Professional Development

Integrated professionalization for academic careers

Discipline-specific knowledge is only part of what graduate students need to learn to succeed in an academic career. Our graduate seminars introduce students to what is sometimes called the “hidden curriculum” of skills and processes: how to navigate archives, identify a research topic, collect data, identify a good article and write article abstract, manage competing demands, select a journal for publication, etc. In addition, we offer stand-alone workshops like “Navigating the Academic Job Market.” The Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures also offers mock interviews for job seekers.

Pedagogical training

• Center for Languages and Literatures and Cultures teacher training for new Graduate Teaching Assistants pays graduate students from all language programs for two weeks of intensive preparation prior to their first semester of teaching.
• Our Teaching World Languages at the College Level course provides students with practical and theoretical knowledge designed to aid them in their first semester of teaching.
• Extensive mentoring and teaching cohort systems ensure that students receive feedback, support, and peer collaboration throughout their graduate career.
• The Advanced Teaching Practicum allows students to earn academic credit as they develop skills and gain experience teaching everything from large English-language general education courses to upper-level German-language literature and film courses.
• Undergraduate courses in Berlin and Dresden give students valuable experience teaching and operating study abroad programs.
• The Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures organizes a Pedagogy Advancement Series each semester, in which Graduate Teaching Assistants can be paid to present on their teaching practices or research.  https://cllc.osu.edu/funding/cllc-pedagogy-advancement-series
• At our weekly Kaffeeklatsch, graduate students organize and lead a popular extracurricular activity for undergraduates.
• Department-funded TestDaF certification of German-language proficiency

We also offer advanced coursework in second language acquisition and teaching. Students can pursue research and write a dissertation in this field, or they may elect to pursue a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Second Language Studies. Through this program, students examine how second languages are learned and used from linguistic, psychological, and socio-cultural standpoints. This GIS in second language studies offers graduate students the opportunity to enhance their professional experience by providing them with a theoretical and practical background in the important and rapidly growing field—regardless of students’ research interests. 

Integrated professionalization for academic careers

Discipline-specific knowledge is only part of what graduate students need to learn to succeed in an academic career. Our graduate seminars introduce students to what is sometimes called the “hidden curriculum” of skills and processes: how to navigate archives, identify a research topic, collect data, identify a good article and write article abstract, manage competing demands, select a journal for publication, etc. In addition, we offer stand-alone workshops like “Navigating the Academic Job Market.” The Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures also offers mock interviews for job seekers.

Transferable skills and non-academic careers

Students are also encouraged to—and can earn credit for—completing a non-academic internship. Since many internships are unpaid (or underpaid), you can apply for funding to support this facet of your career development.