GradPro for Departments and Faculty

Departments and individual faculty members and staff play a key role in supporting graduate student professional development. GradPro offers guidance, resources, and programs to assist departments, faculty, and staff in carrying out this aspect of their work. Departments are also encouraged to direct students to GradPro’s resources and programs for students. For assistance, faculty and staff should contact GradPro at [email protected].

Faculty, staff, and students alike can adapt these best practices for graduate student professional development in their respective departments.

On request, GradPro can facilitate departmental needs assessment surveys, which are used to gather information about graduate student and postdoc professional development and career exploration goals, experiences, and needs. GradPro can provide an analysis of the survey results and a customized list of resources tailored to the needs of the department.

During a needs-assessment, GradPro distributes a short survey to students and postdocs and provides the department with an anonymized summary of survey results. This is a valuable way to understand the needs of students, as it provides an opportunity for students to offer anonymous feedback and suggestions. You may request GradPro’s needs assessment service by contacting us at [email protected].

Examples of what your department can expect to learn by conducting a needs assessment include:

• Current graduate student career goals
• Programs, efforts, and opportunities beyond your department that are currently available to students and most utilized
• Steps your department could take to better meet the professional needs of students in your department

GradPro offers small grants (up to $1,000) each year for departments to enhance their support of graduate student career preparation and exploration. Examples include creating an alumni database, curating a departmental professional development webpage, or hosting alumni panels or speakers. Preference is given to funding the development and implementation of new programs and events, and those that foster faculty participation.

GradPro can facilitate workshops or presentations on a variety of professional development topics for courses, departments, and student groups.

Requests for workshops are accepted on a rolling basis, however it is strongly recommended that requests be submitted the semester prior to the workshop or presentation date whenever possible.

GradPro has offered specialized workshops in settings including:

• Department course or seminar series
• New graduate student orientations
• Student-group or club meetings
• Professional and career development conferences
• Departmental or town-hall meetings
• Departmental job placement committees