline
The UIC/APSA partnership will begin on August 15, 2000, and end on August 15, 2002. The professional and teacher training courses will be offered annually.
Ten to fifteen students will serve as teaching assistants, five to ten as independent instructors. There will be two UIC faculty coordinators and one partner institution coordinator, six UIC faculty presenters, guest presentations by partner institutions, and UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning staff. Currently we have eight Ph.d. students teaching in various Illinois community colleges and university. We hope to provide better trained instructors at partner institutions and to increase the number of our students eith these experiences over the next two years. (See Attachment A.)
VI. Evaluation processes
Faculty presenting seminars and supervising the program will be evaluated using regular course evaluation instruments.
Students serving as teaching assistants will be evaluated by undergraduates in their classes and by faculty supervisors; supervisors will prepare written evaluations of each assistant at the end of each semester. [See attached evaluation forms.]
Students serving as independent instructors either at UIC or at partner institutions will
be evaluated with written narrative evaluations prepared by tenured UIC or partner institution faculty.
The entire PFF UIC Political Science program will be annually reviewed by the Director, Dick Simpson.
VII. Prospects for continuation
UIC guarantees continuation of its training and placement support; partners will review their participation at end of two years.
VII. Dissemination of program outcomes
Presentations to be submitted for presentation to the Illinois Political Science Association annual meetings, the American Association of Higher Education annual meetings, the American Political Science Association annual meetings.
X. Proposed Budget 08/15/00 - 08/15/02
UIC Contribution Requested from APSA
Principal Investigator, Dick Simpson
@ 5% of $60,746 x two years $6,075
Graduate Assistant
@ 25% of $10,000 x two years $10,000
Graduate Assistant for Placement
@25% of $20 x one year 4,750
Stipends for coordinators at partner institutions
Four @ $500/year x two years 4,000
Placement Coordinator @ 5% of $36,447
x two years 3,645
Fringe Benefits @ 23.16% for PI 1,406
Fringe Benefits @ 23.16% for
Placement Coordinator 844
Fringe Benefits for Graduate Assistant @ 7.68% 768
Fringe Benefits for Placement
Graduate Assistant @ 7.68% 364
Conferences Expenses 2,148*
Office expenses and seminar supplies 1,266
$18,182
Indirect costs 10% 1,818 TOTALS $17,084 $ 20,000
*Conference Expenses Detail
Air fare $ 400
Per Diem
$32 x 3 96
Lodging
$110 x 2 220
$ 716
Three persons @$716 $2,148