Potential Service Opportunities in Communication

Source.

• Clio and the Contemporary. (2022, January 19). Service and graduate school. Clio and the Contemporary. https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2022/01/19/service-graduate-school/

• KACA Grad Council’s thoughts and experiences in the field of Communication

Graduate school can be overwhelming. No matter where you are in your academic program, it is easy to feel like you are being pulled in too many directions. It takes time to learn how to balance academics, research, and teaching duties, all the while maintaining your mental and physical health.

With all of the competing demands on your time, one area of academia that often slips under graduate students’ radars is service opportunities. This piece will explain some of the departmental, university, public service opportunities that you can explore while in graduate school.

What is service and why is it important?

Service is a broad, catchall term for duties not directly related to either teaching or research. For faculty, service includes committee work, department meetings, and positions like department chair. Service opportunities are the lifeblood of departments as faculty members collaborate to set goals for their department. At universities with grad programs, graduate students are often asked to join the collaboration.

For example, representatives from the graduate student body are usually called in to help search committees comb through job applications and assist librarians in selecting database subscriptions. In essence, service is how faculty and grad students exert control over their department and university beyond the reach of the ever-growing university administration.

Getting involved in service opportunities allows graduate students to have a voice regarding department and university decisions. This does not mean that graduate students will be able to veto decisions—grad students are often non-voting members of committees—but they have a seat at the table for a reason. (Some democracy is better than no democracy!)

Equally important, getting involved in service opportunities allows you to gain valuable experience about how to operate and collaborate with your academic peers. This may come as a shock, but faculty members often butt heads about a department’s priorities (sarcasm intended). Observing behind-the-scenes dynamics as a graduate student can make it easier to traverse departmental politics as a faculty member. And your presence and input can help keep grad students’ interests on faculty members’ radars, especially as they butt heads over departmental decisions.

I want to stress that the main goal of graduate school is to complete your degree, whether that be an MA, PhD, etc. Do not delay your progress by spreading yourself too thin through service commitments.

Where to start?

Start small. Get involved in your graduate student organization. Graduate students often hold their own elections and need students to fill a variety of positions within the organization. Organize an event. Create a writing group. Serve as president, treasurer, or secretary of your department’s graduate organization. Manageable service responsibilities will give you experience working with peers in an academic setting. Not only can this strengthen relationships with your graduate student colleagues, but each service role is a CV line and an experience you can discuss in future job interviews. Service shows that you can work collaboratively and will be a collegial department member.

Once you feel comfortable adding more service opportunities to your schedule, consider working on committees with faculty members. Committee assignments are usually held via elections, but you’re more likely to be elected to your choice of committee if you make your intentions known to other grad students.

[Departmental Level]In the field of Communication, you could serve as a member of your department’s graduate student organization. For example, I (Lian Kim) have served as a faculty liaison in my department, where my work involved supporting the graduate students' voice in the monthly faculty meetings and collaborating with students, faculty, and staff members. You could also consider serving as the MA or PhD president of the organization to develop your leadership and professional skills.

[University Level]There is likely a graduate and professional student organization at your university. Look carefully at their emails and then apply for a position if there is something that you are interested in serving. You can contribute by taking on roles such as director, treasurer, event coordinator, mentorship leader, grant/scholarship reader, and more.

[Regional/National/International Conference Level]I, Lian, have been working as KACA's student representative for 2023-2025 after being elected. Subscribing to newsletters that interest you is a great way to learn about opportunities to get involved in the community.

Through KACA, you could also contribute to national and international conferences such as NCA, AEJMC, and ICA by serving as a planning committee member. Even if not through KACA, when you attend business meetings that interest you at any conferences you are going, there are often elections for positions that students can serve, such as secretary or student representative. I personally observed a graduate student asked a committee member of a division if she could contribute by managing the division’s social media because they didn't have an account or anyone to manage it. She actually created her own opportunity to serve the division. You can always find ways to serve and people would appreciate your time and labor!

[Journal Reviewer]If you are ABD (All But Dissertation), you might be eligible to serve as a journal reviewer. For example, when you attend NCA this year, you could meet the NCA journal’s director or other related faculty members and express your interest in becoming a reviewer. In KACA, I know Dr. JongHwa Lee (JongHwa.Lee@angelo.edu) is the Book Review Editor for Asian Communication Research and sometimes finds students who are available for a book review. Feel free to contact him if you are interested in this position. 

Enjoy what you do. 

Service should not be boring work. You can choose service opportunities that you enjoy or that help to foster a skill. If you want to improve your writing or editing skills, look for ways to work on an academic journal. Some universities are fortunate enough to house scholarly journals that rely on graduate students, and they can give you editorial experience. Not only will this improve your own writing clarity and familiarity with the process of publishing a scholarly article, but it may also open up career possibilities in the publication world. Undergraduate journals are always looking for graduate students to serve as peer-reviewers. This is another low-stress way to get involved and gain experience as a reviewer.

Look beyond the confines of your university.

Local history societies, museums, and archives are always looking for volunteers or collaborators. As scholars, we should endeavor to engage with those doing historical work outside of the academy. Of course, your service with these organizations cannot replace the years of training that archivists, reference librarians, and museum curators bring to the table. But these types of service opportunities can make you a well-rounded scholar—they can teach you how to translate your scholarly work for a wider audience. Service is a broad category with many opportunities to get involved and learn job skills you will need as a newly minted MA or PhD. Service is also a crucial way for grad students and faculty to re-exert control over academia. Grab a seat at the table, voice your opinion, and get involved no matter how small the job may be. When administrators, faculty, staff, and graduate students collaborate, higher education functions at its best.

This post is composed of content from Clio and the Contemporary and the KACA Grad Student Council (from [Departmental Level] to [Journal Reviewer]) on August 4th, 2024.