Professional development programs offered by the VPGE office span a wide range of topics and experiences. There's something to meet any graduate student's needs and schedule, from information-packed Quick Bytes lunches to multi-session Leadership Labs to week-long Stanford Graduate Summer Institute courses. Browse these offerings and sign up for those that interest you.
Programs in Professional Development
12@12 / 12@6
Wondering what other graduate students are thinking? Interested in discussing "big questions" with a diverse group of students? Apply to join a 12@12 or 12@6 group! Over lunch at 12 noon, or dinner at 6 PM, 12 students and a faculty or staff facilitator choose complex real-world questions to...
Academic Chats
Academic Chats are monthly lunch-time seminars for graduate students and postdocs considering academic careers. Chats are an opportunity to learn from and share experiences with others who are launching their career as a faculty member. Guest speakers include faculty from Stanford and local...
Alt Ac Speaker Series
Did you know that a faculty position is but one of many possible academic career paths you could take with your PhD? Alt Ac Speaker Series: Non-Faculty Career Paths for PhDs at Colleges and Universities introduces doctoral students to alternative non-faculty careers in the academy (Alt Ac)....
Communication Matters
Effective oral communication skills have always been important to success in academia, but perhaps never more so than at this time. As Scott Morgan and Barrett Whitener write in Speaking About Science: “In an age when so much communication is tethered to technology, delivering messages face-to-face...
Connecting with Leaders: Knowledge, Wisdom and Community Building
The wisdom of Distinguished Fellows. Members of the Stanford Distinguished Fellows Institute will offer the wisdom and insight gained from their highly successful careers and offer guidance to graduate students developing their own career paths. The Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate...
Designing the Professional
Stanford can award you a doctorate, but only you can use it to create the life you want. But - just what life is that and how do you get it? What is it you really want? How do you invent a work life that will be both meaningful and satisfying to you and worthwhile in the world? ENGR311B: ...
Diversity Works
Diversity Works is a series of conversations with leaders in academe to discuss issues related to diversity and excellence in higher education. Some Diversity Works events are developed in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity (VPFDD) and other...
Emotional Intelligence
This hands-on workshop will complement what you are learning in your department, preparing you to use the skills of emotional intelligence in your career and life. This is NOT a "self-help" course. It is intended for those who realize there is always more to learn around important, complex topics...
Fellows Forum
Learn New Skills, Meet New People. The Fellows Forum is an invitation-only series of professional development events and networking opportunities for Stanford Graduate Fellows in Science and Engineering (SGF Fellows) and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows (NSF Fellows). Designed...
Ignite: The Power of Motivation
Motivation is often misunderstood as a force driven by a system of rewards and punishments. However, the latest research shows it's much more dependent on cultivating meaning, purpose, task mastery, and freedom of choice. In this course students will uncover the keys inside themselves to ignite the...
Intellectual Leadership: Creating a Research Agenda
What's next for you in your research? Becoming an intellectual leader in your field entails conceptualizing your long-term research contribution and positioning your work in relation to other disciplines. These workshops - each in two sessions - will give you focused feedback on your research ideas...
Leadership Dinners
Leadership Dinners bring proven leaders from various arenas together with a small group of graduate students for dinner and informal discussion about what it means to be a leader and to lead organizations, movements, and people. This is a great opportunity to discuss leadership and career...
Leadership from the Inside Out: Know Thyself Before Leading Others
Virtually all graduate students will eventually find themselves managing and leading others whatever career they pursue. Being an effective manager/leader requires hard work and training. This leadership workshop focuses on helping participants assess some of their core leadership strengths and...
Leadership Labs
When you graduate from Stanford, you face a world that expects you to demonstrate more than talent and knowledge in your chosen field. Increasingly, navigating in our complex, interdependent world requires the ability to communicate effectively, collaborate and team, as well as influence others....
Management Matters
A comprehensive, three-session workshop focuses on simple principles and guidelines that, once learned, can make the process of managing others enjoyable and effective, and help you succeed in whatever career path you choose. Managing people can be the most stressful part of any job – but, if done...
Negotiation and Influence
No matter how excellent your ideas, most significant achievements require the ability to communicate with and influence others. This workshop examines the theory, research, and practice of negotiation across a variety of settings. It provides multiple opportunities for students to develop...
Negotiation Matters
We all negotiate every day with colleagues, bosses, partners, friends, clients, and many others. This workshop is a dynamic mix of theory, demonstration, skills exercises, and role play practice intended to increase your confidence and effectiveness in any negotiation you undertake. We explore...
Overcoming the Impostor Syndrome
How to Feel as Bright and Capable as They Think You Are: Why Smart People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It. Have you ever had difficulty internalizing accomplishments, think the success you’ve achieved was a fluke/luck/good timing, or that you’ve done a good job of...
Portfolio to Professional
Whether you are graduating soon or just beginning your grad program, creating a professional web presence should be on your to do list. An electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) provides a platform to showcase your academic and professional skills and experiences, and to tell your story in a way your...
Preparing for Faculty Careers Course (VPTL 231)
The Preparing for Faculty Careers course (VPTL 231) is designed for advanced doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars who are considering a faculty career. The four parts of the course will guide participants through an exploration of the academic career and prepare them to launch their academic...
Preparing Future Professors
Preparing Future Professors (PFP) is a shadowing program that offers doctoral students the opportunity to experience faculty life first-hand at a comprehensive, teaching-focused university or a community college. Stanford students are paired with professors whom they shadow weekly. PFP broadens...
Quick Bytes
Come to one, come to all! Offered throughout the year, each Quick Bytes workshop focuses on a key area of professional training relevant to graduate students at any stage in any degree program. Quick Bytes feature engaging speakers from both on and off campus. Sessions are interactive and...Resilience: How to Bounce Back
Resilience is the ability to bounce back in the face of life’s challenges. For Stanford graduate students, these challenges come in a variety of forms ranging from the pile-on of academic and administrative work, to tough relationship dynamics with professors, colleagues, or loved ones, to battling...
Setting Expectations and Communicating Effectively with your Advisor
In this interactive workshop you will learn negotiation and commucation skills that will help you work effectively with your advisor. In particular, we will practice interest-based strategies designed to help you find common values and goals with your advisor, set expectations, avoid or resolve...
Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Research Students
Hugh Kearns is one of the world’s leading experts on graduate student success. He has written ten books on this topic and had three articles published in the journal Nature. He lectures at the top universities around the world and in April he returns to Stanford to explain the secrets of graduate...
Stanford Ignite
Stanford Ignite is a certificate program that teaches innovators how to formulate, develop, and commercialize their ideas. Participants will learn core business skills and experience working on a team to develop a business plan around a new product or service for an existing organization or a new...
Taming Your Inner Critic While Clarifying Inner Success
Learn practical and proactive methods to tame your inner critic and succeed academically and professionally in this interactive workshop, for all graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Do these sound familiar “I’m not smart enough,” “When will they find out,” “My leadership style is all wrong...
Turbocharge Your Writing
Hugh Kearns is one of the world’s leading experts on graduate student success. He has written ten books on this topic and had three articles published in the journal Nature. He lectures at the top universities around the world and in April he returns to Stanford to provide proven strategies for...
WISE and WISSH Groups for Women
Since June 2001, Stanford has sponsored mentoring groups for women PhD students and postdoctoral scholars in science and engineering (WISE). For the past several years, a similar program has also been available for women PhD students and postdocs in the social sciences and the humanities (WISSH)....
