Seminar description

Welcome to UW Linguistics! LING 599B is a new proseminar series, designed to help ground your PhD experience and connect you with fellow PhD students and faculty in the department. Over the next three quarters, we will focus on professional development, mental health, and ethical and inclusive research practices. While we will touch upon all of these themes throughout the year, each quarter will center on particular topics:

• In the autumn, we will tackle getting oriented within UW Linguistics and how to identify and apply for external funding opportunities.
• In the winter, we will discuss work-life balance and mental health, then begin to explore inclusive research practices as we consider how we can mindfully approach research in linguistics.
• In the spring, we will continue our discussions on diversity and inclusion as we further consider how we can strive towards equity in linguistics and beyond. We will also delve into professional development (e.g., peer review and the publication process) and satisfying PhD milestones (e.g., finding an advisor, forming a PhD committee).

The proseminar will feature many guest speakers and panel discussions throughout the year to help expose you to multiple perspectives and opportunities. We will also hold "workshop" days, where you will have the option to get feedback on relevant written pieces, such as application statements.

Recordings

To facilitate remote and/or asynchronous attendance, each meeting of the proseminar will be recorded and posted to our course-specific Canvas.

Assignments

The assignments for the proseminar will be lightweight. They will consist of small activities (e.g., show-and-tells, mini presentations), the occasional reading, optional workshop pieces, and one funding application statement. With the exception of the workshop pieces and application statement, please expect to spend up to an hour each week on assignments. We will use Canvas for all assignment submissions and online discussions.

Grading

Since LING 599B is purely meant to be a resource for you, very few assignments will be graded for credit. With that said, you will get as much out of the proseminar as you put into it. In turn, I promise to always be engaged during our time together and to provide thorough feedback on deliverables, such as workshop pieces and application statements.

• In the autumn, everyone will automatically receive full credit!
• In the winter, everyone who completes the assignment Calendaring downtime (due January 18) will receive full credit.
• In the spring, full credit will be given for completing the assignments Three funding opportunities (due April 22) and Funding application statement (due May 6). Funding opportunities and application statements shared in the fall or winter will satisfy this requirement.

Continuous feedback

Is there a topic, skill, or reading you would like to see featured? What about the proseminar is working or not working well for you? Please let me know! To improve our time together, I have created a Google Form (accessible via Canvas) to collect anonymous feedback and requests. You may fill out this form as many times as you like. While you must sign in with your UW NetID to supply feedback, your responses are 100% anonymous.

Office hours

I welcome you to use my office hours to discuss the proseminar, UW Linguistics, research, academia, mental health, life—anything. I will hold a mixture of virtual and in-person office hours this quarter:

• I will host virtual office hours on Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30 PM, accessible via Zoom.
• I will also host in-person office hours on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:00 PM at rotating locations on campus, demonstrating an inclusive teaching tip suggested by Dr. Anne H. Charity Hudley at a UW Linguistics colloquium in Spring 2021. She recommended hosting office hours in non-intimidating spaces like libraries and coffee shops—spots that students already frequent. Please check the schedule for an up-to-date list of "Tuesday OH" locations (i.e., places on campus where you can find coffee).

If, at any point, you would prefer to meet with me outside of my usual office hours, please do reach out to set up an appointment.

Course (and department) culture

UW Linguistics is continually evolving and endeavoring to create a more inclusive and equitable world, both in terms of our own department culture and how we as researchers engage with society. Exemplifying this pursuit, LING 599B grew out of the department's anti-racism statement, which was issued in June 2020 in support of the protests against the longstanding harms perpetuated against the Black and greater BIPOC communities.

In this spirit, it is important that we not only discuss and adopt inclusive research practices, but that we also embody inclusivity in our day-to-day interactions. With this goal in mind, please be respectful and supportive of your fellow PhD students and department members. Listening to one another and building on each other's contributions will help us establish a safe, empowering, and intellectually and socially engaged community, one that promotes equity in linguistics and beyond.

In terms of LING 599B specifically, I embrace and affirm students of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic and religious backgrounds, sexual and gender identities, sexual orientations, and of all abilities in this class. I want this proseminar to be a positive experience for everyone. It is thus my own personal policy, as well as UW policy, to create an inclusive and accessible learning environment.

Below are the university’s statements regarding accessibility and accommodations. I also invite you to share with me any needs you might have that are undocumented or circumstances you are facing that are not covered by these policies. I am here to support you to the best of my ability.

1. Access and accommodations: Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via my DRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.

   If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.

2. Religious accommodations: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

Land acknowledgement

Adapted from the UW land acknowledgement: I respectfully acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land that touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations.

Resources  *This is a growing list 🌱

• UW Linguistics
  • PhD requirements
  • Anti-racism statement
  • Linguistics Society at the UW (LSUW)
  • LING TA resources
  • LING TA workshop archive
  • Departmental policies on teaching
  • Graduate student resources (Google Drive curated by linggrads)
  • UW resources for graduate students (curated by the department)
  • Non-UW resources for graduate students (curated by the department)
• UW teaching resources
  • Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), including:
  • Just for TAs: Information and resources
  • Inclusive teaching
  • Accessible technology
• Health & safety
  • Husky Health & Well-Being
  • UW SafeCampus
• Reading & writing
  • How to read a book: Strategies for getting the most out of non-fiction reading (Edwards 2005)
  • How academics survive the writing grind: Some anecdotal advice (Sword 2017)
  • How to write a letter of recommendation for yourself (Shapiro 2021)
• Responding to review(er)s
  • PC chairs report back: On the effectiveness of author response (COLING 2018)
• More resources for PhD students
  • Career resources for PhD students (amassed by Nature)
• Looking for places to eat?
  • Check out (and update!) our class spreadsheet () of dining recommendations
• Waiting for the bus a lot?
  • Check out the OneBusAway app :)