Freshwater and Marine Sciences Graduate Program Handbook-Professional Development
When you participate in professional development, you build skills needed to succeed academically and thrive in your career. The following are professional development activities that we recommend for your consideration. Required professional development will be detailed in “Degree Requirements” section.
On Campus
The Graduate School develops and curates a wide variety of resources for professional development as well as programming to help you explore careers, prepare for a job search, build your network and learn from alumni, manage projects, communicate about your research, and much more. All of this can be found at: Graduate School’s Professional Development.
Individual Development Plan (IDP)
This tool helps you assess your skills, set goals, and create a plan with recommended activities on campus.
Through clear guidance and helpful resources, you’ll learn how an IDP helps you set goals, stay focused, and make steady progress through graduate school and beyond, using a simple approach: assess, write, discuss, implement, and revise.
The micro-course, Creating your Individual Development Plan, is a great way to start your IDP today.
DiscoverPD
DiscoverPD helps master’s and doctoral students at UW-Madison advance their academic and professional goals with customized recommendations based on a skills self-assessment. The 400+ professional development recommendations available in the DiscoverPD database are available in a range of formats to best meet your diverse needs, including in-person, virtual, asynchronous, and synchronous opportunities. You can also access DiscoverPD through your Graduate Student Portal.
Graduate Career Compass
Utilize advising services through your school, college, or program, if offered. If you need additional support, the Graduate School can help. Through Graduate Career Compass, students in research-based master’s or doctoral programs can explore possibilities, build skills, and take the next step. Schedule up to three 30- to 60-minute sessions per semester, held in person or via Zoom on topics such as:
- Career exploration
- Career materials review/feedback
- Quick career consultation
- Networking/LinkedIn
- Interview and negotiation preparation
- Navigating your current position
Free Career- and Skill-Building Memberships
UW-Madison graduate students and postdocs have access to a variety of free memberships and online tools to build their skills, explore career options, and more. For example:
- Beyond Graduate School is a one-of-a-kind career platform for master’s students to explore career options and learn proven job search strategies. Visit Beyond Graduate School, select University of Wisconsin-Madison, and enter your institutional login information.
- Beyond the Professoriate’s Career Training Platform helps PhD students and postdocs successfully transition into academic or nonacademic careers. Visit Beyond the Professoriate, select University of Wisconsin-Madison, and enter your institutional login information.
- LinkedIn Learning offers a full library of self-study courses available anytime, covering topics such as software, programming, productivity, design, project management, public speaking, and more. Different courses are geared toward all levels of experience from beginner to expert and can be completed at each learner’s own pace.
Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning
Teaching and mentoring related professional development and training is offered by many collaborators across campus, including the Graduate School; the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring; WISCIENCE, and others.
The Delta Program in Research, Teaching, and Learning in the Graduate School engages graduate students and postdocs in professional development in teaching, mentoring, and outreach. Through Delta’s certificate, courses, seminars, internship program, and workshops, participants gain skills in evidence-based teaching and mentoring, necessary to become effective and inclusive researchers, educators, and mentors across the nation and world. Highlights include:
- Research Mentor Learning Communities, based on a nationally-recognized curriculum, give graduate students and postdocs concrete tools to support a successful mentor-mentee relationship.
- The Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, which represents commitment to excellence as an educator and prepares leaders who promote inclusive and effective educational experiences at the college level.
- Impactful Delta courses, including:
- Teaching in Science and Engineering: The College Classroom
- Active Learning Laboratory
- Expeditions in Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning
- Improv to Improve Science Communication and Teaching
Sign up for Delta’s mailing list or read GradConnections Weekly to learn about opportunities as soon as they are announced.
GradConnections
The Graduate School communicates professional development opportunities through an e-newsletter, GradConnections, that all graduate students receive at their wisc.edu email. Graduate students in traditional graduate degree programs receive the newsletter weekly during the academic year and every other week in the summer.
The FMS Graduate Program also recommends the following campus services.
- The Writing Center
- Grants Information Collection
- Software Training for Students (STS)
- Teaching Academy
- Center for the Humanities
- Morgridge Entrepreneurial Bootcamp (MEB)
In Our Program/Department
A goal of the FMS program is to provide students with diverse training that will prepare them for a range of flexible and sustainable careers (e.g., academia, industry, government, science policy and administration, science education and outreach at all levels, etc.). We encourage students to discuss options with their advisory committee to develop in areas most relevant to an individual student’s career goals. Examples of development possibilities include teaching internships, earning a Delta teaching program certificate, earning M.S. degrees in areas that complement a student’s FMS studies (e.g., statistics, computer science). Faculty also offer graduate seminars that highlight themes such as communicating with the media, scientific writing, and application of disciplinary principles to environmental problem solving.
UW-Madison offers a wealth of resources intended to enrich your graduate studies and enhance your professional skills. Starting your very first year on campus, it is expected that you will take full advantage of the career and professional development resources that best fit your needs and support your goals. Since our alumni thrive not only in academia but also in industry, corporate, government, and non-profit arenas, we strive to be in- tune, holistic, and innovative our approach to meeting the diverse professional development needs of our students. By actively participating in these professional development opportunities, you will build the skills needed to succeed academically at UW-Madison and to thrive professionally in your chosen career.
An important part of the professional development for graduate students is participation in professional meetings and conferences. Consult your advisor about the appropriate venues for you to attend. Students can request travel support from their advisor, their advisor’s home department, or the Department of Biology through our John Jefferson Davis travel awards to support travel and meeting costs (detailed in Funding Information and Resources above). Students should also explore travel grant opportunities at conferences to offset registration costs. Students who have reached dissertator status are eligible to apply for the Graduate School Student Research Grants Competition.
Students should work with their department’s financial specialist to register and request reimbursement for conferences.