The URG graduate advancement community we connected with as a part of the CIRTL-INCLUDES project was the MSU Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Community. I facilitate their monthly meetings and distribute CIRTL-related events through email, social media and monthly handouts. During the fall semester we had a series for focus group discussions and surveys to assess their interest and awareness of University resources. What we have learned is that programmatic information isn’t shared consistently among the various departments on campus. Some departments might offer similar programming in-house, while other students have to rely on The Graduate School (in-general) or CIRTL in particular to inform and train students in the areas of the 3 pillars of CIRTL (Teaching, Advising, Research Mentoring).

Future Work

For this semester, we plan on inviting additional speakers to the AGEP meetings as well as have more facilitated discussions around CIRTL related topics. The local CIRTL coordinator (R. Campa) has helped us identify key campus CIRTL-related events to encourage AGEP members to attend in addition to the AGEP community meetings.

Prepared by Steven Thomas, February 2018