What Is Academic Career Development?
Here's some insight into the hows, whys, and wherefores—and a complete definition—of academic career development.
Academic—of or belonging to an academy of scholars, artists, etc.; scholastic; scholarly.
In a community of scholars, the creation and dissemination of knowledge is a shared mission. This knowledge is disseminated in many ways and many settings. A stimulating lecture in a classroom, a thought-provoking debate in a clinic, an enlightening dialogue in the student lounge, a search through books in the library—learning opportunities are all around you in an academic environment. You learn from faculty members, your peers, your colleagues, visiting lecturers, guest speakers, and many others. The chance to learn something new exists in conversation, in journals, at seminars, in the classroom, in the laboratory—in fact, everywhere. In academia, human knowledge is created, advanced and applied every day.
Because learning never stops in academia, this quest for knowledge creates a unique energy. It is exciting to work in an environment where you really can learn something new every day. Whether you are a researcher—discovering new knowledge in a laboratory, and sharing that new knowledge with the world by publishing your findings; or an educator—imparting knowledge to students and trainees in the laboratory, in the classroom, or in the clinic; or doing service—applying knowledge to help solve problems in the broader community, academia gives you the opportunity to constantly improve yourself, your field and your world.
Career—one's progress through life or work; a profession or occupation that one trains for and pursues as a lifework.
The root of the word "career" originally meant "a racing course." Rightly then, today, a career is not merely succession of jobs or experiences, it is your progress through the course of your lifework. A career implies movement, or direction, along a specific course. When you embark on a journey, you generally have a map, or directions, to help guide you to your destination. Similarly, plans and specific directions should guide progress in your career. State your goals, write them down, and then try to determine how long it will take you to get where you want to be. The Office of Academic Career development seeks to help you articulate and achieve your career goals. Career success takes foresight, planning, and ordered, purposeful movement.
But you do not have to travel your career course alone. A mentor can be an invaluable guide and advisor to you, pointing out the way around potential obstacles. Our office will also help train mentors and protégés in how to have effective mentoring relationships. A journey can be made much easier by having a wise guide to show you the way.
As well, like the navigational skills necessary for any physical journey, there are professional skills that are necessary to successfully traverse your career path. We offer training to help you acquire those skills, or competencies. We will offer workshops to help you acquire research competencies (e.g., grant writing), communication competencies (e.g., effective oral and verbal communications, conflict management), educational competencies (e.g., how to prepare a teaching portfolio), and other important professional skills (e.g., goal setting, networking, time management, negotiation, etc.).
Development—a step or stage in growth, advancement, etc. From develop—to build up or expand; to make stronger or more effective; strengthen.
The Office of Academic Career Development wants to help you grow as a health science professional. We care about your progress at every stage of your career. The word "development," much like "career," implies movement and progress. We want to help you strengthen your professional skills, achieve your goals, reach the milestones you have set for yourself, and, ultimately, develop into a fulfilled, productive academician.
