Stephanie's ePortfolio
My name is Stephanie Mason, and I am a final year Ph.D. researcher from the U.S.A. studying in University of Glasgow’s School of Education. My non-traditional and interdisciplinary academic journey has been heavily influenced by my passion for intercultural relations and informed by the 10 years of experience I have gained in international student support. Acquiring a broad range of knowledge and experiences over time has moulded me into a dynamic and well-rounded individual, team member and leader.
Through my previous international student support roles and my own experiences as an international student in both Austria and Scotland, I have become highly adaptable and uniquely adept at working with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. Additionally, my enthusiastic and creative nature predisposes me to a natural inclination to take on multiple roles at once. Currently, in addition to managing my full-time research, I also serve as the president of University of Glasgow’s PhD Society and am balancing two different internships within the university’s College of Social Sciences. My ability to successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously has significantly refined my time management and organisational skills.
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This ePortfolio is the culmination of an in-depth employability training course I completed at University of Glasgow in Summer 2020. Under the helpful guidance of my Graduate Skills Programme (GSP) tutors, I carefully crafted this ePortfolio to provide a helpful overview of the key insights and skills I have developed in recent years through a range of academic, work-related and extracurricular experiences. As a Senior Student Experience Advisor, I enjoy having the opportunity to assist other University of Glasgow College of Social Sciences students with crafting their own GSP ePortfolios.
Professional Summary
Academic Background My undergraduate degree programme in Business Administration at University of Florida primed me for a comprehensive understanding of how organisations operate. In addition to exposure to critical principles of management, working in teams and entrepreneurship, I also gained insight into finance, marketing and organisational behaviour. As a result, I emerged from business school as a highly dynamic individual, who is capable of supporting a wide-variety of roles. Transitioning from business to politics for my master’s programme in International Relations at University of Glasgow in 2017 complimented my existing knowledge by providing me insight into how organisations operate on a global scale. Most recently, for my doctoral programme, I have once again transitioned to a new academic discipline: Education. As a self-funded Ph.D. student, I am afforded a great degree of autonomy in directing the course of my research which enables me to utilise my natural ability to think outside the box. My current research is strongly influenced by my previous academic, professional and extra-curricular undertakings. It also reflects my interdisciplinary lens by combining insights from political and social psychology to explore the intersection of global superordinate identities and intergroup relations. Through this research, I aim to provide curricular and pedagogical recommendations for educational initiatives focused on prejudice intervention.
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Extracurricular Background From a very young age, I began to compile an impressive portfolio of extracurricular involvement. During my undergraduate programme at University of Florida (UF), I poured my heart and soul into the NaviGators International Programme. Boasting an excess of 500 members from more than 40 countries, NaviGators was one of the largest and most diverse student organisations on UF’s campus. It was our mission to assist international exchange students with acclimating to their new surroundings by facilitating peer mentorships and leading a host of events to showcase the American university lifestyle. My extensive involvement in my first year as an international student mentor saw me elected to the executive board, where I gradually climbed the ranks from Secretary to Vice-President to President and gained invaluable leadership experience along the way. In years since, I have frequently been elected to leadership roles by my peers. During my master’s programme at University of Glasgow, I was elected Representative of the 2017/2018 PGT International Relations cohort, and during the 1st year of my Ph.D. programme, I was elected International Students Officer on the University of Glasgow’s Students’ Representatives Council (SRC). I also served as a Language Cafe volunteer with the SRC during the first year of my Ph.D. which involved hosting casual get-togethers with international students once per month. Most recently, I was elected president of the PhD Society at University of Glasgow. As president, I manage a team of 19 executive board members from 14 countries united by the common goal of fostering a stronger sense of community amongst the university’s postgraduate researcher (PGR) population (that currently numbers more than 2000 students.) These extracurricular experiences and leadership roles have provided invaluable opportunities to successfully apply the concepts I learned in business school to real-world cases.
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Work-Related Background My professional trajectory parallels the diversity of my academic path and features a diverse portfolio of industries. My first internship was with a semi-professional men’s football team in my hometown. During the second season with the team, I autonomously recruited, hired, trained and managed a team of 6 college interns after being promoted to Intern Coordinator. While undergoing this internship, I also launched my own event promotion website (Out and About PC, LLC). In 2013 I moved to Miami, Florida to take up the role of Activities Manager at EF International Language Centre,where I managed my own department. After moving home for a family emergency in 2014, I then briefly took on a position as Marketing and Sales Coordinator for a small retail business. Before moving to Glasgow for my master’s programme, I gained nearly two years of experience as an International Student Advisor at Auburn Global in Alabama. Currently, I am undergoing two distinct but complementary internships with University of Glasgow’s College of Social Sciences: Intercultural Competency Training (ICCT) Programme Intern and Graduate Skills Programme (GSP) Tutor. As an ICCT intern, I have supported the design and facilitation of a new intercultural competency initiative at the university as well as assist with conducting research with previous programme participants. As a GSP tutor, I facilitate workshops and personal advising sessions for current College of Social Sciencesstudents to help them identify ways to creatively and effectively express their own academic, work-related and extracurricular experiences.
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Looking Ahead
Historically, I have always actively sought out opportunities to further my personal and professional development and gain new insights and perspectives. As such, I have capitalised on the recent proliferation of online events in the wake of COVID-19 by attending numerous webinars and conferences pertaining to the general themes of international education, intercultural competence and prejudice intervention. I also recently earned a coveted place in this year's University of Glasgow Postgraduate Leadership Programme. This 12-week course will further develop my emotional intelligence, adaptability and resiliency as a leader. Continuing to capitalise on experiences such as these to work alongside peers from a variety of disciplines will strengthen my position as an aspiring higher education professional services applicant. Although I am primarily attracted to the fields of international and higher education at this time, once my PhD programme comes to a close, I would welcome any opportunities to apply my interdisciplinary skills and entrepreneurial spirit to champion intercultural understanding for a more peaceful and colourful world. In the meantime, I recently completed a 2-year internship with University of Glasgow's Global Opportunities team in order to gain yet another perspective on internationalisation in higher education and build on my previous 8 years of experience.