GCC Southcentral Regional Meeting
The Southcentral regional meeting of the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) was held in in New Orleans on January 12, 2018, at the Tulane University. The meeting was hosted by Briana Mohan, Senior Academic and Career Adviser in the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Tulane University.The meeting began with warm Louisiana welcome at a reception at Basin Seafood. Attendees of this regional will be delighted to share with you restaurant recommendations, as we had a great time trying New Orleans’s finest. This reception was a wonderful opportunity to catch-up with old friends and colleagues and meet new members and their families.
The official meeting began on Friday morning with a welcome from Briana and Dr. Michael Cunningham, Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research at Tulane. Regional meetings are a prime time to learn about other institutions and attendees enjoyed learning about Tulane and its rich history. Another hallmark of GCC regional meeting are “show and tell” where we share information and ideas with colleagues, but also received feedback on future projects. One project highlighted was Know Path (formerly Pro Path) at UT Southwestern. Know Path encourages trainees to explore both academic and non-academic careers through self-paced online curriculum supplemented by a few in-person workshops, covering self-assessment, career exploration, work readiness, job search skills, and concludes with a case study. The program has been run twice as a pilot and has enabled development of a platform that can be used at other intuitions to supplement the work of career and professional development offices.
Regional meets were also a time for members to gain further experience in using ImaginePhD—a free, online career exploration and planning tool for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Attendees were able to learn about the ImaginePhD uses, and discuss how to better implement the tool on our campuses. Nicole Reiz, part of the ImangePhD team from the University of Kansas, joined remotely to facilitate discussion and answer questions.
Lastly, attendees participated in a book presentation and exchange. A few books to add to your reading list:
- The Hidden Ivies: While this is typically used for high school students looking to apply to Ivy League schools, the information about the institutions can be very helpful for a faculty job search.
- Case Interview Secrets: Have trainees interested in a career in consulting? This book is designed to help prepare for the case study part of the interview.
- The Graduate School Mess: Graduate education has been called broken, fragmented, in disarray. We are keenly aware of its shortcomings, but this read, targeted at graduate faculty, gives practical advice to creating a student-centered training experience.
The Graduate Career Consortium is grateful to Briana and Tulane for hosting our members for this regional event. More information about this regional meeting (including a list of recommended restaurants) can be found in the resource repository.
Jami Armbrester
Director of Career Development
The University of Alabama at Birmingham