Earlier this month, the OPA and UWPA traveled to Cleveland, OH for the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) annual meeting. This is always an exciting conference, where leaders from postdoctoral associations and institutional offices gather to share best practices, recent research, and to strategize for future efforts supporting the postdoc experience. Here are a few pearls: Take a holistic approach to postdoc experience. There was consistent advice across presenters that all postdocs need to explore various career choices. This is part…
As a grad student, you may have the opportunity to mentor an undergraduate student, or even a beginning grad student. But how do you make the most of this opportunity? As a mentor, you are in a position to provide intellectual, professional and social guidance to your mentee. If you are working with an undergraduate in a research setting, giving your mentee a full picture of your research project is a good place to start. This helps set an overarching…
For the past three years, Core Programs has hosted a communication skills workshop with the goal of sharing effective strategies international graduate students can use when communicating with faculty. Below are a just a few of these communication best practices. These tips are useful not only for international graduate students but also all graduate students across the University of Washington. Be proactive. Faculty panelists at our workshops have stated that despite their busy schedules, they truly appreciate hearing from their…
Feeling self-doubt about whether or not you belong in graduate school is actually a normal experience for many Master’s and doctoral Students. These doubts and anxieties can arise for any number of reasons. Below are just a few that we’ve heard about from your peers, and maybe they will resonate with you as well. Included are tips and strategies on how to move through these feelings. Feeling like an imposter. Ever feel like you’re not intelligent enough to be in…
All of us struggle with motivation at different times, and winter can be particularly challenging. That said, it can also be a good time to hunker down and get some work done. Whether you plan to stay in academia or not, you will need written products coming out of your postdoc years to demonstrate what you have accomplished. Perhaps you are also finishing up publications from your doctoral research or laying the groundwork for a new research direction. Recently, the…
No question about it, being a postdoc is stressful. Academic life is stressful. Your future is uncertain, you are under pressure to produce, you may have family and life circumstances that add to the joy – and the stress – of your experience. Given the data on mental health among graduate students and postdocs, we at the Graduate School encourage open dialogue about how things are going. Check in with each other. And seek help and support when you need it….
I am a second-year doctoral student, and have not been able to build a positive relationship with my advisor. My emails go unanswered and our meetings are infrequent, short, and brisk. I feel that this person is unhelpful and even detrimental to my progress. I have tried communicating my discomfort with this relationship to my advisor, yet nothing has changed. I am wondering, how do I know when it’s time to find a new advisor? And, if I decide to…
We all have different mentors in our life. These people have our best interest in mind and are able to guide and support our professional and personal development. In your personal life, look for advisors who are compassionate, enthusiastic, generous, honest, insightful, selfless and wise. In your professional life, it is imperative to find mentors who are collaborative, intellectual, knowledgeable, accessible, and visionary. In both, it is important to have mentors who will challenge and support you in doing your best work and…
We often talk with postdocs about steps you can take to plan for your future. Before jumping into goal setting, investing time in assessment, reflection, and exploration can help assure your goals are aiming you in the right direction. We have promoted a few self-assessment tools in the past (myIDP). A new tool from the Graduate Career Consortium (ImaginePhD) has enhanced capabilities and expanded “job families” that help you match your skills, values, and interests with a wider set of options….
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. – Joseph Campbell Dr. Keith Micoli visited UW from NYU where he directs the postdoc office and has worked for a decade to support postdoc professional development. Dr. Micoli shared advice with UW postdocs at a workshop on October 16, and we share highlights with you here. For anyone who has done any kind of endurance activity, you will recognize a theme within these tips, drawn from Dr….