For many graduate students, the summer months are an important time for self-directed reading and other tasks that have taken a backseat over the fall and spring semesters. For some, this summer’s reading list might include reading a novel that sat untouched over the academic year, reading to prepare for exams, or reading for your research. Regardless of your stage in your graduate program, consider adding one or two books to your summer reading list this year that will help advance your professional development goals. Whether your professional goals relate to improving as a researcher or teacher, improving your relationship with your collaborators and mentors, reflecting on your post-graduate career path, or preparing for life after graduate school, there are many valuable books available to support your learning. Even if your summer is devoted to writing or publishing, there are books that can help you improve your writing process. Here’s a list of book recommendations for your summer reading, each aimed at helping you reflect on and succeed in a different aspect of your professional development and graduate school journey. The books that are available as an ebook through the library are linked. On non-academic career preparation and exploration: What Is Out There for Me? by Natalia Bielczyk Putting Your Humanities PhD To Work by Katina Rogers So What Are You Going to Do With That? Finding Careers Outside Academia by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius What Color is your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher L. Caterine On academic career preparation and exploration: Good Work If You Can Get It: How to Succeed in Academia by Jason Brennan The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job by Karen Kelsky (and also the Professor Is In blog) The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure–Without Losing Your Soul by Kerry Ann Rockquemore The Slow Professor by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber On academic writing: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Belcher (2nd edition) How to Write a Thesis by Rowena Murray On personal growth and life planning: The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy C. Edmondson Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight and Positive Change by Dannelle D. Stevens and Joanne E. Cooper Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World that Values Sameness by Todd Rose On succeeding in graduate school: Gifted Black Women: Navigating the Doctoral Process Edited By Brittany N. Anderson, Shaquinta L. Richardson How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey by Gavin Brown Ableism in Academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education by Nicole Brown, Jennifer Leigh A Field Guide to Graduate School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica Calarco Hooded: A Black Girl’s Guide to the Ph.D. by Malika Grayson On teaching: Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms by Joe Feldman Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation by Saundra McGuire, Stephanie McGuire, and Thomas Angelo Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel On collaborations and mentorship: Getting Mentored in Graduate School by W. Brad Johnson and Jennifer M. Huwe Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (even when it is off base, unfair, poorly delivered, and frankly, you’re not in the mood) by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen Happy reading this summer! Sophie Major is the Director of GradPro, the Graduate Student Professional Development Resource Hub. They have an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Energy and Resources, and are a first-gen college graduate. Maria Almeida Reis is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History currently working as a Professional Development Liaison in the GradPro Office of the Graduate Division. Maria previously served as a co-director and the logistics lead of Beyond Academia.
For many graduate students, the summer months are an important time for self-directed reading and other tasks that have taken a backseat over the fall and spring semesters. For some, this summer’s reading list might include reading a novel that sat untouched over the academic year, reading to prepare for exams, or reading for your research. Regardless of your stage in your graduate program, consider adding one or two books to your summer reading list this year that will help advance your professional development goals. Whether your professional goals relate to improving as a researcher or teacher, improving your relationship with your collaborators and mentors, reflecting on your post-graduate career path, or preparing for life after graduate school, there are many valuable books available to support your learning. Even if your summer is devoted to writing or publishing, there are books that can help you improve your writing process. Here’s a list of book recommendations for your summer reading, each aimed at helping you reflect on and succeed in a different aspect of your professional development and graduate school journey. The books that are available as an ebook through the library are linked. On non-academic career preparation and exploration: What Is Out There for Me? by Natalia Bielczyk Putting Your Humanities PhD To Work by Katina Rogers So What Are You Going to Do With That? Finding Careers Outside Academia by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius What Color is your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher L. Caterine On academic career preparation and exploration: Good Work If You Can Get It: How to Succeed in Academia by Jason Brennan The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job by Karen Kelsky (and also the Professor Is In blog) The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure–Without Losing Your Soul by Kerry Ann Rockquemore The Slow Professor by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber On academic writing: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Belcher (2nd edition) How to Write a Thesis by Rowena Murray On personal growth and life planning: The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy C. Edmondson Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight and Positive Change by Dannelle D. Stevens and Joanne E. Cooper Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World that Values Sameness by Todd Rose On succeeding in graduate school: Gifted Black Women: Navigating the Doctoral Process Edited By Brittany N. Anderson, Shaquinta L. Richardson How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey by Gavin Brown Ableism in Academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education by Nicole Brown, Jennifer Leigh A Field Guide to Graduate School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica Calarco Hooded: A Black Girl’s Guide to the Ph.D. by Malika Grayson On teaching: Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms by Joe Feldman Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation by Saundra McGuire, Stephanie McGuire, and Thomas Angelo Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel On collaborations and mentorship: Getting Mentored in Graduate School by W. Brad Johnson and Jennifer M. Huwe Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (even when it is off base, unfair, poorly delivered, and frankly, you’re not in the mood) by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen Happy reading this summer! Sophie Major is the Director of GradPro, the Graduate Student Professional Development Resource Hub. They have an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Energy and Resources, and are a first-gen college graduate. Maria Almeida Reis is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History currently working as a Professional Development Liaison in the GradPro Office of the Graduate Division. Maria previously served as a co-director and the logistics lead of Beyond Academia.