If you’re thinking of asking a faculty member to sit on your honors thesis committee there are a few things you need to think about beforehand.

Is your project’s timeline realistic? Can you finish in time to graduate? In some programs, students will have to take additional courses for the honors program and you will have ample opportunity to think about your project. Use this time to also think about your timeline and who you will ask to sit on your committee.

How busy are you? Will you make your deadlines? Remember that your committee is also very busy and that they are counting on you to meet your deadlines and habitually missing deadlines is a poor reflection on your time management and is an inconvenience to your committee. Essentially you are telling your committee that their time is also not important and this is not a smart tactic to take.

Are the committee members a good fit for your project? Do the committee members have a good reputation for mentoring students and guiding them through the process? You will work closely with the committee for several months. Then, at your defense you will want to make sure that they understand the project and are there on your side to help you think critically about the project.

Try to surround yourself with a strong support network of friends and peers in the department who will also understand what you are going through with the thesis. The thesis can provide you the first taste of what graduate school is like and you want this to work for you.

Use the resources (if any) available at your university. See if there is a Writing Lab or Writing Center to help you with the writing process. Your committee could offer you writing advice, but other committees might focus more strongly on the concepts and encourage you to work with someone else for the writing. These are things you will need to discuss with your committee.

Likewise, find out what the department culture is. Is the Chair the “heavy” and the second committee member only comes on for the defense? You will need to ask these questions. I would suggest that you also get input from your Chair about who they think might be a good second committee member. You might propose a few names, but be open to the Chair’s suggestions. Faculty are more aware of other colleagues’ workloads or even their assessment’s of students, so your Chair might suggest that you pursue alternative options. S/he might know of a perfect fit in another department. Also, your Chair might not really have any investment in who the second committee member is—again you will need to have this discussion with the Chair of your committee.

This might sound harsh—but faculty do not have to sit on Undergraduate Thesis or Dissertation committees. We can pick students who we want to work with  and mentor, and some faculty are notoriously burdened with too much committee work. You want a good mentor who has time for you, so ask wisely. Please do not take offense if you get a decline or if a faculty member explains that s/he is on leave and not supervising. This is all part of the undergraduate thesis process. We have every right to decline and most times it is not personal.

Do make sure that you talk about the honors program experience with current students who working on their thesis or major research undergraduate project. Your peers can work as an invaluable resource during this process. Good luck!

I read Hey Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment in Schools and on the Streets written by the Girls for Gender Equity, Joanne N. Smith, Mandy Van Deven and Meghan Huppuch not sure what to expect. To say that I could not put the book down is a gross understatement. By the time I read a few sections, I had contacted several friends and told them that they had to read this book. I’m going to get my 13 year old her own copy, so that my dog-eared and margin filled copy does not distract her.

The book begins noting that sexual harassment is a real problem for girls and young women and avoids polemic by using the Girls for Gender Equity in New York as the case study. But, this is not some academic tome swooping into a community and then leaving in order to tell the story. Instead, the authors are girls and women who have a connection to the organization. Girls for Gender Equity serves the needs of girls and young women primarily from an underserved population—immigrants, girls of color, the working class and poor.

Some might read the start date of the organization (September 11^th 2001) and think that the founding coincided with such a terrible act of terrorism. Yes, this is true, but it was a propitious start to the organization that was meant to build community and give voice to the previously invisible in the community—youth. Now, I will first admit to working in the non-profit sector previously and have also completed contract work for a youth serving non-profit. Girls for Gender Equity is the sort of organization that I wish I worked for and that most youth serving organizations can learn from in terms of not just the mission statement, but the ways in which the girls, parents, schools, and volunteers were all deemed integral parts of the organization.

The first sections of the book really set up how the organization helped the girls name sexual harassment. The sexualization of the girls in their lives was normalized. And, not until they discussed the sexual assault of a neighbourhood girl and other experiences did they have the epiphanies to realize that something was amiss—that something was wrong. The book is written by a set of authors who clearly care about the organization and the issue.

The latter part of the book outlines the ways in which the organization sought to change part of the school curriculum to make sure that Title IX guidelines were followed and to put an end to sexual harassment. The organization hit speed bumps, as it turns out that some bureaucrats truly had no clue about Title IX. Add to this the ways in which some did not fully comprehend the reality of sexual harassment.

Girls for Gender Equity responded with an example of Participatory Action Research (PAR) that would put most other attempts to shame. The Girls for Gender Equity’s PAR study follows the understood guidelines by having the girls involved from the ground up with the study.  Ultimately more than one thousand middle school and high school students across four boroughs were surveyed. The results are a breathtaking example of the ways in which sexual harassment is a daily occurrence for most respondents.

The book’s continued strength is in the voluminous and helpful appendices that include an activist tool kit of sorts with resources for other organizations and schools to follow in order to combat sexual harassment. This book is a must read for parents, girls, allies, educators, and bureaucrats. The tone of the book is not jargon-filled and the audience is vast for this book. Do yourself a favor and buy this book for yourself and for a girl or young woman in your life.

For more information about the book or the book’s virtual tour please see: http://www.indiegogo.com/HeyShortyontheRoad

Some of the varied roles for the Teaching Assistant  (These are not exhaustive)

1) Mediator between student and professor/instructor

2) Facilitator of sections or tutorials; both as an authority figure and as a grader

3) Counselor /mentor (this is ad hoc and will vary for Teaching Assistants)

4) Employee of the department and university

5) Employee of the instructor of record (you report to the him/her)

Preparing for lecture and grading will be the most time-consuming as a TA. Depending on your department culture your office hours could be busy or you may never see a student. Use the office hours to prep for tutorial or grade.

The 3 Cs of professionalism as a Teaching Assistant: competence, confidence and (student) centeredness.

You should walk into the classroom knowing that you are competent, as your department chose you out of a large pile of applicants! Because of this—be confident. And, once you in the classroom remember that the tutorial is about the students and their understanding of the course material (student centeredness).

Things to ask the instructor who you are reporting to: how do they see your role as a Teaching Assistant in the class? What is her/his policy regarding academic dishonesty? Hopefully, you will have regular meetings with the instructor about assignments and the material that the instructor expects you to cover during the tutorials. Will the instructor allow you to offer a mini-lecture or facilitate an extra workshop about writing or an assignment?

You should remember that as a Teaching Assistant you need to effectively facilitate discussion among all the students in the tutorial. With this in mind, watch gestures, metaphors and all comments in class. Try to avoid sports metaphors as they might not make sense to international students or other students who do not follow said sport. Make sure that you are fair to all the students and encourage everyone to participate. This might mean asking one “keen” student to allow others to participate. However, if you do this in a polite manner it should not be a problem.

Whenever you have questions, always go to the instructor. The instructor is really meant to mentor you in your role as an apprentice educator. You are still learning and this will mean that sometimes you do not have all the answers. (Frankly, the instructors are still learning, too!)

My last word of advice—always go to tutorial prepared and professional. This does not mean that you have to purchase an expensive new wardrobe, but do dress appropriately for the department culture. Have fun! You have the lucky position of playing an important role in a student’s life. If you do a good to great job, chances are the students will learn lots and remember you fondly.

How do you manage your time? As academics we don’t necessarily work the traditional 9-5 job. In fact, I’d argue that for most of us we work more than 40 hours a week, since we can work different hours and those grading weeks are intensive. I’ll speak to how I manage my time generally speaking. Of course, there are those triage weeks where I am really focusing on what absolutely has to get done!

My priority is teaching, so that is always the main focus at work. Everything else is secondary. Given that my job is a teaching focused position it makes sense that priority numero uno is teaching. But, I do more than teach. I also advise and mentor students and this is also important. Most weeks I would say that this is priority number two during the advising hours and emails. The next priority is my research or the book that I’m working on with two Women’s Studies colleagues.

What I do is schedule in time for my “own” work. I actually schedule this in my Outlook. I do this for numerous reasons. It’s important to note this time and frankly my colleagues on Outlook can see busy bubbles in my schedule. This ensures that I don’t get queried during my research or writing time. The other thing that I have done is more collaborative work with some of my former students. This offers a collaborative conference paper or possible publication and it’s also a mentoring project. These are shared projects that I have found fulfilling.

When I am in the midst of a busy project time (Summer), I will actually time my work and during this time I have to step away from social media ( #socmedia ) in order to stay focused on writing. I also will block in body breaks–stretching, a walk around the building or time for a snack. I know that this might sound very regimented, but it works for me. And, if you know me, you might be smiling and thinking that this sounds like something I would do!

How do you manage your time?