Division J – Postsecondary Education

2017 Annual Conference Division Poster

Welcome

Welcome to the fall semester and a new academic year! AERA Division J Postsecondary Education serves as a national and international forum to advance postsecondary educational research with the goal of developing and testing theory, improving practice, and informing policy decisions. To advance this mission, the Division J Graduate Student Representatives are hard at work continuing our successful yearlong programs including the #DivJChat series and 2017 Annual Meeting programming (including the Mentoring Match initiative). These programs have been planned based on feedback from Division J graduate student community members to capture their scholarly interests and professional development needs.

Division J – Postsecondary Education

Ah Ra Cho Senior Graduate Student Representative, 2016-2017 University of North Texas Karley Riffe Junior Graduate Student Representative, 2016-2018 University of Georgia Meseret Hailu Member-at-Large, 2016-2017 University of Denver

Division Updates

First, we are starting the new semester with the #DivJChat series. This program continues a monthly series of real-time, virtual discussions on Twitter about “hot topics” in higher education. Our first #DivJChat session this year will focus on “How to Navigate Conferences While on the Job Search” featuring higher education scholars: Jay Garvey (University of Vermont), Cindy Ann Kilgo (University of Alabama), and Amy Li (University of Northern Colorado). This is a special collaboration between the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and AERA Division J Graduate Student leadership teams. The twitter chat is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25th, 3-4 p.m. Stay tuned for more details, including who our other #DivJChat guest scholars will be for the upcoming year and how you can participate!

Upcoming Events

The representatives are following tradition with planning a Fireside Chat and Graduate Student Session for the Annual Meeting with topics that encompass this year’s conference theme, “Knowledge to Action: Achieving the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity.” In addition, Division J will also provide graduate students with the opportunity to participate in the third annual MentoringMatch, our peer-to-peer academic and professional networking initiative to foster meaningful connections between rising higher education scholars from different institutions throughout the Annual Meeting. Further information on the Annual Meeting session topics and invited speakers as well as MentoringMatch activities will soon be announced.

Getting Involved

Stay tuned for more information on how to get involved with AERA Division J including the following opportunities: ● Mentoring Match Coordinator: Responsible for the planning, publicity, and assessment of the MentoringMatch initiative for the 2017 Annual Meeting. A call for applications will be released in late November. ● Graduate Student Travel Grant: A funding opportunity to offset graduate students’ travel expenses to the 2017 Annual Meeting. The Travel Grant provides 11 Div J graduate students with a $300 stipend (with one stipend earmarked for an international graduate student). The application deadline is January 4, 2017 and winners will be announced on March 1, 2017. To view the application instructions and requirements and apply, view http://www.aera.net/Division-J/Professional-Development-Opportunities ● Division J Graduate Student Leadership positions: A call for applications to fill the open Junior Graduate Student Representative and Member-at-Large positions will be released in the spring. The call for applications will be released in January with a March submission deadline. If you are a member of Division J, you should receive e-mail messages through our graduate student listserv. Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DivJGraduateStudents) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/AERADivJGradNet). As always, feel free to reach us at aeradivjgradnet@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.