Sessions For: Rackham Graduate School

Want a chance to meet and chat with the Rackham Deans? Come join us at Lunch with the Deans series! The Rackham Student Government will be hosting two Lunch with the Deans events at the following dates and locations:
Central Campus (In-person only): Tuesday, February 24 at 12-1pm, Rackham Building, 4th Floor, Assembly HallNorth Campus (In-person only): Tuesday, March 24 at 12:30-1:30pm, Lurie Engineering Center (LEC), 3rd Floor, Johnson Rooms ABCStudents can provide their thoughts and ask questions. Students who are unable to attend, but have questions for the Deans are encouraged to submit questions to us via email (rsg-exec@umich.edu) or in the RSVP. RSVP is highly recommended.

Join MiSciWriters for in-person and virtual workshops designed to develop science communication skills!

No science communication or editing experience required.
We are always welcoming new editors, translators, and/or illustrators. If you'd like to join MiSciWriters, fill out our membership form here.

The MICDE PhD Student Seminar Series showcases the research of students in the Ph.D. in Scientific Computing. Lunch will be served. These events are open to the public, but we request that all who plan to attend register in advance. Planned sessions will be canceled if no one signs up to present.

If you have any questions, please email micde-phd@umich.edu.

This focus group is intended for graduate faculty to share their experiences serving as faculty advisors for Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops.


Graduate faculty are encouraged to attend one of the two scheduled sessions. If you have already registered for one session but are unable to attend and would like to participate in the other session, please contact rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu for assistance.

This focus group is for graduate students to share their experiences about working with faculty through the Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops program.

Developing intercultural knowledge and skills is essential to working in ever-changing, global environments whether that be in your work, research, or just communicating with others on a daily basis. This workshop is focused on understanding your intercultural development and the ways to continue to increase your cultural knowledge to be able to effectively work with others. Those who attend this workshop will gain the opportunity to take the Intercultural Development Inventory (for free!) and receive an individualized virtual debrief to better understand your results. Participants will be asked to share feedback on the experience as part of a pilot program through the Rackham Graduate School.


This workshop is open to all master’s, Ph.D., and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Michigan. If you have any questions, please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

As part of our Financial Education Series, this virtual event is designed to help demystify tax filing for graduate students—an area that isn’t always as straightforward as we might hope.

Ed Jennings, tax director at the University of Michigan, will walk participants through how to prepare for the upcoming tax season. This session is geared toward domestic students.

Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the presentation.


Those who register will receive a copy of the slides and access to the recording.
Please note that the recording may take a few weeks to process.

The Poetry & Poetics Workshop is a Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop committed to providing a forum in which faculty and graduate students can exchange works-in-progress and explore recent work in the fields of poetry and poetics. For more information, please visit our website. If you have any questions, please contact Renee Wehrle (rewehrle@umich.edu) or Kelly Wenzka (kwenzka@umich.edu.).

Participants develop and practice skills to effectively build rapport with, interview, and collect stories or information from communities.
For intermediate and advanced students who are working on projects with large communication, rapport, and/or interviewing elements. Students at this level may be:

Establishing relationships with community members while working with community partner organizationsConducting qualitative research or assisting with a research projectCollecting stories or interviews from community partners and/or community members


This workshop is open to all master's students, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Michigan. Any questions, please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

Do you want to better understand your personal leadership style? Are you ready to lead collaborative research projects more effectively? This workshop utilizes the Michigan Model of Leadership (MMOL) to help you recognize your unique strengths and approach. You will explore various leadership styles and reflect on the challenges of collaborating across differences. We will also create a personalized leadership development plan for your future.
This workshop is tailored exclusively for master’s students at the University of Michigan. If you have any questions, please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

Financial Education SeriesReady to feel more confident about your finances?Join Heather Moore, Ph.D., assistant director for U-M Financial Education and Engagement, for a relaxed and practical three-part financial literacy series designed specifically for graduate students.
This engaging series covers essential topics such as budgeting, credit, debt management, student loans, and understanding your paycheck and benefits. Whether you’re just starting to build financial knowledge or looking to strengthen existing skills, these sessions offer clear strategies and actionable advice to help you make informed financial decisions.


Sessions are friendly, approachable, and tailored to real graduate student needs. Come with questions—leave with tools, clarity, and confidence to better manage your financial well-being.
Looking for help with filing taxes? Join our Virtual Tax Workshop on Thursday, March 12 — Register here.

Are you a gamer? Have you ever considered what the background roles of female characters in your favorite video games say about our society?Join us to discuss Women as Background Characters in Your Favorite Game and examine the role of female non-playable characters (NPCs). We will thoroughly examine the distinctions between advertising and interactive media in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of objectification and its implications. You will learn tools to question how the media uses women and discuss the impact this has on real-world experiences.
Attendees will also receive a copy of Intersectional Tech by Kishonna Gray from the U-M School of Information, as supplies last.

This session welcomes all graduate students interested in gaming, media studies, or social justice. If you have any questions, please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

Rackham/Sweetland Workshops, co-sponsored by the Rackham Graduate
School, cover a host of topics designed to help graduate students in
various aspects of writing.

Do you want to organize your research more efficiently and meet deadlines with less stress? Are you looking for easy ways to plan and manage your academic projects? Join this workshop created just for master’s students at U-M. Explore smart project management techniques that help you balance research, classes, and assignments. Learn how to break goals into manageable parts and use tech tools to keep everything on track. Practice building a project charter to see your project’s path, set milestones, and spot obstacles before they slow you down.
This workshop is tailored exclusively to master’s students at the University of Michigan. If you have any questions please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

In this fast-paced, ever-changing, increasingly globalized world, we need to be able to understand how to work effectively with many different types of people to reach our goals. In this workshop, we will focus on cultural intelligence (or CQ as it is often called) to assess your own cultural values and behavioral preferences while understanding where others may be coming from. Participants will have the opportunity to practice how to navigate cultural misunderstandings that may occur within your research or a major project team and develop plans for how to continue building your cultural intelligence.


This workshop is open to all master’s, PhD., and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Michigan. If you have any questions, please reach out to rackpdeworkshops@umich.edu.

Join us for an engaging, interactive workshop designed to empower research teams through active listening and effective conflict resolution skills. Participants will reflect on the value of incorporating multiple viewpoints in research, discovering how diverse perspectives fuel innovation and strengthen outcomes. Through guided activities, attendees will also gain practical tools and hands-on experience to enhance their listening skills, fostering greater collaboration and understanding. The session will explore various approaches to handling conflict, encouraging participants to self-assess their typical style and broaden their toolkit for resolving disagreements constructively. By the workshop’s end, participants will actively demonstrate strategies to manage conflict within research teams, equipping themselves for more productive, harmonious collaborations.


This workshop is open to all master’s, Ph.D., and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Michigan. If you have any questions, please reach out to rackhampdeworkshops@umich.edu.

Developed by the MORE Committee, this workshop helps enhance the mentoring relationship between the student and faculty mentor by facilitating the development of shared expectations. Mentors and mentees work independently in separate sessions to identify their own objectives and styles, and consider strategies for dealing with possible challenges. Then, student-faculty pairs work together to develop a written mentoring plan as a means of codifying some of the most important elements (needs, goals, mutual expectations) of a two-way mentoring relationship. Among Rackham doctoral students who have written mentoring plans, 83 percent find those plans useful.
Registration and attendance at the same workshop are required of both the faculty and the student. Separate registration for faculty is available at: https://myumi.ch/2r6kn.

Developed by the MORE Committee, this workshop helps enhance the mentoring relationship between the student and faculty mentor by facilitating the development of shared expectations. Mentors and mentees work independently in separate sessions to identify their own objectives and styles, and consider strategies for dealing with possible challenges. Then, student-faculty pairs work together to develop a written mentoring plan as a means of codifying some of the most important elements (needs, goals, mutual expectations) of a two-way mentoring relationship. Among Rackham doctoral students who have written mentoring plans, 83 percent find those plans useful.
Registration and attendance at the same workshop are required of both the faculty and the student. Separate registration for students is available at: https://myumi.ch/6167J.