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UChicagoGRAD hosts GCC Midwest Regional Meeting

By Courtney Wiersema, Assistant Director, Graduate Career Development, Office of the Provost- UChicagoGRAD, The University of Chicago
 
UChicagoGRAD hosted the Graduate Career Consortium Midwest Regional Meeting on January 27, 2017.  With ten institutions represented and a record attendance for a Midwest meeting of 30+ individuals, the meeting provided opportunities for lively discussion and knowledge sharing among career development professionals.
 
The day began with opening remarks from Vicky Prince, Professor and Dean of Graduate Affairs in the Biological Sciences Division at UChicago, who oversees the myCHOICE career development program in her division.  She reminded attendees that graduate career offices must strive to understand and transform the cultures of their institutions, noting that, otherwise, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” 
 
Morning sessions focused on the topics of employer relations and alumni tracking.  UChicagoGRAD’s Director of Graduate Career Development and Employer Relations, Michael Tessel, led the session on employer relations by discussing UChicagoGRAD’s efforts to build enthusiasm for advanced degree candidates among employers in industry, nonprofits, and government.  Northwestern University’s William Artz, Director of Research and Analysis, discussed the different methods that his institution uses to successfully gather data on alumni career outcomes.
 
Afternoon sessions covered experiential learning best practices and strategies for gaining faculty buy-in.  During the experiential learning session, representatives from each institution provided updates on the programs that they had developed, which ranged from summer internships to externships to interdisciplinary graduate assistantships.  The session on gaining faculty buy-in featured Ken Pomeranz, Professor of History at UChicago, and Erin Adams, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UChicago.  Both faculty members emphasized the key role that students play in changing faculty attitudes about diverse careers.  
 
The day concluded with a GCC planning and strategy session led by Alexis Thompson, Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Development and Postdoc Affairs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  Closing remarks were provided by Sian Beilock, Executive Vice Provost and Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology at UChicago.  The GCC Midwest Meeting participants look forward to bringing new ideas and energy from the meeting back to their respective campuses.

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Dartmouth Hosts GCC East Coast Meeting

By Thi Nguyen, Program Director, Career Development, Office of Career and Professional Development, UC San Francisco 

Members from the Graduate Careers Consortium (GCC) Eastern Region gathered in Hanover, New Hampshire on Friday, December 2, 2016 to new share programming ideas and discuss the future direction of the GCC. Twenty-three institutions were represented. Themes for this year’s Show & Tell included reaching and teaching less represented student groups including international students and scholars, masters degree students and students in the humanities disciplines. Members also shared best practices about creating and engaging career planning groups, teaching intensive programs, and collaborating with offices of diversity. One new topic emerged this year about best practices for career center staff who are collaborating with academic deans in graduate offices, as newly appointed dean positions are being populated at institutions. As host and planning chair, Kerry Landers shared, “Dartmouth was delighted to host this year's GCC Northeast meeting. It was a great opportunity to connect with new and returning members. In addition, we were treated with MIT's Jake Livengood's presentation on using improv.”
 
Jake Livengood, Senior Assistant Director for Graduate Student Career Services at MIT, presented “Improv Your Programs: Improving Communication and Interview Skills”. Members learned how to use improve as a tool during career and professional workshops with PhDs and postdocs during this interactive session. To learn basic concepts of improv such as “Yes, and”, Jake used demonstrations and led active group games. Teaching insights were shared among eruptions of laughter as members looked silly and learned together.
 
To conclude the meeting, GCC President Amy Pszczolkowski and President-elect Laura Stark led a strategic planning session to examine organizational growth and objectives as the GCC membership has increased significantly in the last few years. Members worked in groups to complete a strategic analysis of GCC’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Other regions will complete this activity, and results will be shared at the national meeting.
 
Professionals in the group come from varied educational and occupational backgrounds bringing a rich perspective to the discussions. GCC members look forward to gathering again and eating the good eats at the next national meeting in Houston, TX in June 2017.

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University of Maryland hosts first meeting of the GCC Southeastern region

By Amy Clobes, Ph.D., Director of Professional Development, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Virginia

Forty-six new and returning members from the GCC Southeastern Region connected at the University of Maryland on Friday, November 18^th, 2016. Following the theme, “Transforming PhD & Postdoctoral Career Development: Evidence Based Practices” the group balanced their time between established and emerging programs and ideas, discussing how to evaluate and push both innovative and proven ideas forward.
 
One such session provided a panel of updates from NIH Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) grant recipients at Virginia Tech Carillion Research Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and UNC Chapel Hill. The following discussion centered around the output of awardees, including shared resources, reports, and data from BEST institutions made available through the consortium website http://www.nihbest.org/.
 
A complementary session was also held to discuss the NEH Next Generation PhD Grants, including a panel of planning and implementation grant recipients from UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University, as well as Katja Zelljadt, Director of the NEH Office of Challenge Grants and Maureen Terese McCarthy, NEH Next Generation Humanities PhD Consortium Associate Director at the Council of Graduate Schools. NEH will be learning from current grants before providing guidelines for the second round of applications which is expected to be due in November 2017.
 
A highlight of the regional meeting was the opportunity for small-group sharing and interaction through best practice stations during breakfast and table-topic discussions later in the day. Popular topics included: postdocs, outcomes assessment, and internships. Attendees also participated in small-group discussions about the value and purpose of the GCC organization as part of a strategic planning session led by GCC president Amy Pszczolkowski.
 
In addition to best-practices discussions, Sharon Milgram, Director of the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education presented information and resources addressing the importance of wellness for PhDs and Postdocs, particularly surrounding the job search. Sharon emphasized the value of using personal stories to connect with the audience and to normalize many of the concerns and stressors that these students and scholars experience. This was noted as an emerging topic of interest among career services practitioners and graduate students alike.
 
With eighteen institutions, three professional organizations, and three federal agencies represented, the diverse and vibrant discussions allowed attendees of the regional meeting of the newly-formed Southeastern region to take away meaningful resources and ideas to implement at their home institution or organization.
 
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The 4th Annual Virtual PhD & Master’s Career Fair

April 18, 2016, by Mearah Quinn-Brauner, Assistant Director, Student Career Advising, Northwestern University Career Advancement

The GCC Virtual Career Fair Planning Committee is pleased to announce the success of the 4th Annual Virtual PhD & Master’s Career Fair (VCF), held on March 2, 2016.
 
This year’s VCF was the biggest to date! Here are the numbers at a glance:

• 44 organizations represented at the fair (up from 39 last year)
• 5 website sponsors (this is the first year we had sponsors)
• 42 GCC host schools (up from 32 last year)
• 4,670 candidates registered
• 1,997 candidates participated
• $1850 raised for the GCC

 
The VCF was once again held in partnership with CareerEco, a virtual recruiting platform that uses technology to enable meaningful interactions between employers and job seekers.
 
Based on employer and candidate feedback from last year, the GCC VCF planning committee introduced a number of initiatives, including:.

• Website sponsorship program: Sponsors registered at a higher price to have their logos displayed on the CareerEco and GCC websites. This allowed the committee to offer a reduced registration rate for nonprofit and government organizations, contributing to the diversity of organizations represented at the VCF.
• Improved student preparation: The planning committee created a list of FAQs that were featured on the main CareerEco site, a prerecorded webinar about preparing for the fair that was watched 1165 times, and a Virtual Career Booth staffed by GCC members at which candidates could ask questions about how to engage with employers.

 
We received positive feedback from both organization representatives and jobseekers. Organization representatives appreciated that the virtual fair allowed them to “talk to a lot of candidates from all over the country,” supplementing their on-campus recruiting while also saving money. Another recruiter enthusiastically wrote, “I LOVE IT!!! Really and truly.”  Of the organization representatives who responded to the CareerEco survey, 86% said they would participate in a future virtual fair. Jobseekers, too, expressed appreciation of the online forum, which provided a “quick way to get in contact with recruiters” and also created a “fun experience with less pressure and surprisingly, less awkwardness than a real-life career fair.” Jobseekers also noted that it was “informative to see other student’s [sic] questions and the resulting answers” in the employer chat rooms. Seventy-one percent of the jobseeker survey respondents said they would participate in a future virtual career fair.
 
The success of this year’s PhD & Master’s Virtual Career Fair is due in large part to the participation of the 42 GCC member schools, whose sharing of employer contact information, efforts recruiting employers and sponsors, and promotion of the VCF to students, postdocs, and alumni led to the excellent organization and jobseeker turnout. As the committee plans for next year, we will continue to strategize about ways to increase and diversify the opportunities presented by employers and to prepare students, postdocs, and alumni to engage meaningfully with organization representatives.

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Brown University hosts GCC East Coast meeting

December 21, 2015, by Thi Nguyen, Program Director, Career Development, Office of Career and Professional Development, UC San Francisco

Members from the Graduate Careers Consortium (GCC) Eastern Region gathered in Providence, Rhode Island on Friday, December 10, 2015 to share progress and innovations as well as troubleshoot challenges such as best practices for new offices and “offices of one”. Twenty-six institutions were represented, and this year we welcomed quite a few new members to our East Coast GCC meeting. As host and planning chair, Bev Ehrich shared, “The Planning Committee worked hard to design a program that would be helpful for our newest members (many at their first GCC meeting) and a comfortable space for sharing ideas, questions and concerns.”
 
Unique this year were small group breakout sessions to discuss case studies of advising graduate students and postdocs considering their socioeconomic status or whether they may be first generation, masters level, transgender, or a veteran.
 
During the Show and Tell session, each institution shared updates of an innovative program or a challenge to troubleshoot collectively. Themes this year included reaching out to first generation students and postdocs, teaching communication skills and business basics, and addressing attrition in seminar attendance. Bev shared that the session was a success because “we are an open and direct group - comfortable asking for feedback and suggestions to constantly improve our programs and counseling skills.”
 
Dr. Carie Cardomone, Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Wheelock College and former Associate Director, Brown Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, was an invited speaker who shared benefits and tools for creating an online profile in a presentation titled Creating an Online Presence for the Academic Job Search. She emphasized the need for academics to follow norms for their respective fields. She presented on the importance of creating a profile that introduces the academic as an individual first and foremost, and also highlights their research and publications and teaching experience. Her presentation was also geared towards professionals at any stage from graduate student to faculty member.
 
Professionals in the group come from varied educational and occupational backgrounds bringing a rich perspective to the discussions. GCC members look forward to gathering again at the next national meeting in Berkeley, CA in June 2016.

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Graduate Career Consortium announces new Board of Directors

June 15, 2015, by Kim Petrie, BRET Director of Career Development, Biomedical Research Education and Training, Vanderbilt School of Medicine

The Graduate Career Consortium announced today the Board of Directors who will lead the organization in 2015-16, following elections held this spring. The new officers will be introduced next week during the upcoming 27th Annual Meeting of the GCC, and their terms will begin August 1.  The GCC supports the provision of career and professional development for doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars.
 
The 2015-16 GCC Officers are: President, Alexis Thompson (Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Development and Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); President-Elect, Amy Pszczolkowski (Associate Director of the Office of Career Services at Princeton University); Secretary, Jake Livengood (Assistant Director for Graduate Student Career Services at MIT); and Treasurer, Michael Matrone (Postdoctoral Affairs Officer at Oregon Health & Science University). The current GCC President, Christine Kelly (Director for Career Development at Claremont Graduate University) will assume the office of GCC Past President.

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Graduate Career Consortium hosts 27th annual meeting in New York City, New York

June 11, 2015 by Kerry Landers, Darthmouth College & Jenny Furlong, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Career counselors focusing on doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars gather in New York City at three university campuses in mid-June for the annual meeting of the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC). The GCC is a national organization drawing its members from research universities.The conference will include a keynote speech by Christine O’Connell, Ph.D., from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook and workshop sessions on what employers look for, social media and careers, and using myIDP in career counseling. Throughout the conference, GCC members will discuss topical issues in the area of professional development and training.
 
A traditional highlight of the GCC meeting is sharing benchmarks for successful career programs and counseling. This year the GCC highlights “Book Resource Showcase with Authors” drawing from the expertise of current PhD-career-related book authors including Kaaren Janssen, Julie Vick, Jennifer Furlong, and Rosanne Lurie.   The conference will also feature representatives from the American Historical Association who will speak about the Career Diversity for Historians Initiative, which is co-sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. Faculty and staff members from Columbia University, UCLA, University of Chicago, and University of New Mexico will be there to discuss how this initiative is being implemented on their campuses. 
 
In response to the growth of the organization, the GCC has developed a pre-conference workshop for new members to quickly learn the ropes. Sessions for new counselors will cover career development theory and advising fundamentals, resources for career exploration, curriculum vitae and resume writing, and provide opportunities to network with seasoned career counselors.
 
“Over the last year the GCC saw tremendous growth in our membership as our public profile has grown and as more universities have added positions for career and professional development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.  The 2015 GCC conference will be the largest in our history with 140 attendees.  During the coming year we will build partnerships with other professional associations, like Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) who have reached out to us for our expertise” said Christine Kelly, Director, Career Development Claremont Graduate University and president of the GCC. “It’s an exciting time for the GCC and an opportunity for us to make a larger impact in the field.”

The conference is being hosted by Columbia University, Dartmouth College, The Graduate Center, CUNY, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York Academy of Sciences, New York University, Princeton University, Stony Brook University, University of Connecticut, and the University of Virginia. This year's conference sponsors include The Versatile PhD and Elsevier. Those interested in finding out more about the conference can download the app from Whova.

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The Graduate Career Consortium announces the success of the 3rd annual Virtual PhD & Master’s Career Fair

Largest Gathering of East Coast GCC Professionals in Organization’s History

January 15, 2015 by Thi Nguyen, UCSF and Jake Livengood, MIT

Members from the Graduate Careers Consortium (GCC) Eastern Region gathered in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday, January 9, 2015 to share best practices. MIT staff hosted the meeting at the Sloan School of Management, which offered a beautiful view of the Charles River. “As the GCC grows, regional meetings provide a unique opportunity to get together and learn from one another in a cozier environment,” commented Jake Livengood, Assistant Director of Graduate Student Career Services at MIT Global Education & Career Development, and meeting organizer. Twenty institutions were represented by 30 professionals, and comprised a blend of new members and professionals who have long been involved in the GCC.
 
MIT’s Executive Dean for Global Education and Career Development, Melanie Parker, was a featured speaker. Parker shared details about the breadth of career and professional development programs MIT offers doctoral candidates, including specific programs tailored for those seeking global opportunities. Parker also highlighted MIT’s emphasis on professional development, which is an area of interest nationwide.
 
Deborah Liverman, Director of MIT Career Services delivered a presentation titled “Career Development among Engineering and Computer Science Doctoral Students: How Students Make Career Related Decisions in Graduate School”. Liverman’s research explores how graduate student’s engagement with faculty, involvement in internships and leadership in student organizations impacts their career goals.
 
Each institution shared updates about current campus practices, which ranged from innovative programs and events to evolving office structure and staffing. Integration and customization of services and resources for the graduate student population was addressed by centers who primarily served only undergraduates in the past. Programming topics included implementation of individual development plans (IDPs), and hosting networking events in smaller settings that are tailored to graduate students non-academic interests. Some institutions shared best practices including initiating meetings with faculty and department staff to support and enhance existing efforts, as well as partnering with student clubs and organizations to engage the graduate community. Another focus was professional development for specific populations including negotiation and leadership classes for women, and helping international students tailor resumes. The effective involvement of alumni networks for job shadowing and to give mock interviews was also shared.
 
Professionals in the group come from varied educational and occupational backgrounds bringing a rich perspective to the discussions. GCC members look forward to gathering again at the next national meeting in NYC in June 2015.

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Graduate Career Consortium to Launch New Column in Inside Higher Ed: Carpe Careers

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014 3:00 PM

The GCC is launching a new column in Insider Higher Ed on Monday, September 22, 2014 called Carpe Careers.  Through these bi-weekly columns we will provide career and professional development information that is useful to both faculty and graduate students.  We want to create a dialogue and bring issues surrounding career development out into the open.  Our topics will cover both academic and non-academic issues since we all help students prepare for careers in all areas. We may also discuss issues related to being a graduate student.  Some students enter PhD programs unfamiliar with the ambiguity inherent in the process and they often feel like they are the only one experiencing confusion and frustration with the lack of clarity.
 
We hope to normalize the experiences graduate students have so they can feel supported. We also want to maintain a positive tone.  Students often come to us dejected after reading blogs, articles and wikis that have a tendency to highlight the negative over the positive.   And finally, we may respond to other issues that arise that overlap with our areas of expertise.
If you are interested in being part of the GCC writing group, please contact Joseph Barber, barberjo@upenn.edu, and he will introduce you to the GCC writing group.

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Graduate Career Consortium hosts 26th annual meeting in San Diego, CA

JUNE 10, 2014 7:24 PM / LEAVE A COMMENT

Career counselors focusing on doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars gather in La Jolla in mid-June for the annual meeting of the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC).  With a keynote speech by Dr. Sally Rockey, Deputy Director for Extramural Research for the National Institutes of Health and workshop sessions on job search issues for international students, careers in big data, and student development theory, GCC members will discuss topical issues in the area of professional development and training.

Dr. Rockey addresses GCC members on Thursday, June 19 at 9:15 a.m. in Scripps Research Institute’s Keck Auditorium in the Beckman Center for Chemical Sciences. She will also participate in a discussion focusing on institutional change with Stewart Donaldson, dean of Claremont Graduate University (CGU’s) School of Social Science, Policy, and Evaluation (SSSPE) and president-elect of the American Evaluation Association (AEA).

A traditional highlight of the GCC meeting is sharing benchmarks for successful career programs and counseling. Michael Matrone, Career and Postdoctoral Services Program Coordinator, The Scripps Research Institute, will give his insight into “Best Practices for New PhD Career Counselors.” Other topics include: alumni collaborations, faculty engagement, and individual development plans. The GCC is a national organization drawing its members from research universities.

Now in its 26th year, GCC members will address a newly developed organizational structure.  “We are delighted at this meeting to announce that the GCC has been incorporated. It represents a huge step forward for the organization as it continues to grow,” said Victoria Blodgett, Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services (Yale University) and president of the GCC.  “This means more universities are recognizing the need to provide career counseling for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.”

The conference is being hosted by University of California Irvine Career Center, University of California Irvine Graduate Division, University of California San Diego Career Center, University of San Diego Office of Research Affairs, and The Scripps Research Institute Graduate Program and Vitae, a service of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Those interested in finding out more about the conference can download the app from Whova.

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The Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) announces the success of the 2nd Annual Virtual PhD & Master’s Career Fair

APRIL 1, 2014 8:50 PM

The Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) is pleased to announce the success of the 2nd Annual Virtual PhD & Master’s Career Fair, held on February 19, 2014. Thirty-three registered employers and 3,748 students and alumni participated in the event, which earned $3,550 in revenue from registration fees and sponsorships. Proceeds from the event will be used to incorporate the GCC as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code and support future endeavors by the consortium of over 200 individual members.

The Virtual Career Fair was held in partnership with CareerEco, a virtual recruiting platform and community that uses technology to enable meaningful interactions between employers and job seekers. Employers from 33 organizations from across the country participated in the fair, representing industries including engineering, healthcare, government, communications, academia, finance, and more.

Thirty universities were represented by the 3,748 graduate students and alumni who attended the Virtual Career Fair. Columbia University had the highest number of student or alumni registrants at 301, followed by North Carolina State University with 299.

In addition to the Virtual Career Fair, the GCC hosts an annual two-and-a-half day meeting at a member institution and supports a listserv, newsletter, and other joint ventures to provide members support for the career and professional development initiatives for the doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars they serve.

For more information contact the Graduate Career Consortium at info@gradcareerconsortium.org.

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Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) Announces their First Executive Board of Officers

JANUARY 13, 2014 6:34 PM

The Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) announced today the election of their first executive board of officers for the organization which adopted their bylaws at the annual meeting held in Chicago, IL in June 2013. The GCC supports the provision of career and professional development for doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars as U.S. institutions of higher education classified as research university/very high or high through the Carnegie Classifications as well as Canadian U15 institutions, U.S. and Canadian medical schools, and research institutes, government or non-profit organizations that engage in or support the research endeavor.

The four new executive officers of the GCC are: President, Victoria Blodgett of Yale University; President-Elect,  Christine Kelly of UC Irvine; Treasurer, Michael Matrone of The Scripps Research Institute – Scripps Florida; and Secretary, Amy Pszczolkowski of Princeton University.  Their term of service will begin immediately.

The 2014 annual meeting of the GCC will be held in San Diego, CA, June 18-20, 2014. Hosted by the UCSD Career Services Center and Office of Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholar Affairs, the UCI Career Center, and The Scripps Research Institute Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, the 26th annual meeting of the GCC will include sharing best practices and continued discussion of career opportunities and professional development for doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars. Visit the website for updated information on the conference http://gradcareerconsortium.org/

Members of GCC represent at national meetings of organizations such as the Council of Graduate Schools, National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers.  They are recognized widely as contributors to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Inside Higher Ed, Public Radio and other national news outlets, and speak at many national and international conferences (NIH, GCS, NYAS, etc…) as experts in the field of Graduate Career Services.

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