Professional Development
The Graduate Center offers enrolled doctoral students a range of professional development courses designed to help them in their careers and professional activities. These courses do not carry credit, are ungraded, and do not appear on the student’s transcript. Students register for them as they do their academic classes and can find them listed under “Professional Development” in the course schedule. For further information, contact the Office of the Associate Provost.
Professional Development Course Descriptions
Below are descriptions of some of our regularly offered Professional Development Seminars. Courses and schedules vary by semester.
Teaching Strategies
The workshops are especially valuable for graduate students who will soon be teaching undergraduate courses on CUNY campuses and are open to all matriculated Graduate Center students. These professional development seminars are designed to provide students with practical advice and hands-on exercises to help them design future courses and prepare for classroom teaching.
Advanced Spoken English: Teaching and Presentation Skills
This course is designed to help students improve their spoken English in a variety of academic and casual settings through guided instruction of American-style conversation and direct instruction of spoken English fluency and pronunciation skills. Additionally, students will be instructed in the standard methods and style of teaching and presenting for the American university classroom. Students will also be discussing and learning about American culture via themes and topics that are relevant to the students’ interests.
Effective Academic Writing – for native English speakers
This course is designed to help students improve their academic writing. This section is meant for native English speakers who want to address issues in their writing and overcome particular writing hurdles.
Effective Academic Writing – for non-native English speakers
This workshop course intends to help students improve their academic writing skills. The section is restricted to students who speak English as a foreign language and will address common issues and problems that they may face when writing. All students are required to share with the class a draft of their own academic writing in progress.
Colloquium on College Teaching
This colloquium will critically examine issues concerning a professor’s teaching responsibilities and related collegial obligations. Among the subjects to be discussed are academic freedom, institutional governance, teaching strategies, testing and grading, research responsibilities, departmental duties, professorial-administrative relationships, and faculty recruitment (as viewed by both employers and applicants). The colloquium is intended for doctoral students planning for academic careers.
Improvisation Techniques
In this workshop, students will use various improvisational theatre games designed to enhance teaching skills in any discipline. Through these games, students will develop a heightened sense of self-awareness, the ability to initiate and enjoy interactive relationships, and the art of adaptability. By participating in this workshop, students will acquire skills that are essential for success in any venue, particularly the classroom. Performance experience is not necessary for participation in this workshop.
Working Outside the Academy
This seminar is for doctoral students interested in pursuing employment outside of academia, either in business or for non-profit organizations.
Grant Writing Workshops
The Graduate Center periodically offers mini-courses on Grant Writing. These courses are intended for Level Two and Level Three doctoral students who want to write dissertation proposals for which they will seek external funding. Although we will discuss sources of external funding, most classroom time will be spent on topics such as: framing a proposal; developing research questions; strategies for preparing a literature review; issues of methodology and design; constructing a budget; discussing the rationale, significance, or utility of proposed research. Students will prepare a draft of a proposal, and improve the draft based on feedback provided by the workshop instructors.
Contact Us
Professional Development is administered through the Office of the Associate Provost, Room 8113. For more information, please call 212-817-7282 or email rsponzo@gc.cuny.edu.
