Old Professional Development
Rackham supports graduate students in their professional and academic development during their student experience and as they transition to their career. We created the core skills framework to articulate the range of capacities that students should develop during their graduate-school experience. Explore resources from Rackham and campus partners related to each skill area below.
Career Development
Career Development is the process through which people develop and achieve professional goals.
Collaboration
Collaboration is the intentional process of working effectively with others toward shared objectives
Communication
Communication is the ability to effectively convey your research and scholarship to multiple audiences and in a variety of media.
Content Expertise
Content Expertise is the mastery of knowledge, skills, and methodologies of a discipline.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is valuing multiple social identities and advocating for access and belonging for all persons.
Leadership
Leadership is the ability to create positive action towards a mission through motivating others and accomplishing goals.
Personal Well-Being
Personal well-being involves finding deeper meaning, balance, and purpose in one’s life.
Teaching
Teaching facilitates significant learning and development on the part of students and instructors.
Professional Development Opportunities
Rackham Program in Public Scholarship
Supports collaborative scholarly and creative endeavors that engage communities and co-create public goods while enhancing graduate students’ professional development.
Rackham DEI Professional Development Certificate
Designed to prepare graduate students to work in a diverse environment while fostering a climate of inclusiveness.
Rackham Internships
Given the diverse careers that our graduates pursue, Rackham Graduate School provides funding for internships that prepare students to succeed in the expanded range of careers available to them.
Career Coaching and Counseling
The University Career Center has a Graduate Student Career Advancement Coordinator who meets with doctoral students in the Rackham Building for career coaching and counseling. Book your appointment at the University Career Center website.
Certificate Programs
Supplement your primary field of study with a concentrated inquiry into another field.
Upcoming Workshops
Rackham hosts a variety of workshops around core professional and academic development skills.
Funding
Professional Development Grant
A Rackham Professional Development Grant is intended to support Rackham doctoral students seeking careers both within and outside academia. This funding is to support short-term experiences that promote the development of professional skills which will further a student’s career goals.
Rackham Conference Travel Grant
The Rackham Conference Travel Grant is intended to provide opportunities for Rackham graduate students to become familiar with, and participate in the life of, their academic professions.
Graduate Student Professional Travel with Children Grant
This grant is intended to support Rackham graduate student parents who incur expenses while traveling with small children (under the age of six) while attending conferences, workshops, meetings, or other academic events as part of their scholarly research or in pursuit of professional career readiness both within and outside of academia.
Join Rackham Connect
We know graduate students often ask, “what’s next” and “what else.” That’s why we have created a space for you connect with Rackham alumni and explore potential answers to those questions. Rackham Connect is a digital space developed in partnership with the Career Center’s University Career Alumni Network (UCAN) where students can connect with alumni and potential mentors.
More alumni are joining Rackham Connect each day, and they’re excited to hear from you. Create your profile and start connecting.
Contact Professional and Academic Development
1530 Rackham Building
915 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070
Phone: (734) 647-4013
Fax: (734) 936-2848
Hours
Professional and Academic Development is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The office is closed Saturdays and Sundays and on the following holidays: Thanksgiving (Thursday and the following Friday), Christmas through New Year’s, Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4), and Labor Day.