Professional Service Assistantship Program

Professional Service Assistantships

Who We Are

The Professional Service Assistantship (PSA) program seeks to provide experiential learning opportunities by public, nonprofit and corporate agencies for graduate students across all disciplines. Housed in the Strategic Initiatives Unit of the Graduate School, the PSA program serves as the centralized point of contact for developing, maintaining, and sustaining long term relationships with students, departmental units, and Partners. The PSA program aspires to maintain an effective partnering culture to provide the influence and resources for the PSA program to meet its goals and the overall goals of LSU.

The PSA program proactively engages with Partners to understand their needs and identify qualified graduate students through systemic outreach and internal scouting. Furthermore, the PSA program works closely with faculty and staff and Partners to offer the highest level of professional and academic development for participating graduate students.

Meet Our Team

Tyralsi Williams-CarterDr. Tyrslai Williams-Carter
Assistant Dean,
Mentorship, Education & Research

What We Do

Prepare graduate students who are ready to contribute by providing mentorship and professional development, experiential academic support, sponsored projects, and sponsored research opportunities.

Empower students to develop and sustain a dynamic, collaborative skillset through the exchange of ideas, comprehensive work plans and projects to mutually benefit the student and the organization’s goals.

Provide long-term, holistic, in-house support to ensure the success of our students in all areas of the graduate experience.

How We Do It

  • Serve as the centralized point of contact on behalf of the Graduate School to begin and establish relationships with external partners with shared interests.
  • Provide professional development and mentorship opportunities for graduate students.
  • Coordinate and frequently evaluate comprehensive work plans and projects for participating partners and graduate students.
  • Coordinate with all academic departments and partners within the PSA network to ensure program goals are being met.

 

graphic demonstrating the PSA NetworkPSA Network

The Professional Service Assistantship program consists of six major stakeholders to ensure the success of the program:

  1. Faculty,
  2. Staff,
  3. On-campus Partners,
  4. Strategic Initiatives of the Graduate School (SIGS)
  5. External Partners, and
  6. Graduate Students. 

These stakeholders provide:

  1. Workforce development through experiential learning opportunities
  2. Faculty academic support
  3. Professional development mentorship and program initiatives
  4. Campus-wide support and brand awareness