GradWell Podcast

How does our relationship with our graduate advisor affect our personal and professional wellness, our ability to innovate, and our lives after graduate school? In this episode, Dorian Bobbett, a Ph.D. candidate in engineering, discusses her research on the relationship between advisor mentoring and student well-being. Explore the things we can do as grad students to ensure that our relationship with our advisor is a good one, and where to find the resources at Michigan that can help you cultivate the strong mentoring relationship you deserve.

What is the best strategy to ensure success in our graduate programs? In this episode, Dr. Terra Molengraff, the program director of First-Generation Initiatives in the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, discusses her book Decoding the Academy. Listen in and learn about the questions we need to be asking, as well as Dr. Molengraff’s key tips for your first few weeks of graduate school (and beyond).

While Dr. Molengraff’s research focuses on the first-generation experience, her results offer insights that all graduate students (especially new students) will benefit from.

How does our current sense of belonging shape our future professional endeavors? In this episode, Dr. VaNessa Thompson, an academic program manager in Rackham, discusses research she has conducted on belonging—both in her dissertation and in U-M graduate students. Explore how seeing belonging as a relationship that we need to tend can help us get the most out of our graduate experience, and the U-M resources that can help you do just that.

Why can it be easy to feel like a fraud in grad school? In this episode, Danielle Rosenscruggs, a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology, shares her research on the impostor phenomenon in higher education. Listen in and learn how the energy we spend trying not to be perceived as an “impostor” keeps us from achieving our full potential in graduate school. Explore ways to reframe how we see success, failure, and everything in between, and the resources at Michigan that can support you on this journey. This episode is part one of a two-part series on the impostor phenomenon.

What are the tools that can help us manage impostor feelings in graduate school? In this episode, Dianna Alvarado, a Ph.D. candidate in developmental psychology, discusses her research on the protective strategies that students of color utilize to navigate impostor feelings. Listen in and learn how to grow the abilities that can help us ease our doubt, calm our self-criticism, and expand our perspective. This episode is part two of a two-part series on the impostor phenomenon.

How can understanding the dynamism of resilience help us better navigate the successes and challenges in our lives? In this episode, Sunghyun Hong, a Ph.D. candidate in social work and developmental psychology, discusses her research surrounding a strengths-based framework of resilience. Listen in to learn how to develop our resilience in a way that helps us better manage our stress, take care of all the parts of our lives, and give ourselves the grace we deserve.

Sunghyun also shares advice on how to find a therapist that can best help us navigate our academic journey.

How can an understanding of the creative process benefit not only our time in graduate school but also the work we produce? This episode features Ed Sarath, a professor of music in the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation and founder and co-director of the Program in Creativity and Consciousness Studies. Listen in and explore how the problems of our time can be seen as problems of creativity. We also discuss how a disconnect from consciousness harms our mental health and how expanding our understanding of where we can be creative can allow us to tap into our fullest potential.

How can getting our needs met academically help us bring wellness to the other aspects of our lives?

This episode features Kat Nic, senior disability access coordinator for graduate students in the Services for Students with Disabilities at Michigan. Explore how taking a single step towards getting just one need met can put us in forward motion towards greater well-being. And learn how SSD provides exploratory support to help you find the resources and strategies that can best enhance your time in grad school, both inside and outside of official accommodations.

How could we better navigate our mental health if we thought of it as a spectrum rather than in absolutes? In this episode, Dr. Patricia Deldin, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, shares insights from the alternative intervention to traditional mental health care that she created, Mood Lifters. Listen in and learn why a solutions-focused program works as an alternative to talking out our problems and explore strategies that can help reduce your anxiety, depression, and stress while in grad school.

How can the University of Michigan best support its graduate students in their journey to greater well-being? To wrap up the season, this episode will provide an overview of well-being at Michigan for graduate students with Elizabeth Rohr, Rackham’s Well-being Advocate. Explore the behind-the-scenes approaches Rackham takes to graduate student well-being and what the future may hold for graduate wellness.

How might throwing out the label of ‘student’ help us take better control of our finances? In this episode, Emily Roberts, Ph.D., a personal finance educator for early-career doctoral students, discusses why finances are such an important part of well-being and how we can start taking control of them as Ph.D. students. We explore her numerous tips on budgeting, the specialized approach we need to take to taxes, and why investing even $5 a month will make a big difference in the long run. Listen in for her recommendations on how to get started today!

How does viewing caregiving as teamwork change our experience with it? In this episode, Dr. Courtney Polenick, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Social Work, and Dr. Amanda Leggett, Associate Professor of Gerontology and Psychology, share insight on how a more holistic approach to adult caregiving—particularly for loved ones with dementia—can benefit the well-being of everyone involved in the relationship. Listen in as we discuss how to enhance the adult caregiving experience and some great Michigan resources that can help you do so.

How could nurturing all aspects of your well-being be the thing that helps you land that dream job? In this episode, Assistant Director of Graduate Student Career Advancement Kirsten Elling explores all things professional wellness—including how to make networking easier, how to enhance your relationship with your advisor, and the perspective necessary for a sustainable work/life balance. Learn how the University Career Center can be a confidential space for you to figure things out on a professional level and a guide toward not only greater professional well-being but also that ideal job you didn’t even know existed.

What do non-U-M people have to do with our social well-being? Dive into the necessity of having community outside of graduate school with Assistant Director for Community Partnerships Amanda Healy. Learn all the ways the Ginsberg Center can help you connect to, engage with, and build community independent of your role as an academic and, in doing so, achieve greater social well-being as a graduate student here at Michigan.

How will throwing away the standard image of well-being help our wellness journey? In this episode, Joe Zichi, the lead of the Well-Being Collective, explains how the beauty of failure, micro-dosing “discovery,” and the Well-Being Collective can all support your journey to greater intellectual well-being here at Michigan.

How big do our morning or evening routines need to be to count towards our well-being? In this episode, Taylor Pahl and Erin Gaines of Campus Mind Works discuss the benefits of treating wellness like a muscle and the imperfect well-being we should strive for. Listen in and learn all the ways Campus Mind Works can help provide you with strategies, literacy, and opportunities to improve your mental health and emotional well-being.

How can designing with neurodiversity in mind positively impact all students’ academic success? In this episode, John Muckler, director of IT facilities and operations in the College of Engineering, discusses how the built environment can affect our thoughts and feelings, and why the spaces “in between” matter just as much as the classroom when it comes to our academic success. Explore how thinking differently about sound, lighting, open space, and furniture can positively shape your academic performance and how an expert like John is a key resource at Michigan to help you take your environmental well-being to the next level.

How can we incorporate movement and physical activity into our lives in ways that will actually stick? In this two-part episode, Michigan’s chief health officer, Dr. Robert Ernst explores the relationships that are important for our physical well-being. Then, Ellen Taylor, senior assistant director of fitness & wellness from the Rec Department, explains how physical activity can function as a balance to the competitive, results-driven focus of our graduate careers. Listen in and learn about all the fitness classes, skills workshops, outdoor programs, ropes courses, equipment rentals, and more that are available here at Michigan to help you best achieve your movement goals.

Why doesn’t money have that much to do with financial well-being? In this episode, Dr. Gautam Kaul, Professor of Finance at Ross, explains the answer to this question and discusses how to think differently about debt, money, and our time in graduate school. Listen in and learn how to see finance as a framework that can give you the agency that’s necessary to actualize your wellbeing.

How can spiritual wellness help us navigate the difficulties we encounter in grad school? Explore this question and more with Christine Modey, Director of the Michigan Community Scholars Program, and Kelly Dunlop, our Spiritual, Secular, Religious, and Interfaith Engagement Lead. Listen in and learn why our spiritual life looks different now than when we were in undergrad; how to build spiritual wellness from the small things we do everyday; and the resources throughout campus that can support your journey to greater spiritual well-being.