As part of the Connected Academics initiative, partner institutions meet annually with MLA to engage with outside experts and thought leaders, assess needs, test models, and develop concrete plans to effect tangible, systemic change in doctoral education. The 2016 Summer Institute, hosted by UCHRI, took place on September 14-16, 2016 at the University of California, Irvine. The two-day institute included sessions developed and led by the three partners and a day dedicated to the collaborative development of a faculty/staff toolkit for supporting doctoral students.
If you’re at all familiar with the dialogue surrounding graduate student career preparation, you’ve almost certainly heard the term “empowerment.” But what does this term even mean to faculty, staff, deans, and—most importantly—graduate students? Further, how do we as advocates and thought leaders promote empowerment?
Here at HumWork, we decided to do something radical: we asked. In the video below, you’ll hear from stakeholders on what graduate student empowerment means to them, particularly with regard to professionalization. This dialogue has implications for how we think of career preparation for PhD students and the role of graduate students within an ever-changing university structure.
