How to Reach Your Goals During the Spring Semester

As we face another semester in a pandemic, the challenges may be daunting, but your research and scholarship are more important to our community and the world than ever. 

The Graduate Center has resources to help you meet your academic goals, whether they be improving your writing, finding funding, learning new teaching strategies, or taking care of your mental health. 

Find grants, fellowships, and other forms of funding. Sign up for a March 4 workshop where librarians will introduce three databases “that provide inroads to identifying funding sources for students, faculty, and for organizations.”

Book a remote consultation with the Writing Center. Students can register for 45-minute sessions with consultants from the Writing Center to go over big issues, such as brainstorming and organization, to small ones, such as grammar and clarity. 

Prepare for teaching this semester. Register for the Teaching and Learning Center’s  Mid-Winter Institute on January 25–26 to collectively think about approaches to teach at CUNY in the spring 2022 semester. 

Take care of your mental health. Book a session with a Wellness Center counselor or join a group therapy or academic support group.  

Launch your job search. Join a webinar on February 16 hosted by the Office of Career Planning and Professional Development to learn tips for networking, tapping into the hidden job market, and increasing your chances of landing an interview. 

Identify and communicate your transferable skills. “Your graduate education gives you numerous skills that are attractive in non-academic jobs,” writes the Office of Career Planning and Professional Development in a useful blog post. “Some you may not even realize you have.”

Communicate your science with the public. Learn how to distill your complex science into compelling talking points for the public in this workshop featuring Emily Laber-Warren from the Newmark School of Journalism.

Use short, shareable videos to share your science. Register for a January 28 workshop to create short science videos that convey your research clearly without a lot of effort. 

Overcome pandemic disruptions to your research. Ph.D. candidate Iris Strangmann (Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences) shares how she found an alternative to her planned in-person experiments and offers advice to other doctoral students.

Develop new digital research skills. The Digital Fellows program helps our faculty, students and staff learn new technical skills, which often lead to professional development skills. Graduates of the fellowship share their experiences. 

Persevere even in the face of rejection. Ph.D. candidate and design historian Michelle Millar Fisher (Art History) explains how she and her co-author stuck with their book idea when publishers initially rejected it, and found an innovative way to develop an audience.

Get inspiration for your dissertation. Watch 10 recent graduates share their innovative dissertation research in three-minute presentations as part of the Dissertation Showcase. 

Find a mentor and be a mentor. Award-winning alumna Viveka Erlandsson (Ph.D. ’13, Mathematics) explains the importance of being a role model to women in mathematics – and the impact her Graduate Center mentor has had on her career. 

Transform the Graduate Center and graduate education. How can the school contribute to the future of New York City, especially in the wake of the pandemic? President Robin L. Garrell, Distinguished Professor Cathy Davidson; Professor Ann Kirschner, and Professor Van C. Tran share their visions.

Published by the Office of Communications and Marketing