WEBINARS

A Webinar is a live group seminar held on a scheduled date and time, using a shared internet interface technology. I use “Go To Webinar.”  Once you pay you are directed to a dedicated access page on Go To Webinar to register for the event. You receive an access code, which you enter on the day of the event to log onto the webinar on your computer or telephone.

I present the webinar live. You are able to see and hear me, and to see my powerpoint slides.  You have the ability to send along questions and comments on the chat/question functions.

Each Webinar is 90 minutes long–approximately one hour of presentation and 30 minutes of Q and A. Read about currently scheduled webinars below, and additional information and some attendee responses below that. 

**To purchase the RECORDINGS of previous webinars, please visit the Prof Shop page.   By clicking on “Buy Now” you are taken to a paypal payment site, and upon payment the file is sent directly to you.**

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Currently Scheduled Webinars, Spring 2013

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How To Write a Winning Grant—$100

In this 90-minute Webinar I walk you through the elements of a winning grant proposal.  I explain the goals and priorities of grant review committees, the most common misunderstandings and mistakes of applicants, and specific techniques of writing that will increase your chances of success.

As always, the webinar will include abundant examples of effective writing, and will include plenty of Q and A time for targeted advice for your situation.

We’ll cover:

1.The big picture of grant-writing

2.The three things your proposal must do

3.The four biggest mistakes of grant-writers

4.How to use Dr. Karen’s Foolproof Grant Template

5.How to tailor a proposal

6.Q and A

Scheduled for Thursday 5/23 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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Interview Bootcamp Webinar–$100

In this 90-minute Webinar I teach you how to interview effectively for an academic job. We cover the most important elements of the interview, the most common errors made by candidates, and the most effective modes of organizing your responses to the major questions. As always, I provide templates for you to use in planning your responses, and abundant examples of both bad and good answers.

I also cover how best to prepare for interviews, whether they are by skype or phone, at the conference, or at a campus visit. Special tips for the dreaded Skype interview included.

Naturally we’ll touch on how to dress for the interview, and the all important issue of body language as well.

As always there will be plenty of time for Q and A at the end.

Scheduled for Wednesday 5/29 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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Managing Your Career Once You Have a Job–$100

Congratulations! You have secured the tenure track position! Now what?

This 90-minute webinar explains the basic organization of a successful academic career, and how to avoid the most common pitfalls besetting the naive new assistant professor. We’ll cover:

The all-important skill of time management
Learning to say no
Learning when to say yes
Teaching well but not too much
Dealing with colleagues
Understanding departmental politics
Handling service obligations
Managing your image
Applying for leave
Carving out time for research and writing
Charting your tenure course
Creating and maintaining your national reputation
Aiming for the next job

As always there will be time for Q and A at the end.

One of the most elusive achievements of the tenure track period is any kind of work-life balance.  With a clear sense of the obligations and challenges of the tenure track period you can improve your chances of achieving this balance and having a career that is satisfying and life-sustaining.

This webinar is Thursday 6/6 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT.

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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What Grad Students Need To Hear (This webinar is past but will be rescheduled; email to request a date)

Graduate training across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences is in the midst of a massive upheaval as higher education downsizes abruptly. Graduate students are caught between two competing trends: the pressure on departments to increase Ph.D. admissions to handle the teaching that professors no longer do, and the wholesale replacement of tenure track jobs for those same Ph.D.s with short-term adjunct positions.

In short, Ph.D. students vastly outnumber the available permanent positions for employment at the tenure track level. Meanwhile, faculty in Ph.D. granting departments rarely acknowledge these realities, preferring to increase their Ph.D. enrollments for the sake of personal or departmental prestige, while viewing the real suffering attendant on the Ph.D. job search with indifference at worst, passivity at best. Few graduate students are told the truth about the real financial risks of doing a Ph.D., and more importantly, the specific steps that can be taken to protect yourself, reduce those risks, and chart a course that maximizes chances of secure permanent employment after completion of the degree.

This webinar is dedicated to filling that gap. It covers:

Preparing for your job search from year 1 in the program
Understanding the financial risks and losses of a Ph.D.
Evaluating the status and job placement rate of your graduate program
Evaluating the effectiveness of your advisor for job placement
Changing advisors when necessary
Assembling a committee
Choosing a dissertation topic
Reading trends in your field with an eye to the job market
Setting a 5-year timeline to completion
Understanding the role of grants
TA-ing vs. teaching
Participating in departmental life
Avoiding excess service
Attending national conferences
Networking
Strategizing your recommenders
Building your CV
Producing the all-important peer reviewed publications

And finally, most important: Thinking like a t-t search committee.

As always, time for Q and A at the end.

Let no grad student proceed uninformed!

This webinar is scheduled for Thursday 4/25 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT.

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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 What You Need to Know Now About the Tenure Track Job Market—$100 [Past but will recur]

In this 90-minute webinar I walk you through the conditions of the current American job market, the most common mistakes made by job-seekers, and the ways you can maximize your chances of success while looking for a tenure-track job.

We’ll cover:

*The big-picture conditions of the U.S. tenure track job market
*How to think like a search committee
*The four core qualities of a successful tenure track job candidate
*The Cover Letter: why yours probably sucks, and how to fix it
*The CV and Teaching Statement: common mistakes
*The three keys to academic interviewing

***To make this webinar useful even to those who have worked with me on their documents, I will focus also on intangible pitfalls of the job market. These include:

*the narcissism trap

*showing, not telling

*hyper-emotionalism

*the perils of obstinacy

Includes time for Q and A with Dr. Karen.

Scheduled for Wednesday 5/15 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT.

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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How To Publish Your Academic Book  [This Webinar is Past But Will Recur]

In most fields of the humanities and social sciences, a sole-authored monograph is the primary criterion for tenure. Getting your book done in time for tenure review is the leading source of stress for new assistant professors. You can do it, but it takes advance planning and organization. In this 90 minute webinar I walk you through the basic timeline for getting it done in time. We will cover the following:

conceptualizing your dissertation as a book
getting leave time to write
coordinating publication timeline and tenure review
writing a proposal
submitting your proposal
approaching editors
choosing a press
getting an advance contract
understanding royalties
knowing what to publish as journal articles
setting up a writing schedule
dealing with positive and negative reviews
revising
indexing, copy-editing and cover art

As always there will be time for Q and A at the end.

Avoid unnecessary anguish and stress by understanding the process and planning ahead.

This 90-minute Webinar is scheduled for  Wednesday 4/10 at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT. 

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

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Campus Visit Webinar–$100 [This webinar is past but will recur; get email me to request a new date]

In this 90 minute webinar I walk you through the basic expectations and potential pitfalls of the dreaded Campus Visit (sometimes called a Fly-Out). We will cover all of the core elements, including:

The three key criteria at play in a campus visit
The single biggest pitfall for candidates
The basic organization of a campus visit
The initial arrangements and scheduling
Preparing for the visit
Meetings with faculty, Head, Dean, and graduate students
The formal interview with the Search Committee
The job talk and Q and A
The teaching demo
Handling meals gracefully
Maintaining your stamina
Evaluating campus climate
What to wear, especially in cold weather

As always there will be time for Q and A at the end.

Campus visits are hard!  A little advance knowledge will save a world of hurt!

This 90-minute Webinar is scheduled for  Wednesday 2/20 at 1 PM Pacific/4 PM EST/21:00 GMT. 

Cost:   $100

After completing payment by clicking below, you will be redirected to the dedicated Go-To-Meeting Webinar Registration page, where you will fill out a registration form and be given instructions and an access code to sign in on your chosen day. 

 

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 Surviving Your First Year on the Tenure Track—$100 [Already Past but will recur; email to request new date]

In this 90-minute webinar I walk you through the biggest challenges of the first year on the tenure track.  Topics we cover include

• Dealing with new colleagues
• Handling department politics
• Finding mentors
• Establishing a classroom persona
• Learning to say no to service
• Establishing a conference schedule
• Protecting your writing time (and mental health!)

Most importantly, I walk you through the planning that you need to do, from year one, to situate yourself for your eventual tenure case.

This webinar is based on the advising meetings I used to have as Department Head with my first year assistant professors. They all got tenure.  It’s fun, but hard core!

This webinar complements the blog post, Advice For Your First Year on the Tenure Track, but focuses more directly on hands-on recommendations for dealing with treacherous departmental politics and laying the groundwork for your tenure case.

Includes abundant time for Q and A with Dr. Karen!

Cost: $100

 

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Webinar Recordings Available for Purchase ($100)

What Grad Students Need To Hear (recorded April 2013)

How To Manage Your Career Once You Have a Job (recorded April 2013)

How To Publish Your Academic Book (recorded April 2013)

The Campus Visit (recorded January 2013)

What You Need to Know Now About the Academic Job Market (recorded August 2012)

Surviving Your First Year on the Tenure Track (recorded August 2012)

How To Write a Winning Grant (recorded September 2012)

Interview Bootcamp Webinar (recorded October 2012)

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Webinar Info

Some readers wonder if the webinars are redundant with the blog posts. I work hard to make sure that isn’t the case, and offer fresh new content that goes beyond the posts. I’ve learned that many participants find it is helpful to have the spoken and interactive presentation on the Webinar reinforce the written information on the blog.  One key point of the Webinars, aside from the Q and A, is the abundant use of examples of BAD job market writing or interviewing, with explanations of what exactly is wrong, and how to fix it.

Here are some reactions to previous webinars, and a testimonial from a Campus Visit Webinar client who used it to land a tenure track job:

“The webinar, which took a little less than two hours, was more useful to me than the entire semester of the ‘Preparing Future Faculty’ course I took through my university’s graduate school.”

“I found it very helpful. Why? Because I needed clarity re: the importance of ‘peer reviewed’ journal articles (of which I have none). You helped me see that while the dissertation is made out to be a ‘BIG ISSUE’ in the life of a Ph.D. student, what should now be one’s major concern, as a result of this lame market, is developing an active publishing record so that one can present themselves as a ‘colleague’ in the job market rather than a ‘grad student.’ Many advisors don’t realize this market change.”

“I appreciated the way that Karen focused not only on what we should do, but also on what we should avoid doing. Many of the job books I have neglect this important contrast.”

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me, Karen, at gettenure@gmail.com.