Conferences are one of the most important ways to make human connections within our fields. But getting the most out of a conference requires us to put ourselves out there in a way that can feel awkward, intimidating, and downright uncomfortable. For introverts and extroverts alike, having a conference strategy can greatly improve one’s chances...

Are you excited about what you learned during the Career Pathways Week and want to explore different career paths? Then you're in luck! We invited Yige Li, who started her own business as an international graduate student at UCR, to share her insights, experience, and advice on being a student entrepreneur. [ Image Description: Yige...

After Grad: Academic Pathways Week came and went like a high-speed train, but the lessons it imparted will last forever. Join me as I give a short summary of what I and other graduate students learned from this week-long series of panels, presentations, and workshops designed to support graduate students and postdocs who are taking...

COVID has spread and cause lots of tragedy in the US and around the world for almost a year. While the situation is difficult for everyone, things are particularly serious for international students who are studying abroad and far away from their families. The pressure not only coming from the living landscape but also from...

In this time where we are all working from home, being mentally and physically present with yourself is important. It is also crucial to recognize when zoom fatigue hits. I highly suggest reading my colleague’s piece on boundary-making for her advice on self-care, which touches on these very topics. What I want to add to...

Are you interested in pursuing a career outside of traditional academia? Do you ever wonder what kinds of opportunities there are outside of the confines of the campus? Do you want to understand more clearly what “transferable skills” you have attained by earning your degree? Then After Grad: Career Pathways Week is for you! CPW...

"Have babies in graduate school," a female professor suggested to me at a department seminar reception during my time in graduate school. She advised that graduate school is the best time for students pursuing an academic career to have their babies. A survey conducted by Harvard University shows more than one-in-twenty graduate students are also...

Why are boundaries important for graduate students? How is boundary-making a form of self-care? And, along these lines, what does it mean to be strategic? Before diving into these questions, I offer an anecdote about how I came to value the importance of boundaries. First-Year Lessons Coming into the Critical Dance Studies Ph.D. program, fresh...

Education has long been considered of paramount importance when it comes to achieving social justice. While modern-day learning institutions have increasingly supported social justice by empowering students and actively engaging with discourses surrounding issues of systemic injustice, the relationship between education and social justice has been acknowledged since ancient times, tracing its origin in the...

Trauma is any harmful life experience leaving long-lasting effects on our physical, emotional, and social needs. Research indicates an alarming number of college students have experienced trauma in their lives. The learning process in traumatized students is significantly impaired since they spend most of their time and energy processing their trauma. Therefore, they do not...

We have all had the experience of trying to finish one task while having so many more tasks that need to be completed. We are so distracted by everything around us that it causes us to feel overwhelmed and even more stressed. Recently I watched a Ted Talk by Andy Puddicombe on the idea of...

When I was younger my mum and I loved to watch old movies together. One of our favorites was The Sound of Music. If you’re not familiar, The Sound of Music is a Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical in which a free-spirited novitiate named Maria is asked to serve as a governess for a wealthy...

Fall of 2020 proved to be a big challenge for the entire graduate student body. Hours upon hours of screen time through Zoom or other platforms gave rise to a feeling of exhaustion and isolation. But fear not, for the Graduate Student Resource Center (GSRC) is continuing our regular wellness programming in an online world...

GradSuccess held its annual professional development event focused on the academic job market in Week 7 of the Fall 2020 term. Given the scheduling challenges of the pandemic and the universal onset of Zoom fatigue, we chose this year to spread out the panels, workshops, clinics, and keynotes over a full week instead of having...

We’ve all had the experience where, excited by the prospect of gaining new information and expanding our minds on a topic of interest, we attended a lecture, a workshop, or a discussion group and immediately found ourselves lost. You probably double-checked the program description and—yep, right there in the description it says “an introduction” or...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created an enormous amount of adversity for people all over the globe. Humans, especially when experiencing stress and hardship, do a lot better with the plan, structure, and explicit expectations. But any “normal” pattern has been turned entirely upside down for us graduate teaching assistants, and our students. We have...

Do you want a career in academia? Has the story of doom and gloom in the academic job market gotten you down? Do you just want to know what opportunities are out there? T hen Academic Pathways Week on Nov 16-20 is for you! Academic Pathways Week is organized by GradSuccess as the Fall quarter’s...

The ability to find new research topics is an essential skill that should be obtained before you achieve your doctoral degree. It is, however, universally acknowledged that finding a new topic for your research is not easy. Rarely, professors may ask whether you are interested in some specific topics. If yes, you may be assigned...

Grad school can give you freedom you didn’t have in undergrad: freedom to pick up new skills on your own timeline, freedom to explore your interests more deeply, freedom to design and carry out your own research. Faculty advisors and mentors provide varying degrees of oversight, but in general, it’s up to you to set...

Here at the UCR Library, we include digital humanities under a larger umbrella of digital scholarship: using digital tools or methods for your research, teaching, or other scholarly activities. UCR Library is currently working to scale up support for digital scholarship for students and faculty across all colleges and schools at UCR. We’d like to...