Happy Tuesday, Grad Pod listeners! Welcome back to another episode of Grad Pod. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Erin Brown, the Director of the Professional Development Office at VCU Graduate School. Dr. Brown will share her expertise on how graduate students can build the skills, networks, and mindsets needed for long-term success—both during and beyond graduate school. From mentoring and networking to the many professional development resources available at VCU, we’ll dive deep into how to maximize your graduate experience and plan for your future career.
HAYA: Are you feeling unsure about how you're gonna to turn your academic work into a meaningful career? Well, you're not alone. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day research and classes in grad school, but how do you actually build the skills that will set you up for long-term success?
Professional development in grad school isn't just about finishing your thesis, or assignments, or even defending your dissertation. It's also about building the skills, networks, and mindsets that will serve you long after you leave the classroom and even beyond graduation.
Lucky for us here at the VCU Graduate School, we have our very own professional development office that provides a full range of training opportunities, research and grant-related workshops, well-being and career support, as well as other events curated to empower and support all graduate students as they pursue their academic and professional goals.
HAYA: Welcome to the grad pod. My name is Haya Hamid, and I am the recruitment and outreach specialist at the graduate school. In the spirit of this important discussion, we are joined by someone who is very passionate, resourceful, and knowledgeable about our topic today, Dr. Erin Brown, the Director of the Professional Development Office at the Graduate School.
Dr. Brown is a VCU alum, and in her role, she's responsible for overseeing professional development for graduate students. This includes managing the Preparing Future Faculty Program, or PFF, relaunching the Graduate School Mentoring Program, as well as collaborating with partner on and off campus to bring high quality professional development programming to students.
She also serves as the faculty advisor for the Graduate Student Association or GSA, an organization that advocates for graduate students while providing opportunities for them to learn, connect, and network with one another.
Welcome to the GradPod, Dr. Brown.
DR. BROWN: Thank you for having me, Haya. I'm excited to share more about professional development at VCU.
HAYA: Yes, so can you tell us a little bit about why professional development is so important for graduate students beyond just completing their thesis or dissertation?
DR. BROWN: Of course, Haya. That is a wonderful question! Professional development is really important for graduate students.
Being in a graduate program is so much more than completing a thesis or a dissertation.
It's about skill development and being able to learn professional skills that are going to help you in your career.
That includes understanding things about mentoring, knowing how to leverage your network, understanding how to be a professional, learning how you're going to be able to work with others in your profession, and really understanding going to put those skills in practice.
And, so we want students to understand how they're going to actually be able to be a professional in their career and really be able to grow as a professional. So, we know that, you know, writing a thesis or dissertation is the culmination of those skills, but really we want students to know that it's much more than writing a huge paper.
That's a big part of it, but we want them to know it's, it's much more than that.
HAYA: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you're also, you know, defying a lot of myths about this is the end all be all. But of course you have to, you know once you get out of your field, you're going to be working with an interdisciplinary team and with, you know, managing multiple personalities.
And so I think our professional development programming here really prepares you for that. Can you give us an overview of the programs and services provided by the professional development office here at VCU that, you know, really prepares us for the things that we just talked about? And, how do these resources support graduate students long term?
DR. BROWN: Absolutely. Our goal is to help students understand how they can really maximize their degree, and we start with orientation. At orientation, we really give them an overview of all the resources that they have here at VCU, and I actually like to start with giving them an overview of Richmond. Most of our students that come here as graduate students are not from the Richmond area, and I like them to see Richmond as their classroom. I want them to get acclimated to the city. I actually do an overview of Richmond and call it a Richmond series, get them out into the city learning about it. Um, we go to a few, places in the city like, uh, the squirrels game. They meet some historians in the city and learn about it.
And, then we do, um, a series of workshops. I do workshops throughout the year. Every Wednesday I do a workshop, starting with them learning about the hidden curriculum. A lot of our students are first generation graduate students. You usually hear about first generation as undergraduate, but as more students go to college as undergraduate students, now they are becoming graduate students. And, so everything is new to them. And so I want them to be successful as graduate students.
And, so we talk about things like imposter syndrome, and how do you become a successful graduate student? I also bring resources to them like the Writing Center, the National Scholarship Office, the Career Center, and partner with those services so that they're able to know how to access those resources.
I partner with the library and we do write ins sessions so that they're able to leverage those things, so that when they get to their thesis or dissertation, they're not so scared about writing those 30 page papers because we've been working on those skills from day one when you are in your first couple of weeks as a graduate student.
And so it doesn't feel so overwhelming. We also have a preparing future faculty series for our students who are interested in life as a faculty member, so that they're thinking about those things early on and that they're able to do those things successfully.
I also have opportunities for them to think about research. We have a graduate research symposium. We have a three minute thesis competition. I serve as the faculty advisor for our graduate student association, and then I also have students think about how they can prepare our next generation of graduate students and they can serve as mentors for our undergraduate students who are thinking about graduate school through our graduate student mentoring program.
So, lots of opportunities for our students to really think about what it means to be successful as graduate students and ways they can tap into all of these opportunities for professional development and what we really like to do with the graduate school is make all of these things super, super easy.
We have a wonderful, weekly newsletter that you actually send out that students are not able to ignore every single week they get it so that it's right at their fingertips and they can click on it, sign up for things very, very easily and find out about them.
HAYA: Awesome. And yes. That is where you'll find all of our professional development events for the upcoming week or, you know, events that are on the horizon.
So definitely keep an eye out for that. But with all of those, you know, resources and events being mentioned, we still find that many graduate students are feeling stuck or a little unsure about how to turn their academic work into a meaningful career, specifically. So what advice would you give to students who are feeling stuck about their future career path and, you know, even with exploring all of these options, you know, it can still be a little a little stressful and hard to navigate. So, what is your advice to those graduate students?
DR. BROWN: I always tell students that it is completely normal to feel a little uncertain about your future. I think that, you know, when you especially are early in your career and you are feeling like I don't know what I want to do for the next 30 or 40 years.
It's a difficult decision to figure that out. I know when we think about our parents generation, I know, you know, my parents, they had careers where they did the same thing for 45 years. And we are just different now and you don't do the same thing and retire from the same job that you did for 40 years.
You actually were a more nimble generation and you actually can completely change your career and do very different things. And I think that it is amazing. And so I tell students to, you know, find things that you're passionate about, seek out good mentors. plan and set goals. And, I always talk about those smart goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time down.
And, when you are able to do some research, be patient with yourself, but really, really plan and really have a good team of mentors that you're able to talk to, but don't. stay in that stuck space. Know that it's normal, but also, you know, really, really look to others and get good advice around you of people who have some goals in some direction and are able to give you some good advice so that you can start moving in the right direction.
But, know that what you're feeling is absolutely normal. And you shouldn't feel like what you are feeling is something that is abnormal in any way.
HAYA: Yes, absolutely. And an unconventional path is, you know, still could be a successful path. But, you know, living in this ever changing and dynamic world, like you just mentioned, what are some key skills that you believe every graduate student should be building while they're in their program?And, you know, it could be specific, it could be general, but what are your thoughts?
DR. BROWN: Absolutely. I feel the ability to network.
DR. BROWN: collaboration is huge, intercultural communication. We live in a world that is global. So I, I know that more and more we are looking for people who are able to communicate with, um, people who are diverse.
And are able to really be able to work with teams is important. I think people who, you know, have language skills, I know, I wish I would have listened much more in Spanish class. So I always talk to our students who are bilingual and I say that skill is amazing. So I think people who are able to connect with others who have differences of opinion and who can bring people together is so important.
All of those skills are coming in handy so much more, I think. And so that's why I tell people the ability to work in teams, that collaboration. It's huge. And I know, you know, I've had opportunities to teach in almost all of the roles that I've had. And students hate, hate, hate group projects. They really do.
I mean, anytime you you give a group project, um, students, you just hear the groans. But that is the future. Project based learning, teamwork, that's what's happening, and even more and more, we are not working in offices, you know, we are working in hybrid spaces, we are working in teams where, you know, your team is a person who works in a different state, in some cases in a different country, and you are collaborating in that way, and so it's important that we're able to communicate in ways and work, collaboratively, successfully with people who are not in the same space with us.
So definitely those are the important skills for us to have now.
HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. And, it's really good advice. Changing gears, I wanted to shine light on everything you are doing for prospective graduate students. The Graduate Mentoring Program is back and they hit the ground running this semester.
Can you share a little bit more about how that program works, how it can help students develop meaningful connections that support their professional and academic growth, and you know, who's involved in this program?
DR. BROWN: I am so excited about the Graduate Mentoring Program. We are working with really promising undergraduate students who are interested in going to graduate school.
The majority of them are first generation college students. They are the first in their family to go to college. These are students who are excited about being in college. They are not necessarily students who are, you know, A+ students. They have promise, and they don't exactly know what they want to go to graduate school for, but they are interested in understanding how can they be more successful now as undergraduate students.
And, have what it takes to be successful in graduate school. And so I have, um, graduate students now who are successful graduate students. They have at least one year under their belt in graduate school who are mentoring these students. And the, undergraduate students have an idea of what they may want to study in graduate school.
So we've kind of partnered them with students who are in graduate, programs that are kind of in the same realm of what they're interested in study, studying, and they're just, you know, mentoring them, kind of telling them what the application process is like, connecting with them a couple times a month, and just, exposing them to labs and things you have to do for graduate school.
We actually have a meeting today, and we're going to talk about things that you have to do to apply to graduate school. You know, what your transcript needs to look like, what the essays are like, just really getting them exposure to that process and what it's like to be a graduate student, what you have to kind of prepare in your schedule because you have so much more independence as a graduate student, what your schedule looks like.
So it's really interesting to kind of see these students grow and kind of be prepared for what that looks like. And most of my mentors are actually first generation graduate students and they're really sharing what they wish they would have known. Going into graduate school. So it's kind of that reaching back and, you know, helping this next generation of graduate students be successful.
So it's really nice to see that kind of, you know, generational support coming up. So I'm excited. As we relaunch this program to see how we're going to get this next generation of graduate students on board.
HAYA: Yeah, absolutely. And it takes a special graduate student to, you know, take a mentor under their wing, show them the way and guide them through this process because for many of us, students of color, this might be our first time navigating this.
And so, you know, that's a wonderful experience. And for the mentees themselves, you know, being exposed to the graduate world and you know, having these opportunities, being extended to them and getting a taste of the graduate life makes you wonder what more is there and makes you more inquisitive.
For incoming graduate students who are just starting out, what is one piece of advice that you would give them when it comes to taking advantage of professional development opportunities early in their graduate career and you know, maybe even for undergrads in their undergrad careers, so that they can continue this habit of seeking, um, professional development opportunities.
DR. BROWN: I would say get a mentor and actually get several mentors. Usually, it's not going to be one person who can kind of fulfill all the things that you need. You actually want a few people who you can kind of lean on to kind of help you get to that next level.
So, you know, there's going to be one person who maybe you look up to who's maybe doing the work that you see yourself doing in the future. There's one person who you can lean on for support. There's one person who gives you advice. There's going to be a person who you vent to, you know, there's one person who's going to be your advocate or your supporter.
You know, so who's kind of your, your village, right? You want to network with as many people as possible, including your peers like your cohort, because as you think about it as a graduate student, the people who are in the program with you, they are going to be the leaders of the future. Those are the people that you want to add on LinkedIn.
You want to stay in touch with them. You know, those are the people who in 10, 15 years. are going to be leading experts in whatever field or discipline that you are in. So, stay connected to those people and then, you know, just find your people, you know, just find those people who are going to lift you up and, you know, keep you motivated and just help you get through this stage because graduate school is difficult.
If it was easy, everybody would do it. So, you know, just make sure that you find that balance and, you know, find that outlet. School is important, so stay focused, but also, you know, find a nice balance of work hard, play hard! Study, of course, but also don't make it. your whole life and your whole identity.
You want to also find time for yourself and the things that are also important for you outside of graduate school so that you can have a nice balance.
HAYA: Last but not least, Dr. Brown, where can we find you? How can students connect with you?
DR. BROWN: You are always welcome to email our professional development email.
It is profdev at vcu. edu, PROF DEV at vcu. edu. We are always checking that, and you can ask any questions that you have, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
HAYA: And as far as events, you will find them in our weekly announcements that go out every Wednesday at 2 p. m. And you can also read more about professional development highlights in the news story section of the Graduate School website.
That's graduate.vcu,edu.
HAYA: Thank you for your time, Dr. Brown.
As we've discussed today, professional development is a crucial part of the graduate school journey, far beyond just coursework and research. Building skills, expanding networks, and engaging in career preparation are all key steps in setting yourself up for long term success.
Thank you, Dr. Brown, for sharing your insights and expertise with us today. And thank you to our listeners for tuning into the GradPod. Be sure to stay connected for more conversations that inspire and support your graduate journey. Until next time.
CREDITS: Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed Performed and recorded by Austin Sellick and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Letao, assistant professor of composition and sound design at VCU School of the Arts.
Do you have a question for us? Email us at gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode.
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