Teaching and Professional Practice

M17 - Roundtable: Career Development for PhD Students

Date: Jun 1 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: Classroom - CL 418 Room ID: 15770

Chair/Président/Présidente : Loleen Berdahl (University of Saskatchewan)

Career Development for PhD Students in Political Science: Developing an Agenda for Change:

David Brock (Government of Saskatchewan)
Jonathan Malloy (Carleton University)
Lisa Young (University of Calgary)

Abstract: Doctoral programs in political science at Canadian Universities are designed primarily to educate students for academic careers, despite evidence that only half of recent PhDs in social science disciplines are employed in tenure-stream academic positions. Acknowledging this, and taking the position that doctoral training in the discipline contributes to graduates’ success in a diverse array of careers, this roundtable is focused on developing an agenda for career development for doctoral students in political science. It will be structured thematically, posing the following questions to panelists for brief responses: 1. What is missing from doctoral education? What is the essential career development content? 2. Do we need to reconsider core components of doctoral programs (course work, comprehensives, the form/structure of the thesis)? If so, how? 3. Can we learn from other disciplines, or other countries? What are the key lessons? 4. Is there student demand for career development? If not, why not? Is this a problem that needs to be solved? 5. Whose job is it? The discipline, the department, the school of graduate studies? 6. What are essential next steps?