O M Brack Jr.
Professor of English

I believe that students' professional development should begin as soon as they enter graduate school. Traditionally students earning the Ph.D. degree in English became teacher-scholars, or simply teachers, in colleges and universities, as finding a position in business or industry was not considered a realistic option. Today, almost one-third of the students earning the Ph.D. in English at ASU will become independent scholars in professional positions in publishing, libraries, business, or industry where communication skills are highly valued. Even among the remaining two-thirds, several will take positions in community colleges or small liberal arts colleges where they will have little time or resources to do research in the more traditional sense, although their research skills will enable them to continue learning. This broadening of career interests among Ph.D. students has provided new challenges for faculty mentors.

I have been fortunate in having four important avenues for nurturing intellectual and professional growth for my students during their academic careers:

1. My graduate course, "Research Methods," is more than an introduction to scholarly research; it is an introduction to the profession of teaching and participating in the scholarly community.
2. The Preparing Future Faculty program provides an opportunity to work with colleagues at a variety of institutions to assist my students in gaining important professional development beyond the confines of their department. More recently, the Preparing Future Professionals program assists students wishing to find employment outside a college or university.
3. As director of the Ph.D. program in literature, I have continual opportunities to mentor students.
4. And, at the highest level of satisfaction for me, I have had the privilege of directing 25 completed dissertations and currently have ten students whose dissertations are in various stages of completion.

Because of my training as a research scholar, I have had the opportunity to teach Research Methods every year since 1965. The course is required of all entering graduate students in literature, and teaches them, as the title suggests, methods for research, as well as how to use libraries and electronic databases. The students are also introduced to methods for working with manuscripts, as well as textual criticism, textual editing, analytical and descriptive bibliography. Along the way, we discuss issues related to their professional goals, including what constitutes good teaching, the importance of research and publication (including the difference between a term paper and a publishable scholarly paper), and how and where papers in their areas of interest might be published. We also discuss the process of turning dissertations into books, and I provide pointers about how to gain research funding and access to research libraries.

Because post-graduate employment is often an anxiety-producing issue, I devote a significant amount of time to ways of conducting successful job searches, either in academia or industry, upon completion of the degree, suggesting that positioning oneself for a job is best done at the beginning of one's graduate career rather than at the end when little or no time is left. We also discuss various program tracks that could lead to either academic or nonacademic careers. No matter which career option an English graduate student chooses, knowing how to instruct others, gain new knowledge, and communicate in writing are essential. Students also need to understand that to be successful they must be productive and strive for excellence.

Research Methods concludes with a three-hour session I call, "Brack's view of the profession," a formal conversation that sums up our semester-long informal ones. This is followed by a social occasion at my house in which students continue to talk with me informally. As a result of this course, I have numerous advisees, many of whom seek advice from me until they have chosen a supervisor, and I make a special effort to try to match them with colleagues who share their interests.

While I find personal mentoring very satisfying, I have always believed that the mentoring process should extend beyond the confines of a given department. I was deeply pleased, therefore, in 1994, to be one of the initial four faculty members chosen to participate in the Preparing Future Faculty program and to contribute the position paper on the duties and responsibilities of being a faculty member in the Department of English for a variety of institutions.

PFF students have an opportunity to learn what it is like to be a faculty member at Research I and comprehensive universities, as well as at private liberal arts colleges and community colleges. Students also benefit from faculty expertise on developing teaching strategies and preparing for the job market. I strongly encourage my students to participate in the program because it provides them with opportunities for being mentored by the larger university community, and gives them a larger picture of the teaching profession. Since the inception of the program, I have had at least one of my own students in every class. Because faculty mentors participate with their students, I have had the opportunity to continually learn and to develop my ability as a mentor.

Although the department has awarded the Ph.D. degree since the early 1960s, I was asked in 1993 to become the first director of the Ph.D. program. The responsibilities I developed for the position include recruiting and admitting students, awarding financial aid, and advising students. Most importantly to me, this position also gives me a unique opportunity to teach students planning to work in a variety of humanities disciplines the philosophy of the teacher-citizen, a key concept for those planning to enter the teaching profession, but applicable in many of its facets to students who choose nonacademic career tracks, as well.

The concept of the teacher-citizen encompasses the roles of teaching, researching, and service, as an active member of the department and in the larger academic community. Teachers are what we all must be first and foremost, and the first responsibility of teachers is to learn. Learning is a life-long, time-consuming process and the best way to learn is through research. Teaching and research are separated only for the purposes of discussion; they are, in fact, closely related activities. Those who add publication to research are simply teaching to a wider audience, to one's peers, and to other teachers' students. Teaching and research are usually carried out in the context of an academic institution, but these contributions can also be made in the community and in professional organizations by those who opt for nonacademic careers. Finally, service is vital to the academic institution and to the professions. One way to assure quality academic institutions and quality professional organizations is by providing service through teaching, learning, and research.

Since all of my own Ph.D. students have been my advisees and most have participated in my Research Methods course, they are familiar with my high expectations for them as future teacher-citizens and as present and future scholars. All students are expected to participate in regional conferences, and, if possible, national conferences, to read papers and participate in the give and take of scholarly discourse. This participation allows them to meet senior scholars, as well as other graduate students active in their disciplines.

To prepare students, I read drafts of their papers, coach them on presentation techniques, and attend the delivery of the paper to critique it. I also assist students in turning good conference papers into scholarly publications. In addition, I frequently discuss my high expectations of myself in my own research agenda and find ways in which they can participate in my large, multi-volume projects, a practice which is unusual in the humanities, where most work is carried out independently. Fortunately, I have been successful in securing a series of major, multi-year grants that have allowed me to bring students into my projects. While students receive funding, as well as credit in print for their contributions, I believe, more importantly, that including students in my research and project development helps them to learn to think creatively and innovatively about their own work.

The most critical contribution I can make to my students' success is to foster creative thinking, as well as the ability and the self-confidence to see their ideas to fruition as they prepare their dissertations and, ultimately, their articles and books. I make it clear to my students from the beginning that I expect them to write dissertations of publishable quality. This is important, both for their personal success and the benefit that this accomplishment confers on ASU. This expectation is paying large dividends. In recent years, 75 percent of my students' dissertations have either been published or are forthcoming as books, and 100 percent of my students expect that they will produce work that will make a real contribution to the body of knowledge in their disciplines.

In addition to mentoring students as they work to complete their degrees, I feel that one of my most important responsibilities is to assist them to move beyond the degree to successful careers. A faculty mentor's responsibility for finding a graduate a position should not stop with giving advice and writing a strong letter of recommendation, but also includes contacting colleagues and former students at other institutions that might have, or be willing to create, an opening. I also actively look for visiting professorships or lectureships that will provide my students with the kind of post-doctoral training that will benefit them in the tight tenure-track market, and I continue to read drafts of my former students' seminar papers, articles, and books, as well as assist in securing research funding for them.

Over the years, I have thought of my Ph.D. students as my extended family: they grow up, move away, and become independent, but I never cease to care about their well being and continue to learn from them.