<br/>The “apprenticeship model,” a general metaphor for a relationship in which a novice learns from an experienced person, is frequently used to describe the training of graduate students. The model is sometimes derogatorily described as the “cloning” of a professor. In fact, however, a graduate student is influenced by many people besides the Research Director, including other faculty who teach and serve on advisory committees, post-doctoral fellows, and student peers. Nonetheless, Research Directors presently serve as the primary mentors of their graduate students, and they are consequently most influential during a student’s graduate education, and oftentimes thereafter. Natural tensions exist between the apprenticeship model and the multifarious purposes of graduate school, as is, for example, articulated in the ACS study Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences*. The apprenticeship model has been criticized because it can inhibit creativity and innovation, it represents a significant power differential, and is inconsistently applied within doctoral training. In contrast, supporters of the apprenticeship model assert that learning by emulation is necessary if individual creativity is to follow. These antagonists may be both correct, provided the mentoring model evolves as a graduate student matures. National studies on the future of graduate education have produced some common themes around mentoring, individualized/broader instruction, and reducing the time to degree (TTD). However, the path towards achieving these recommendations is unclear. One reason for lack of clarity is there appears to be no consensus regarding the best practices in graduate school. In contrast to undergraduate education, for example, ACS-certified programs, graduate programs tend not to share pedagogy outside the departments in which it is taught. Facing impediments to tenure, young faculty tend to adopt the teaching practices of their senior colleague, and curricula within a department becomes entrenched. During this presentation, some of the efforts of our department to implement the recommendations of the ACS study* will be discussed, with an emphasis on broadcasting and amplifying best practices.

Is the apprenticeship model in graduate education obsolete?

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.