Recruiting Faculty

Selling Points

General Selling Points

  • Contributes to advisor and graduate student work.
  • Enables larger-scale projects than otherwise possible.
  • Gives instructors access to students from many majors.
  • Experienced students help on-board new students.
  • Support Provided:
    • VIP program handles student recruiting (email blasts, webpage, application forms, etc.).
    • Provides structure for student documentation, peer-evaluations and grading.
    • Syllabus templates.

Broader Impacts

VIP offers a vehicle for broader impacts requested by funding agencies. Of particular interest:

  • The team format increases the number of students served.
  • Teams draw students from multiple majors, expanding the impact beyond the PI’s department.
  • Students can participate for multiple semesters, creating in-depth experiences.
  • Graduate students develop management and mentoring skills.

VIP Directors should be prepared to provide letters for proposals.

Elevator Pitches

Elevator Pitch 1

Initial pitch: In VIP, faculty lead multidisciplinary student teams of 10-15 students.

  • Students earn academic credit.
  • Faculty and graduate students benefit from the team’s work.
  • It enables larger-scale projects.
  • Teams last for years.

Then if they’re still listening:

Faculty define the projects, with a minimum target of three to four years. The projects last longer than any one student.  The intention is for students to participate multiple semesters, with returning students training new students.