Plan Your Journey Preview

Ask faculty in my department or program for recommendations of leadership opportunities relevant to my research and career interests.

Talk to advanced graduate students and postdocs in my department or program for recommendations of leadership opportunities relevant to my research and career interests.

Connect with alumni from my department or program in diverse career fields to seek their advice on finding leadership opportunities. To find contacts, ask my DGSA, talk to graduate student colleagues, use the LinkedIn Alumni tool, or use the Duke Alumni Network.

Based on recommendations from faculty and alumni, find relevant professional associations for my discipline and explore their websites. If available, read leadership success stories highlighted on the websites.

Look at The Graduate School’s professional development calendar to begin to identify the types of leadership skills I could be developing throughout my program. Watch my inbox for the weekly Professional Development Events email from The Graduate School, and follow other relevant mailing lists recommended in that message.

Learn from graduate student colleagues about opportunities to get involved at the department, program, or school level.

Sign up for discipline-specific listservs on campus and beyond that may advertise potential leadership opportunities. Ask faculty, advanced graduate students, and postdocs for recommendations.

Explore opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across campus. Versatile Humanists @ Duke provides an excellent overview of campus sites and resources for collaborative research.

Join science outreach groups. For example, BOOST works with Durham Public School students in grades 5-12, and STEM in the Park facilitates sustained, hands-on mentoring and engagement opportunities for underrepresented minorities, girls, and students from low-income backgrounds in grades 5-12. WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) runs an active listserv with many science outreach opportunities for both women and men, as does the Office of Postdoctoral Services (yes, grad students can subscribe!).

Take advantage of free online short courses offered during summer session that help emerging scholars prepare for high-level research, innovative teaching, leadership and/or public engagement. Each summer's offerings are different, but they often include courses on mentoring, research communication, leadership and management, and entrepreneurship.

For a team-based project management experience with fellow graduate and professional students sharing their expertise to benefit Durham-area nonprofits, apply to participate in DISI (Duke Interdisciplinary Social Innovators). Applications open about two months before the beginning of each semester, and once I’ve participated, I can apply to take on positions of increasing leadership.

Apply to participate in the Emerging Leaders Institute held each spring in order to develop communication, leadership, self-awareness, professional adaptability, and interdisciplinary teamwork skills. Applications open late in the fall semester.

For experience in interdisciplinary problem-based research, apply to join a Bass Connections team; most teams take applications in the spring semester. For experience mentoring an undergraduate research team during the summer, apply to the Story+ (bringing academic research to life through dynamic storytelling) or Data+ (exploring data-driven approaches to interdisciplinary challenges) initiatives. Applications for Story+ and Data+ are generally due in early March.

Apply for a Summer Internship Fellowship to gain work experience at a local or national organization over the summer.

Use JobX to search for on- and off-campus employment opportunities and build social networks that could help me enhance my leadership skills.

Schedule an individual advising appointment with Duke Career Center staff to discuss opportunities for leadership development appropriate to my discipline and career interests. Make an individual advising appointment or visit drop-in advising.

Join department- or program-specific graduate-student groups, councils, and committees (e.g., Economics Graduate Student Council, Duke’s Biomedical Engineering Society Graduate Chapter, etc.). Find groups aligned with my academic interests at Duke Groups by filtering by the category Academics.

Teach or serve as a teaching assistant (TA). Talk with my Director of Graduate Studies or Director of Graduate Studies Assistant to learn about the opportunities available in my department or program.

Join professional associations in my discipline and related to my career interests, and explore ways to get involved in leadership roles.

Explore student groups on campus where I could develop and demonstrate leadership skills. Opportunities include the Graduate and Professional Student Government, Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), Bouchet Society, Hurston-James Society, PhD Plus in Pratt, APD Consulting Club, DukeOUT, GradParents, GradVets, Duke SACNAS, and Black Graduate and Professional Student Association (BGPSA). A full list of campus student groups is available at Duke Groups (filter organizations by the category Cultural to find relevant organizations).