GradWell Podcast
Welcome to GradWell!
Welcome to GradWell! This limited series podcast explores various ways the University of Michigan can support its graduate students in their journey to greater well-being in their everyday lives. Created for graduate students, by a graduate student—brought to you by the Rackham Graduate School.
Explore the different dimensions of well-being and their effect on grad students with Sam Hobson, a Ph.D. candidate and a graduate student assistant in Rackham’s Professional Development and Engagement Office, as they interview university staff and faculty about resources on campus that can help you thrive a little better.

- Subscribe:
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts
- Amazon Music
- iHeartRadio
- Audible
- YouTube
Episodes

GradWell
Professional Well-Being
February 2, 2025
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.

GradWell
Social Well-Being
February 3, 2025
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.

GradWell
Intellectual Well-Being
February 4, 2025
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.

GradWell
Emotional Well-Being
February 19, 2025
How big do our morning or evening routines need to be to count toward 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.

GradWell
Environmental Well-Being
March 5, 2025
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.

GradWell
Physical Well-Being
March 19, 2025
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.

GradWell
Financial Well-Being
April 2, 2025
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.

GradWell
Spiritual Well-Being
April 16, 2025
What does spiritual well-being have to do with your success as a graduate student here at Michigan? In this episode, Dr. Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair, Director of Graduate Studies in the Asian Languages and Cultures department, discusses purpose, consciousness, and how spiritual wellness can benefit our academic and professional journey.