Initial Publication Date: February 1, 2017

Find Mentors and Support Systems

Careers do not evolve in isolation; support from mentors, collaborators, and community resources can help you navigate a career in GER. Most mentoring is informal, and can occur at a local or a virtual level. Be proactive and seek out advice from those you respect. Take advantage of existing resources, networking hubs, and training opportunities. Listed below are suggestions on where to find mentors and descriptions of GER support opportunities:

Local Mentors

Local mentors may be geoscience education researchers, but can also include your PhD advisor, or discipline faculty who are not themselves GER but support it, and out of discipline colleagues (e.g., in the College of Education or STEM DBER faculty).

Conferences and Organizations: a community of mentors and GER culture

GSA, EER, and AGU conferences and SERC workshops all provide venues for being part of the GER culture and potentially finding mentors among senior researchers and colleagues outside of your institution. Similarly, the NAGT GER Division and the Journal of Geoscience Education community of editors and associate editors provide organizational networks that support the GER culture. Becoming active in the GER Division or a reviewer or associate editor for JGE can help you connect with activities in the GER community.

Variance in supports depends on where you are

Your location determines some parameters of a thriving GER career. Departmental support matters, but this can also be supplemented from other departments and programs in your institution. In addition, self motivating and learning depends on being active, not passive in your career evolution.

Variance in supports depends on from where you were

There are different paths to GER, but it is important to "never throw good people away!". Its OK to rely on previous mentors for support and continue collaboration with them, but also lean on the broader GER community as you are develop a presence at a new department.

Toolbox support and guidance

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