Indiana University Bloomington offers graduate students many programs to support their professional development. Use this page to find those resources, make the most of your time here, engage with people outside your program, expand your knowledge and skills, and prepare for your career.
In the University Graduate School, we organize distinctive programs that advance graduate students' professional skills in research and teaching and that connect them with colleagues across the state, across the continent, and around the world.
Partners around campus in grad professional development
Several partner offices around campus provide professional development support in key areas to graduate students.
Self-knowledge is about knowing who you are and what matters to you. Knowing your true self will help you make choices in your professional development activities that integrate and align with your values, interests, preferences, and skills. The following offices offer programming relating to developing skills in self-knowledge.
ImaginePhD (external resource) offers self-assessments related to interests, skills, and values. The Interests assessment will help you evaluate what career-related activities you enjoy doing most and those you would prefer to avoid. In the Skills assessment, you will consider some of the many skills you may already use and determine your level of experience and ability with each. Finally, the Values assessment will help you reflect upon what is important to you in order to have a satisfying work environment.
Career exploration is the clarifying and distilling of your own self-knowledge about work preferences and goals, an understanding of your technical and transferrable skills, a clear sense of the world of work and job prospects, and the ability to make informed decisions based on these elements. It is an important step in the transition to post-graduate work, regardless of the field or industry in which you aspire to work. Graduate students in all disciplines have a variety of career exploration resources, and career options, available to them. Career exploration resources encompass everything from strategies for clarifying your career goals to adapting your CV for opportunities inside and outside academia. We have outlined a number of resources below to aid in your own career exploration and encourage you to take advantage of as many of them as you can now to be prepared for your transition from student to professional. We have divided these resources into those that you will find in your academic unit and related to an academic job search, and those resources that you’ll find through campus career services and related to jobs and industries outside academia.
Careers outside academia
Career Services a hub connecting you to career centers in each school
Provides leadership and expertise to enable innovation in curricula, implementation of powerful technologies and pedagogies in and beyond the classroom, and student engagement with learning resources and materials to promote critical analytic and research skills.
A one-day event designed to provide graduate students from all disciplines and at all phases of their educations with important information about preparing for their future academic careers.
The Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship (FFTF) program at Indiana University provides advanced Ph.D. and M.F.A. students opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities and faculty life at a variety of academic institutions. Fellows teach a full academic year at campuses throughout Indiana.
There are resources to support your academic, pedagogical, and scholarly communications.
Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) offers students one-on-one help with any phase of the writing process—from brainstorming to revising the final draft. When you visit WTS, you'll find a tutor who is a sympathetic and helpful reader of your prose.
CITL provides leadership and expertise to enable innovation in curricula, implementation of powerful technologies and pedagogies in and beyond the classroom, and student engagement with learning resources and materials to promote critical analytic and research skills.
Learn how to build a course out of your research specialty in this 7-week workshop series that guides grad students and postdocs through the fundamentals of course design. Trainees learn the skills of course design and apply these skills by building a full college course based on their area of research expertise.
Next steps
In addition to one-on-one tutoring, WTS offers a range of writing groups for graduate students at different stages of their degrees:
When you're ready to share your work, enter IU's University Graduate School Three Minute Thesis Competition. The competition challenges master's and doctoral students to present a compelling oration on their thesis or dissertation research and its significance to a general audience in just three minutes.
As a graduate student at IU, you’ll have a variety of financial support options to choose from and pursue. Our graduate students find support through fellowships and grants, student academic appointments (SAAs), and student loans. Contact your department for available SAA appointments.
The GradGrants Center (GGC) supports Indiana University graduate students as they find and secure sponsored grants, fellowships, and awards from external sources that are essential to their academic, research, and professional pursuits.
The Graduate Mentoring Center is part of the Indiana University community of scholars committed to helping graduate students succeed during and after their graduate school journey. The Center takes a holistic approach to programs and services in order to provide graduate students informal and formal mentorship.
The Center of Excellence for Women & Technology(CEWIT) is a unique, large-scale interdisciplinary, university-based initiative, that strives to encourage and promote the participation, empowerment, and achievement of women students, faculty, staff, and alumnae with technology tools and skills. In addition to its regular programming, CEWIT offers two different mentoring programs:
Women & Tech Mentor Collective Program
Black Women & STEM Mentor Collective Program
The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) is an independent center dedicated to helping faculty successfully transition from graduate studies, achieve tenure, and, ultimately, become a full professor. IU Bloomington has an institutional membership in the NCFDD, providing all faculty, postdocs, and graduate students access to their basic program of services at no additional cost. These services include a weekly email, access to the NCFDD curriculum, and several other services.
The Inquiry Methodology program at the School of Education offers help to any graduate student doing qualitative or quantitative research through their Tiny Methods Workshops and direct consultation.
When you're ready to share your scholarship, consider participating in IU's Three Minute Thesis Competition, hosted by the University Graduate School. Current IUB master’s and doctoral students are eligible to compete. Presentations must be based on thesis or dissertation research or, in the case of non-thesis master’s students, a culminating research project required by the student's program of study.
Graduate students might have a part-time academic appointment as an associate instructor, engaging in activities typical of a teacher. An Associate Instructor is responsible for assigning grades for at least a portion of a course and has direct contact with students. Typical activities include lecturing, tutoring, and laboratory instruction.
Getting started
If you're new to an instructional role at IU, there are several opportunities to develop pedagogical skills:
The goal of AI Orientation is to equip AIs with the skills,practicess, and technologies necessary for stronger pedagogies across all disciplines and classroom formats.
The Classroom Climate Workshop, offered each August, is a mandatory event for all new AIs. Participants will learn about Federal laws and IU policies regarding classroom inclusion and equity, as well as equitable teaching practices.
Learn how to build a course out of your research specialty in this 7-week workshop series that guides grad students and postdocs through the fundamentals of course design. Trainees learn the skills of course design and apply these skills by building a full college course based on their area of research expertise.
This program supplements departmental resources for teaching by providing structured tiers of professional development exclusive to graduate students. Participants create multiple products necessary for the academic market, practice evidence-based teaching, and develop a community of scholarsthrough this self-paced program.
This certificate program is available to graduate students in any field of study on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Its purpose is to provide graduate students with the opportunity to develop and document their pedagogical knowledge and skill in ways that complement their disciplinary training.
The Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship (FFTF) program at Indiana University provides advanced Ph.D. and M.F.A. students opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities and faculty life at a variety of academic institutions. Fellows teach a full academic year at campuses throughout Indiana.
Engaging with other graduate students, including those outside of your program can offer opportunities to step away from your academic workspaces for relaxation, self-reflection, and solidarity. Creating connections beyond your own discipline through which to share and discuss your ideas can also strengthen your work and help bring valuable new perspectives. Most importantly, building a broad community and network of colleagues that can serve as an outlet, safe space of conversation, and as support for you beyond your research and coursework helps to keep you from feeling isolated, enriches your experience of graduate school, and is in important part of self-care.
There are a number of learning communities at IU Bloomington that offer spaces and services for graduate students.
WTS’ and the IU Libraries’ Scholarly Write-In is an open, drop-in session every Friday morning where you can write in solidarity with other graduate students.
Cultural centers and institutes on campus, including:
Many departments, disciplines and programs include graduate student organizations. BeInvolved is the searchable central hub for student organizations on campus.
The Office of International Services’ hosts regular Grad-Scholar Connect events for graduate students and their families to connect with other students and faculty.
What is a Graduate Certificate?
Certificates at IUare an official credential representing completion of specialized training at the Graduate level. IU offers dozens of different graduate certificates in areas such as cyber security, information architecture, vocology, and many more! These certificates may be completed while enrolled in an existing degree program and involved concurrent study. The usually involve around 15-20 credits worth of study, and after completion a certificate will appear on your official IU transcript.
Why Pursue a Certificate?
Certificates are a great way to enhance your professional skills, marketability, and pursue interdisciplinary studies. These programs enhance a student's knowledge base and skill set, provide useful additions to their C.V.s in the eventual job search, and give you the unique opportunity to follow your other passions and interests.
If you’re interested in pursuing a graduate certificate, be sure to consult with your director of graduate studies to discuss what types of certificates overlap with your degree program.
Certificates by Program:
Below are a list of the certificates for each of the programs. Please note that that a few of the programs may include undergraduate and graduate certificates in the same listing.
To better support graduate students' career development and teaching interests, Indiana University's Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) has designed the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program in Higher Education (GTAP). Participants take part in multi-disciplinary CITL activities to:
learn about effective teaching procedures,
develop a community of scholars,
document their teaching practices,
try out online teaching technologies, and
plan opportunities to share their knowledge and resources with others.
GTAP provides career development and serves as a compliment to departmental resources, as participants will create multiple products needed for the academic job market. After completion of each program level, participants receive a letter of acknowledgement, which they can add to their teaching portfolio.
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars can engage in professional development to advance undergraduate education through theCIRTL Network.Members of the Indiana University community can participate in the cross-network learning community of 43 research universities through CIRTL Network online programming, including courses, institutes, workshops, journal clubs, and other activities. When you create a login with the CIRTL Network, indicate that you are a member of the Indiana University community. This cross-Network programming comes in addition to what the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning offers.
IT Training has launched six series of online courses based on award-winning content, making it even easier to get the training you need when you need it. IT Training now offers on-demand online courses of their most popular content areas. Gain control over when and how you learn with high-quality, hands-on courses, and earn digital certifications to show your skills.
Learning a new tech skill can help build your resume, satisfy a continuing education requirement, or simply make your workday more efficient. The Getting Started Webinars with IT Training give you a quick introduction to online courses available at no cost throughIU Expand.Some of these trainings include topics such as how to make documents more accessible, IT security basics and Zoom. On this page, you'll find links to webinars on topics such as getting started with Microsoft programs, Adobe applications and other software and programs available through IU.
IU Global offers this professional development opportunity for IU members seeking to expand their understanding of the complexities of intercultural communication and collaboration. This non-credit-bearing program will foster personal and professional growth through interactive, in-depth conversations around culture and identity and the impact they have on our work, whether in our interactions with students, colleagues, or the Bloomington community at large. With an array of courses available, this certificate can be catered to your work responsibilities and/or personal interests and will require less than 10 hours of your time and participation in four events over the semester. Each course is taught by a professionally trained staff member from the Office of International Services. Training sessions are free and open to employees across all IU campuses.
IT Training works with many learning partners and training providers to provide the entire IU community with a variety of high-quality, flexible IT learning solutions.Explore topicsfor self-paced options, orrequest an instructor-led sessionfor your class or group.
The IU Libraries Scholars' Commons offers a variety of workshops and events each semester. Our common offerings include citing, writing, and research skills, as well as dissertation-specific topics.Our calendars change every semester, so watch for updates. You can also subscribe to our weekly newsletter by sending a message to sc-workshops-l-subscribe@indiana.edu.
The University Graduate School resources and social media channels
