• Chemical/Molecular Ecology
• Ecology, Biodiversity and Integrated Pest Management
• Insect-Host Interactions

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A primary goal of Penn State’s entomology program is to produce graduates who are highly successful—and competitive—in all their future endeavors. In this respect, there can be little doubt that excellent communication skills are a significant positive attribute. However, the process of instilling these skills is made difficult by the sheer diversity of our student body, though this diversity in itself increases the overall quality of the program. All students must become proficient in Standard English and, beyond that, excel in its usage.

The entomology department requires that all of its graduate students serve as teaching assistants. Penn State requires that all teaching assistants for whom English is a second language must be certified as fluent in English before formally teaching in the classroom. This certification is administered by Penn State’s Linguistics and Applied Language Studies Program.

The Entomology department has developed these guidelines to assist international students in achieving certification.

• Students should serve as teaching apprentices in their first and second semesters.
• Within two semesters, international students must take the American English Oral Communicative Proficiency Test (AEOCPT). Students passing the test can begin teaching, but those falling short may either matriculate in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses or take the Test of Spoken English (TSE) offered by Educational Testing Service. The course of action will depend on the AEOCPT grade. Proficiency codes can be found at Penn State’s Linguistics and Applied Language Studies web page.
• International students are encouraged to take the TSE, since passing it eliminates the need to take the AEOCPT or register in remedial (ESL) courses.
• Faculty advisers should attend all linguistic evaluations of students, particularly the AEOCPT.
• Students failing to achieve English competency are subject to dismissal from the program.

The candidacy examination, administered in the third semester following admission to the Ph.D. program, will serve as the final evaluation of English competency. Students who do not demonstrate English competency at this point will not be permitted to continue in the Ph.D. program. The specific written evaluation of English competency demonstrated during the candidacy exam is provided to students along with evaluations of their performance in subject matter areas.

Tutoring to Improve Writing Skills

The Graduate Writing Center is open year-round to provide free individual consultations for graduate students to discuss their writing. Consultations aim to help students improve both their writing and their critical thinking skills. Students working on any writing project from any graduate discipline are welcome.

You can schedule an appointment by calling (814) 865-4211. All consultations are held in the Graduate Writing Center, located in 111-L Kern Building.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistantships

Graduate students are required to serve as a teaching assistant (TA) during their degree program. M.S. students must teach a minimum of one course; Ph.D. students must teach a minimum of two courses. Two sections of ENT 313 core and a track course (ENT 314, 316, 397I) comprise one teaching experience. A student supported on Entomology funds may be called upon to meet TA needs if they arise, therefore, a student may be asked to teach more than the minimum. Students enrolled in an interdepartmental graduate program, but holding an entomology departmental assistantship, are also held to this requirement. Students advised by entomology department faculty, but who are receiving degrees in other programs, and are supported by funds other than an entomology departmental assistantship, are exempt from this requirement, although teaching experience is strongly recommended. Students should enroll in ENT 602 (Supervised Experience in College Teaching) for credit while serving as a TA (Teaching Assistant Evaluation Criteria)

Teaching Apprenticeships

In order to better prepare all students who lack a significant teaching background, students are required to serve as a teaching apprentice for at least one semester prior to serving as a teaching assistant. In addition to helping prepare students for teaching, the apprenticeship is designed to aid international students in becoming more acquainted with methodologies and approaches used in our classrooms and student/teacher interactions in this culture. This program seeks to provide students with an opportunity to become more familiar with the course material and methods used in teaching. The student serving as a teaching apprentice will be mentored by the TA/mentor for that course and/or the faculty member in charge of the course. Ultimately, the faculty member in charge of the course is responsible for the apprenticeship and its evaluation (Teaching Apprenticeship Evaluation Criteria)

It is recognized that some students may have teaching experience prior to joining our department. These students will be given the opportunity to bypass the teaching apprenticeship.

Requesting a bypass of the TA-apprenticeship requirement - To bypass this requirement, a student must prepare a written statement documenting past teaching experiences (dates, location, exact courses with description, and role in teaching) and justifying why they are prepared to teach in the department (especially for the courses they have been assigned). Students applying for an apprenticeship requirement bypass are encouraged to include their presentations to students here in the U.S. (e.g., part of speech communication courses, talks to any group, presentations at meetings, and any other contact with students.) They may also want to discuss how prepared they are to develop a syllabus, lesson plan, exam questions, and teaching materials (handouts, web sites, etc). International students should consider discussing how prepared they are to teach in this culture.

The Instruction Committee, Department Head and the student’s advisor will review the student’s statement. The Instruction Committee will make the final decision on the bypass request.