Participating Teams
Graduate programs that have participated in the Advancing New Directions in Graduate Education Initiative include:
Biostatistics (Start date: May 2021)
The Department of Biostatistics is working to address the growing need to provide their students with concrete professional development opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom through formal professional development curricula tailored to our Ph.D. and master’s programs.


Kelley Kidwell
Associate Professor of Biostatistics, School of Public Health
Email: kidwell@umich.edu

Sebastian Zoellner
Professor of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Professor of Psychiatry, Medical School
Email: jianghui@umich.edu
Chemistry (Start date: May 2022)
The Department of Chemistry is designing a comprehensive holistic training for Ph.D. students in communication and professional skills through an expansion and reimagining of their intro proseminar coursework.

Bart Bartlett
Professor of Chemistry, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: bartmb@umich.edu

Julie Biteen
Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Biophysics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: jsbiteen@umich.edu

Heather Hanosh
Student Services Manager, Department of Chemistry, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: hjholcom@umich.edu

Corey Stephenson
Professor of Chemistry, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: crjsteph@umich.edu
Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (Start date: May 2020)
The CLASP team is developing a societally engaged component within their Ph.D. program that allows students to work directly with communities affected by climate change to translate physical science into community decision making. Other activities include the re-development of CLIMATE 530 (Climate Change in Planning and Design) as a flexible credit, setting up a project based class for Ph.D. students, completing the Space Technology certificate proposal, recruiting additional CLASP faculty to support these project goals, and updating their departmental website to make experiential Ph.D. offerings more visible.

Jeremy Bassis
Associate Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering; Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: jbassis@umich.edu

Michael Liemohn
Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering
Email: liemohn@umich.edu

Allison Steiner
Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering; Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: alsteine@umich.edu
Educational Studies (Start date: May 2020)
To support their students in transforming education, the Educational Studies department is transforming the first three years of the Ph.D. program by situating learning experiences in schools and communities within the Detroit-Ann Arbor metro area. This redesigned Education Studies Ph.D. will prepare their students for professional futures as researchers, scholars, leaders, and practitioners who are not only committed to addressing educational inequities, but prepared to do so with the critical urgency, context-sensitivity, and community engagement that this work demands.

Angela Calabrese Barton
Chair, Educational Studies and Professor of Education, School of Education
Email: angiecb@umich.edu

Maisie Gholson
Assistant Professor of Educational Studies, School of Education
Email: mgholson@umich.edu

English Language and Literature (Start date: May 2020)
The Department of English Language and Literature project has combined department-wide discussions of their Ph.D. program’s mission and design with practical efforts to expand student access to professional development opportunities—most notably, by way of funded academic-year internships. In the second year, they will emphasize milestone reform and curricular innovation. They will pilot a pre-prospectus workshop, host a faculty discussion forum on pedagogy, and review and reconsider the structure of their preliminary exams.

Gaurav Desai
Professor of English, and Chair, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: desaig@umich.edu

Aida Levy-Hussen
Associate Professor of English , College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: aidalh@umich.edu

Megan Sweeney
Arthur F. Thurnau Associate Professor of English, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: meganls@umich.edu
History (Start date: May 2020)
The Department of History project has focused on empowering graduate student interns to develop and implement student-centered modules that will systematically embed public engagement and career diversity across the curriculum, from their introductory proseminar sequence to the job skills colloquium at the end of the program.

Paulina Alberto
Professor of History and Professor of Spanish, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: palberto@umich.edu

Angela Dillard
Richard A. Meisler Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, History and in the Residential College, Chair, Department of History, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: adillard@umich.edu

Henry Cowles
Associate Professor of History, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: cowles@umich.edu
Humanities Cluster (participating departments: Asian Languages and Cultures, Comparative Literature, Film, Television and Media, Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Middle East Studies) (Start date: May 2020)
The Department of History project has focused on empowering graduate student interns to develop and implement student-centered modules that will systematically embed public engagement and career diversity across the curriculum, from their introductory proseminar sequence to the job skills colloquium at the end of the program.

Chris Hill
Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: hillcl@umich.edu
Mechanical Engineering (Start date: May 2021)
The Department of Mechanical Engineering will implement sustainable enhancements to their Ph.D. program to support professional development for students with non-academic career goals, through an alumni career panel in the departmental proseminar, graduate student seminar series targeting non-expert audiences, and the establishment of industry affiliates for collective career mentoring.

Katsuo Kurabayashi
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering
Email: katsuo@umich.edu


Wei Lu
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering
Email: weilu@umich.edu
Political Science (Start date: May 2020)
Through its participation in this project, the Department of Political Science has improved training for incoming students and revamped its program with an eye toward a shorter pre-candidate phase and a curriculum that better supports non-academic career paths. The second-year team will continue such efforts, with a focus on professional development and the “hidden curriculum,” along with enhanced scaffolding for non-academic careers.

Mark Dincecco
Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: dincecco@umich.edu

Lisa Disch
Professor of Political Science and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: ldisch@umich.edu

Iain Osgood
Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Email: iosgood@umich.edu