One of my goals of Mass Commication Teaching is to help the grad students better prepare for being successful in applying for a faculty teaching position.

We took another step toward that goal with doc students Jeff Neeley and Yan Yang as speakers. Both are hoping to have faculty positions for the 2010-2011 school year. They offered helpful advice.

Participate in professional conference job fairs — Both have interviewed in the AEJMC job fair and found the process somewhat like speed dating but helpful for practicing interviewing. Both said the experience made them feel more confident.

Yan said the job fair interviews provide a special opportunity for international students to demonstrate their English language capability to the faculty doing the interviews.

They both talked about the value of their teaching experience as doc students. One had taught the same course for several semesters. The other had taught several different courses. Their exerience demonstrated that they could teach — and they know they enjoyed teaching.