Career & Tools
Check out this UCSB series on grad student and postdoc professional development experiences funded by the Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program. This week's featured video is by am Samanta De Frutos García, a PhD in Iberian Linguistics from the Spanish and Portuguese department, who used the IPS funds to earn a Certificate in Teaching Heritage Languages. Read on to watch the video and learn more about the IPS program!
Have you ever wished you had support to take advantage of a professional or career development opportunity that lies outside the scope of your academic research? The UCSB Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars fill in the funding gaps for pursuing opportunities that support your professional development in a variety of career trajectories.
IPS Insights: In our series, "IPS Insights," previous awardees share about their IPS-funded experiences in short informational videos. This week's featured video is by Samanta de Frutos García, a PhD in Iberian Linguistics from the Spanish and Portuguese department.
Samanta used the IPS funds to take classes leading to a Certificate in Teaching Heritage Languages through the UCLA National Heritage Language Resource Center. Watch the video to learn more!
In Samanta's Words: What I Learned
"I used the IPS grant to fund classes leading to a Certificate in Teaching Heritage Languages through the UCLA National Heritage Language Resource Center. This online course was designed to help language instructors teach heritage language students. The certificate consists of 5 modules. The first module focuses on foundational concepts of the field, including characteristics associated with heritage speakers, definitions of key concepts, and pedagogical strategies that meet the needs of heritage language learners. The second module aims to develop a detailed understanding of what heritage language (HL) learners with no prior HL instruction can and cannot do with their HL in terms of phonology, vocabulary, morphology, syntax, register, and dialect. The third module introduces the principles and practices of differentiated instruction and discusses their application to heritage language learners. The fourth module explores strategies and approaches that are useful for teachers of mixed heritage language/second language learner classes. The fifth module describes the principles and practices of Project-Based Learning (PBL) as they pertain to heritage language students, including the challenges involved in implementing a PBL curriculum and presentations of successfully implemented projects. Thanks to this online course, I gained additional skills and experience in teaching heritage languages. This was a valuable learning experience for me and I am grateful to the IPS program for making this possible."
IPS Program Overview
Awards up to $1000 are granted to eligible UCSB graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from any discipline who wish to individually tailor their career paths with outside professional development opportunities. The purpose of the IPS program is to help grad students and postdocs take greater agency in their own career path by funding exploration of a range of professional development opportunities across a variety of career and skill interests.
The IPS Program is a collaboration between the Professional Development Series at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships; Graduate Division; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; UCSB Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative and CNSI Technology Incubator; Career Services; UCSB's divisional deans; and external donors. Learn more about the program here!