professional development of phd

Professional and Career Development

Approach your professional and career development as an integral part of your time in graduate school. Alongside your research and teaching, develop leadership skills that will prepare you for success, whether you pursue a career inside or outside the academy.

A view inside the Humanities Quadrangle that highlights the arched ceiling and play of light in the foyer.

Yale supports your professional and career development through two complementary offices: the GSAS Assistant Dean for Professional Development and the Office of Career Strategy . Together, we offer one-on-one advising, a range of workshops, online resources, and varied experiential learning opportunities that will make you more successful during graduate school and better prepared for the job search. Professional and career training can help you clarify your career thinking, find ways to develop professional skills, build professional networks, understand the world of work, and prepare for a successful job search.

Jump-start your career and professional development in years 1-3

Learn about professional and career development and make a one-on-one appointment with an advisor.
Plan for success: Outline your goals and develop a strategy to achieve them
Hone your professional skill set through workshops and resources.
Gain professional experience on campus and beyond to develop skills and learn about careers.
Learn how to build a supportive mentoring team
Explore diverse career options that fit with your priorities, interests and skills

Solidify career options and identify opportunities in years 4+

Explore careers through online resources and networking
Continue to network with professionals in careers/companies of interest
Continue to build professional skills and experience
Meet with an adviser to clarify how to communicate your professional identity and highlight your strengths to employers
Prepare for job applications, interviewing and job talks, and negotiation

Learn more about GSAS Professional Development

Learn more about Office of Career Strategy

Additional Resources

Poorvu center: teaching development and initiatives.

https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/graduate-students/about-teaching-development-graduate-and-professional-school-students

The Teaching Development and Initiatives team provides opportunities for you to develop your pedagogical skills while you're here at Yale and as you prepare to teach at other institutions. You can earn a certificate that affirms your expertise, join in community with other graduate teachers, and compete for an opportunity to develop your own course alongside a faculty member. PhD students are also eligible to become McDougal Graduate Teaching Fellows, in which position you can further develop your teaching by facilitating workshops for your fellow graduate students and postdocs.

Digital Humanities (DH) Lab

https://dhlab.yale.edu/

The Digital Humanities Lab (DHLab) is uniquely positioned to support graduate student professional development through its programs. The DH Certificate allows you to complete coursework, training, and project work to demonstrate digital humanities competencies. The DH Dissertation Fellowship provides a stipend, space, community, mentorship, and mini-grant funding for students building a digital dissertation component.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT)

The 3-Minute Thesis competition challenges Yale PhD students to describe their thesis clearly and persuasively to a broad audience – in 3 minutes! Create a professional asset that is just as critical for academic conferences and job talks as it is for a job search outside of the academy.

Poorvu Center: Graduate Writing Lab

https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/writing/graduate

The Poorvu Center’s Graduate Writing Lab supports Yale graduate students in all aspects of written, oral, and visual communication. You can discuss a draft with a GWL Fellow in a 1–1 writing consultation; write with other graduate students at an All Write or Retreat; or join a peer-review group to give and receive support as you make progress on your dissertation, prospectus, or fellowship application. The GWL also offers over 100 workshops per year and a suite of public speaking programs. Alongside these resources, the GWL strives to promote a culture among graduate students that centers writing as a process of developing, refining, and disseminating knowledge, nurtured within a supportive community of scholars.

Yale Library Workshops

https://schedule.yale.edu/calendar/instruction?cid=4960&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=4960&inc=0

Yale Library offers workshops and events on a range of subjects that allow you to familiarize yourself with the library's resources and support your use of scholarly tools and online platforms. Workshop topics include: getting started with Zotero; syncing your online bibliography; cleaning messy data using Excel; literature searching; using LaTex; and curating your online scholarly profile. Workshops are sequenced to support every level of familiarity with scholarly tools, from beginner to proficient.

Featured Resource

Office of Career Strategy (OCS)

https://ocs.yale.edu/channels/phds-postdocs/

The Office of Career Strategy (OCS) supports GSAS students from every discipline and at every stage of their time at Yale through career advising, programming and resources aimed at the specific career interests and needs of PhD and Master’s students. At OCS, graduate students can explore diverse career paths; build professional skills and experience; identify opportunities; and get help with job search strategies, application materials, and interviewing in preparation for a successful job search within and beyond the academy. Services offered by OCS for Master’s and PhD students are part of a suite of resources supported by the Graduate School to foster professional and career development.

Suzanne Young

Assistant Dean for Professional Development

[email protected]
203-432-8895
Founders Hall 185

Professional Development

Start your professional development today.

No matter what your career plans are, your graduate school experience must encompass more than just coursework, research, presentations, and publications. The Graduate School provides programs , resources, and events to help you with every step along the way—from identifying potential career paths, to developing skills to compete for them, to managing your career. These opportunities will help prepare you for success in academia, business, entrepreneurship, government, and nonprofits. Professional development is not one workshop or one course; it is something you do throughout your time at Duke. So get started now.

See why professional development is crucial for graduate students, and what professional development opportunities are available at The Graduate School.

Professional Development at The Graduate School ...

Comes in many forms.

One-time events, workshop series, semester-long deep dives, peer-to-peer mentoring, formal coursework, or certificate programs — pick the opportunities and resources that suit your schedule and needs.

Builds Core Competencies

We help you develop in six key areas: teaching and mentoring, communication, leadership, self-awareness, professional adaptability, and professionalism and scholarly integrity.

Starts Early, Doesn't Stop

Like research, professional development should occur throughout your time at Duke, so we plan our opportunities in two-year cycles to address your needs throughout graduate school.

Professional Development Offerings

For: Ph.D. students

The Bass Instructional Fellowship program supports high-quality teaching experiences for Ph.D. students where normal means of funding are unavailable. It also helps students become more knowledgeable in digital teaching and learning. | More Info

The Certificate in College Teaching program prepares you to teach in college and formally documents this professional development to make you more competitive when applying for positions. | More Info

For: Master's and Ph.D. students, postdocs

This intensive eight-week program for Graduate School students and postdocs is designed to prepare you to be a competent, confident, and effective leader at Duke and beyond. | More Info

For: Master's students

Each semester, The Graduate School offers several workshops specifically designed for students in the school’s research master’s programs as part of the Professional Development Series. | More Info

For: All Graduate School students, faculty, and staff

Mentoring is vital to graduate students’ success, and The Graduate School is committed to cultivating a culture of mentoring in graduate education at Duke. Check out our collection of mentoring advice, resources, and toolkit. | More Info

For: Ph.D. students and postdocs

This yearlong experience for Ph.D. students and postdocs prepares you for the multiple roles you may be asked to assume as future faculty members in a variety of academic institutions. | More Info

For: Master's and Ph.D. students

Events in this series are designed to broaden Ph.D. and master's students’ career perspectives and develop competencies in communication, self-awareness, professional adaptability, leadership, and professionalism. | More Info

Responsible Conduct of Research training is a formal requirement for every master’s and Ph.D. student enrolled in The Graduate School. It ensures that every graduate student is aware of academic standards and well-qualified to address ethical challenges in teaching or scholarly research. | More Info

For: All Duke community members

This series of 30-minute virtual conversations features alumni reflecting on the role that their Duke education played in their careers, facilitated by faculty and current students. | More Info

The Graduate School collaborates closely with Duke Learning Innovation and other units across campus to offer workshops, consulting, and support for TA training across the university to complement the training that graduate student TAs receive from their departments and programs. | More Info

For: Master's and Ph.D. students, postdocs, faculty, staff

I nstructional D evelopment for E xcellence A nd S uccess is an annual workshop series for Duke graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. Invited speakers will discuss topics relevant to classroom teaching, dealing with students, or faculty life and career paths. | More Info

The Graduate School offers writing support for students in partnership with the Thompson Writing Program and English for International Students. Resources include academic courses, a dedicated writing space, individual writing consultations, and additional support for international students. There are also online resources. | More Info

Professional Development Overview

A quick look at The Graduate School's professional development offerings.

Professional Development Grant

Graduate departments/programs and students may apply for up to $2,000 to develop programming and resources.

Duke OPTIONS

This online tool helps Duke Ph.D. students create a professional development roadmap for their time in graduate school.

Explore Career Paths

Career statistics.

Annually updated data on the career paths of alumni, their employers, and their locations for each of The Graduate School's degree programs.

Alumni Profiles

Check out our 100-plus (and growing) interviews with Graduate School alumni about their jobs, their career paths, and how graduate school helped them prepare.

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