Happy Tuesday! In this week’s episode, we’re diving into what it really means to grow professionally and how developing your strengths, mindset, and community can shape your journey as a graduate student. We are joined by Hali Massey, the professional development coordinator at the Graduate School!
HAYA: There’s a quiet art to learning how to grow to become a professional person. It’s more than just being suited up, making eye contact and public speaking. It’s also about eloquent choices in communication, having a positive attitude, being open to problem-solving strategies, listening with intent, and delivering results accordingly and much more.
HAYA: Professional development is the process by which people get there through lived experiences. That’s not limited to the scope of their work, but also beyond that. It is a resource that is near and dear to the Graduate School, honestly a topic that we subtly cover in almost every episode as it relates to the graduate experience, so much so that the Graduate School has its own Professional Development Office that offers some of the most sought-out opportunities for our students.
HAYA: Our students are constantly evolving and redefining what professional development means to them in their respective fields, roles, jobs, and areas of interest and expertise. Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid.
HAYA: Today I’m joined by Hali Massey, the Professional Development Coordinator at the VCU Graduate School. Before stepping into this role, Hali worked in adult education where she worked with educators to provide them with professional development opportunities to support their students who were speakers of other languages.
HAYA: Through this role, she was able to work with so many people from different backgrounds to help them find confidence in their voices and purposes in learning. Now at the Graduate School, she applies that same philosophy, helping graduate students not just prepare for careers but connect deeply with their strengths, goals, and values.
HAYA: Her work centers on the belief that growth isn’t linear, it’s personal, reflective, and ever evolving. Hali joined her role not too long ago but has already been making professional strides and working closely with Dr. Erin Brown, the director of our Professional Development Office. Together they have co-hosted many events, workshops, and opportunities for both current graduate students and prospective students.
HAYA: All of this is to give Hali her flowers for the roles she has fulfilled and the experience she brings and continues to bring to the Graduate School. So, Hali, welcome to the Grad Pod.
HALI: Thank you. Very excited to be here.
HAYA: Thank you for being here. All right, so let’s get to it. First and foremost, Hali, professional development can mean so many different things for so many different people depending on the hats they wear and the roles they fulfill. People think of professional development in terms of résumés, job interviews, and public speaking, things that are perceived to be professional. But I want to hear from you personally about how you define professional development beyond those traditional lenses, and tell us a little bit more about your broader vision of how professional development can grow and evolve right here at VCU.
HALI: To start with the first part of the question, what professional development means beyond the scope of what we typically put into a career-services bucket, how can we expand beyond that? As humans, there’s a lot to us outside of our résumé and cover letter and how we interview. We take all of that with us to any experience we have, our prior knowledge, experiences, biases, and perceptions. We take all of that into our education and the workplace.
Professional development supports us as whole humans. It’s not just those specific career aspects but also what we need to be successful in the industries we’re entering. A lot of times we think about soft or transferable skills, communication, networking, things that might not be covered in academic content and aren’t necessarily career services either. Professional development helps us grow the things that are going to be most impactful as we take our next steps in our careers, whether we’re already working or still in academic programs.
HAYA: And just because you mentioned this, what is the difference between career and professional development as it relates to everything you just said?
HALI: Great question. We value our partnership with Career Services at VCU because those are vital resources. But there’s a lot outside résumé building and interview skills that goes into what we take to the workplace. Nowadays, communication, having one-on-one interactions, sending emails, or any form of connecting, isn’t something we always practice while in school because we’re focused on academics. Thinking about communication skills, new technology skills, and any skill not covered in academic curricula but expected in the workplace is where professional development comes in. That’s what differentiates it from Career Services.
HAYA: So they’re definitely not mutually exclusive, but it’s important to define that support and provide specialized help in all these different aspects as students become working adults and transition into the workforce. Hopefully that brings clarity to those of you who didn’t know, like me.
HAYA: That brings me to my next point, which is that our Professional Development Office here at the Graduate School has recently expanded. Even within Career Services, we’ve seen a lot of developments where career-service staff and support members are able to provide a specific group of people the kind of support they need. What kind of opportunities or experiences can graduate students look forward to?
HALI: Something we’re really excited about expanding within our office are different badging opportunities for graduate students. It’s important that our students are able to showcase all the work they’ve done while they’re here at VCU, even things outside their academic programs. When they invest time and energy into professional development, we want them to be able to showcase that to employers. Having a badging system helps communicate everything they’ve been working on while at VCU that isn’t within their degree.
We’re focusing on a few different pillars for professional development. One is Scholarship and Impact, which provides graduate students with additional support in the research process, writing research, but also disseminating it. Finding conferences to present at, opportunities at VCU to share their research in different formats.
We’ve traditionally had the Graduate Research Symposium, a poster-session presentation, and we’re expanding that next semester to include research talks, which give students from humanities and social sciences more opportunities to showcase their work. Often their research is more qualitative and story-based, so a research talk format allows them to better share their work.
We’re also focusing on Career Pathways, which includes the kinds of things that align with Career Services, tailored professional development for graduate experiences, including opportunities for those interested in entering the professoriate.
The third pillar is Wellbeing. Graduate students have full lives inside and outside their academic programs. Partnering with Recreation and Well-Being on mindfulness and self-care, time management, avoiding procrastination, tackling imposter syndrome, all these things affect wellbeing and, in turn, academic and professional life.
So we’re viewing professional development through a holistic lens, these three pillars, each with badges. Our vision going forward revolves around partnerships across VCU and leveraging what’s available for our students, while identifying gaps and bringing in subject-matter experts to fill them.
HAYA: Something that really caught my ear is how the Professional Development Office is working to enhance our Research Symposium and give flowers to our non-STEM, social-sciences, and humanities students whose research may not look like a poster but conveys just as much meaning and insight. I love that you’re finding ways to help students showcase their work in creative, non-traditional ways.
Because one of the strengths you all have been highlighting is interdisciplinarity, drawing from different disciplines and experts so we can solve complex problems through multiple lenses and by everyone having a seat at the table.
HALI: Something I’d add to that is my own vision of professional development. It shouldn’t be an extra thing you have to do, it should align with your academic or professional work, or support an initiative or goal you already have. My goal when developing opportunities isn’t to add to a student’s plate but to support what’s already there and what they need to feel supported with what they currently have going on.
HAYA: I love that. To me it sounds like professional development is almost to graduate students what counseling is to young professionals, taking care of yourself before things get too hard. It’s a form of self-care that helps you manage energy, maintain balance, and separate work from life. Thank you for sharing that.
My next question is more personal. You’ve worked closely with both adult learners and graduate students, including time teaching English to speakers of other languages. How has that experience informed the way you approach helping students develop professionally and personally?
HALI: A big component of teaching English as an additional language is figuring out how to leverage the experiences students bring to the classroom and to their learning journey. I’ve tried to translate that into my professional-development work, starting with what’s going well, what strengths people have, what they feel confident in, and using that as a building block for further growth.
This asset-based approach came directly from my work with learners. Starting from strengths keeps people motivated. Constantly thinking about what we lack can be demotivating. Everyone has strengths, everyone can learn from one another. Professional development also creates space for people to share stories, strategies, wins, and lessons learned.
As much as it’s an individual journey, it’s also community-building. It reinforces what we’re already doing well. Often, what you get from professional development isn’t brand new, it’s reassurance that what you’re doing works.
HAYA: I love the way you said that, because early in my own career I thought professional development was about checking boxes. But I’ve realized it’s also about learning the strengths you bring to a team and how you work best. Everyone’s contributions are different, and that’s valuable.
And before I forget, Rams Connect. You mentioned so many opportunities for students, Exploration Week, the Research Symposium, Three Minute Thesis, and much more. All our professional-development events are on Rams Connect and in the newsletter, so keep an eye out. There’s always something happening.
Last but not least, Hali, graduate students are often balancing research, teaching, work, and life all at once. What’s one small practical step they can take right now to start investing in their professional growth, even with a busy schedule?
HALI: I’m going to bring this back to community. Find a space that gives you not only resources but energy. Every Tuesday we host a virtual Lunch and Learn from 12 to 1 p.m. on various topics. It’s a consistent opportunity to learn something new, talk with other graduate students, and build community.
You might also have another space, maybe a podcast or group, that re-energizes you weekly. The key is to go somewhere consistently that pours back into you. In academia we often pour into others, so making sure you pour back into yourself is vital.
HAYA: Absolutely, 100 percent. And thank you to our Professional Development team for creating those opportunities, from Exploring Richmond to social events that help students find community.
Hali, thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing such thoughtful insights and experiences. Your perspective reminds us that professional development isn’t about fitting into a mold, it’s not one-size-fits-all but a personal story. It’s about recognizing your potential, communicating your story, and moving forward with intention.
To everyone listening, graduate school is not just about the degrees you earn. It’s about the person you’re shaping to become in the process. Keep growing, keep reflecting, and keep building toward your future self.
Thank you so much for joining us on Grad Pod today. Until next time.
CREDITS
Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Alberton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitão, Assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.
Do you have a question for us? Email gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer it on a future episode.
