Virginia Tech is excited to seek individuals who are interested in obtaining a PhD degree in Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education with an emphasis in leadership for August 2024. The graduate assistantship will work with Dr. Hannah Sunderman and her research team at the main campus in Blacksburg, VA (see Dr. Sunderman's ResearchGate and departmental bio). Specific areas of work and research include leader identity development, team science, and leadership education. The assistantship covers tuition, provides a stipend for 20 hours a week, and provides access to health insurance. Applicants must have earned a master’s degree prior to the August 2024 start date and be admitted to the Virginia Tech Graduate School (priority application due January 15th for August 2024 start date: https://graduateschool.vt.edu/admissions/how-to-apply.html).
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Sunderman at hsunderman@vt.edu. To apply for the graduate assistantship, please send the following to hsunderman@vt.edu by February 1st, 2024:
1. A copy of your CV
2. A 500-word essay on your research interests, ideas, and experience related to one of the following topics:
- Leader identity development
- Team science (i.e., effective functioning of groups and teams, particularly interdisciplinarity
- Leadership education (i.e., curriculum development and assessment, pedagogy)
3. A sample of academic writing in which you were the primary author
- Please indicate your role in the writing sample (e.g., conceptualization, data collection and/or analysis, portions you wrote)
