Arrested (Professional) Development

psbYou may have heard that there are some big plans in the works for The Graduate School’s website. Over the summer, it will be treated to a major overhaul, and as part of that process the Graduate Student Professional Development blog will relocate to become part of the new site.  For the next few months, things will be very quiet here on the blog as we migrate not only to a new address, but also to a new platform utilizing Drupal, a web framework and content-management system already widely used across Duke.

We are excited about the launch of the new website, as well as new Career & Professional Development programming for the Fall 2014 semester.  In the meantime, have a great summer break, and we will see you back here in September!

 

Building Your Mentoring Portfolio

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Student working in the lab

Have you thought about mentoring but worried that you weren’t qualified? Do you feel like it’s too big a time commitment? I felt the same way, but one summer of mentoring changed my entire thought process and helped me shape my mentoring experiences to work for me.  (more…)

Emerging Leaders to watch

You’ve already heard from several of the participants in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Institute: Jordan Schermerhorn shared her experience with the powerful Human Patterns self-assessment, Emily Roberts recounted the story behind her team’s development of the Think Beyond Internships website, and Aaron Towers explained the value he found in the ELI experience. Learn more about our first graduating class of Emerging Leaders through their profiles, and watch for their impact in the weeks and months to come. We expect great things.

No time to be an Emerging Leader?

How was I going to convince my mentor that spending 25+ hours on my professional development would be a good idea–especially considering that it would take away from time in the lab? The email from Graduate Student Affairs promised that the opportunity would “develop participants’ leadership, professional adaptability, communication, self-awareness, and interdisciplinary teamwork skills, preparing them to become successful employees after graduation.” But how could I sell that to my mentor, who was likely more concerned about my success prior to graduation? (more…)

Helping our program help us with career development

My graduate career has been a bit bumpy (although whose hasn’t!), and during my 3rd-year slump, I spent a lot of time asking myself if I really wanted a PhD.  By having to face this question, I realized very quickly that I had no idea what a PhD could do for me.  I knew I wanted out of academia, but what else was there? (more…)

Alumni Profiles Series: Erica Moiah James

Tell us about yourself:

 Erica Moiah James, Ph.D. Yale University, Department of African American Studies
Erica Moiah James, Ph.D.
Yale University, Department of African American Studies

Name: Erica Moiah James
Title: Assistant Professor, Department of the History of Art and African American Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of African American Studies, Yale University (2011-present)
Previous Job: Founding Director and Chief Curator of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (2003-2011)
Current City: New Haven
PhD, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke, 2008
MFA, Painting and Drawing, University of Chicago, 1994
BA, Urban Studies and Architecture, Vassar College, 1992 (more…)

Summer suggestions for professional development, part 3

onlineimgNo matter what  plans you have for the fall – from starting your first semester of graduate school to starting a postdoc or full-time job, and everything in between – you should think about taking a little time this summer to get your virtual house in order. You can bet that potential employers, colleagues and other professional contacts will be searching for you online. Do you know what they’ll find? Are you happy with how it represents you? (more…)

Summer suggestions for professional development, part 2

Sculpture by Professor Efraim Rodriguez Cobos of the University of Barcelona. http://efraimrodriguez.net [CC-BY-2.0]
Sculpture by Professor Efraim Rodriguez Cobos of the University of Barcelona. http://efraimrodriguez.net [CC-BY-2.0]
We all look forward to summertime during graduate school–but the livin’ isn’t as easy as Gershwin and Heyward suggested. You might feel that you finally have time to focus on your research, without the demands of coursework or teaching. It may be a time for field research or international conferences that take you away from campus. Long as your summer to-do list may already be, let me suggest one more item to add: cultivate a hobby.
(more…)

PFF Fellows Series: Samanthis Smalls

As a graduate student, it is rather difficult to ignore the issues that trouble my colleagues, particularly the dreaded job market. I found that as I got closer to the glorious PhD, the anxious whispers of others became the deafening roars of my own inner voice and I wondered, “Will I get a job?” Then my mind hit me with a shockingly basic query: “What does the life of a professor actually look like?” (more…)

PFF Fellows Series: Samantha Deffler

As a graduate student at Duke with the desire to teach, I am awash in opportunities to improve my pedagogical abilities. I have attended numerous Teaching IDEAS workshops, taken classes through the Certificate in College Teaching program, and taught during two summer sessions. However, the most enlightening experience that I have had in my journey to becoming an effective educator was my participation in the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program. (more…)