Sessions For: Rackham Graduate School

Cover letters are an essential part of the job search process. However, crafting them is often very difficult. The University Career Center will host an educational and practical workshop that introduces you to the purpose of the cover letter and how to effectively describe yourself and your experience within a cover letter.

As part of a broader campus-wide strategy of complementary efforts to support and enhance bilateral relationships between the University of Michigan and Minority Serving Institution (MSIs), Rackham Graduate School is offering funding opportunities through the MSI Outreach and Collaboration Grant competition. Please join us to learn more about the funding opportunity.


*Informational session attendance is not required to be considered for the grant but is encouraged.

Minority Serving Institutions have and continue to play an integral role in granting access, building knowledge, and empowering change that impacts both individuals and society. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, whose legacy we commemorate as a critical figure in the advancement of civil rights and social justice, is an alumnus of Morehouse College—an MSI. Implicit in Dr. King’s push for righteousness, peace, and justice was an immense desire to transform how people of a nation and ultimately the world engaged with one another. It is in this spirit that we frame this forum and engagement with Minority Serving Institutions—from transactional to transformational/transformative change. Featured speakers will provide a broad overview of the MSI landscape, share their experiences with developing relationships with MSIs, and share information on how to do an institutional self-assessment before seeking to partner with MSIs. This session will serve as the first in a series of forums that foster discussion on the socio-historical and contemporary state of MSIs, insights from U-M units with relationships with MSIs, and practical information and resources for engaging MSIs.

Spend some time getting a jump start on your dissertation writing. Food and beverages will be provided.

Do you need a Curriculum Vitae (CV), but all you have is a resume? CVs are required to apply for research and academic positions, and very often for fellowships and scholarships. If you've had a resume for a while, but you are now pursuing research and you need to develop a CV, this workshop is for you. If you have a resume, bring a printout to the workshop. Bring a laptop if available.

Learn the ins and outs of filing taxes as a graduate student, especially if you are filing quarterly! The material for this session is aimed at domestic students.

This module is geared towards groups that have more experience in social justice work. Participants are prompted in high levels of thinking on their own identities, communicating across identities, understanding power and oppression, and how they engage with these topics with others who are at differing levels of understanding social justice complexity.

You've probably heard of life hacks that help you use your time more efficiently. Why not think about managing your time in the bigger picture? How are you actually using your time? This workshop is based on the book "168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think" by Laura Vanderkam. As a pre-workshop assignment, you must complete one week of a time-tracking exercise to help you understand how you actually use your time. On March 7, we will send directions for this assignment to those who have registered. During the workshop, we will discuss our results in small groups and strategize ways to fit all the things we would like to into our day.
Registration required by March 6, 2019.

Learn flexible facilitation techniques that maximize inclusion and participation in meetings, classrooms, and community discussions. These structures can help you center participant voices by expanding your repertoire beyond familiar discussion formats (open discussion, small group, think-pair-share).

We hear the term “microaggressions” more frequently now than ever before. Is it because this microaggression culture has just emerged and people are “overly sensitive” while others are all of a sudden engaging in these sorts of acts? Absolutely not.


These daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, whether overt, subtle, or unintentional, have become a huge area of concern. Whether one believes this phenomenon is real, perceived, or a made-up term for invalid experiences, you all will benefit from this session.


You will:


Get introduced to the parent term “microaggressions” and other concepts relevant to this topic

Obtain an understanding of the social and psychological impacts of microaggressions

Engage in activities and dialogue to unveil microaggressions within the workplace

Validate your experiences with microaggressions

Walk away with some techniques to combat everyday slights, as a bystander or as a recipient

This workshop will focus on jobs in the for-profit, not-for-profit, and government sectors, helping master's and Ph.D. students to navigate the interview process, and strategize on how to effectively answer questions by articulating strengths and skills.

Grab some lunch and enjoy a relaxing chair massage courtesy of the Rackham Graduate School. (Please note that massages will be provided for as many students as possible. A scheduled time will be assigned upon arrival.)

Change it Up! brings bystander intervention skills to the University of Michigan community for the purpose of building inclusive, respectful, and safe communities. It is based on a nationally recognized four-stage bystander intervention model that helps individuals intervene in situations that negatively impact individuals, organizations, and the campus community.

Increasingly, hiring committees are interested in how prospective faculty job candidates will contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a result, many academic employers have begun to request a "diversity statement" as part of the faculty job application process. In this interactive session, you will bring a draft of your diversity statement and spend time giving and receiving feedback on it with your peers using a rubric. If you have not yet written a draft diversity statement, you will be better served by first attending "Writing a Diversity Statement."

Kick-off Graduate Student Appreciation week by enjoying a hot breakfast and networking with fellow students, faculty, and staff.

Incorporating elements from Positive Organizational Scholarship, Design Science, and the Student Leadership Challenge, this workshop will provide participants the opportunity to view leadership from both a pragmatic and theoretical lens. Participants will also assess their own leadership styles prior to the event, and receive direct feedback on how to improve their ability to inspire and connect with others while driving results.

Do you want to increase your skills to stand up for yourself? In this workshop, we will 1) learn how to overcome the stress barrier in confrontational situations 2) identify strategies for resiliency and positive self-talk and 3) practice the verbal and nonverbal skills needed to be assertive in interpersonal communication

Are you planning to do a summer internship? How do you get the most out of that opportunity and leverage it to achieve your long-term career goals? At this event, you will have the opportunity to chat—over ice cream!—at roundtables with experienced graduate students who have successfully navigated a summer internship.