Syracuse University Gradcast

Dr. Treviene Harris is Project Manager with Doctoral Futures, an initiative of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) that aims to identify and promote ways doctoral programs can evolve to meet current challenges and better serve students. Treviene shares her own PhD journey, her current work on the project, and strategies the ACLS and its partner organizations can use to encourage wides...

In this episode, Ava Breitbeck sits down with Alexia Chatzitheordorou, PhD Candidate in Physics, to discuss her leadership as a graduate student. In her role as representative to the SU Board of Trustees, she has championed numerous initiatives to support graduate students' professional development. We discuss strategies to succeed as a student and scholar. 

Ruohan Xu, an Energy Systems Engineer in the Carrier Engineering Leadership Program (ELP) in Syracuse and a master's degree holder from ECS, has a lot of insight to offer. As an alum of the university as well as someone working locally in Syracuse, I was grateful for the opportunity to hear about how he was able to leverage his experience at SU in his current work--and I think anyone looking f...

Mary-Jo (MJ) Robinson is an experienced nonprofit leader and consultant and is a proud graduate of the Maxwell School, having earned her MPA there. Listen in to learn how she applied her skills as a graduate student to work in a variety of nonprofit settings, including spending two years conducting rewarding work in Kenya! Now a project manager with the Engaged Humanities Network at SU, MJ is a le...

In this episode, we sit down with Tracy Balduzzi, Ed. D. — Associate Director of Graduate Student Engagement and Success — to strategize how graduate students can make the most of their participation at conferences. Listen in to hear about what you should do to prepare for a conference, how to network with colleagues, and how to ensure that your new conference connections are sustained long after...

Sahar El Abbadi, PhD (she/her), is a newly-minted Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa, and I've been a fan of Sahar's for a while! Her postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), a government lab in California, offers an important glimpse into the life of a postdoc in that kind of environment. I also got to see up close her job...

"We need people who have the capacity to analyze as deeply as you do, and your writing is the way to get it out there," says Collie Fulford, Ph. D., Writing Center Director and Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at SU. Through a fascinating conversation about writing and the amazing work of the Writing Center, I gained a newfound appreciation for the centrality of writing in the...

A great deal has happened in the past year in the world of fellowships and funding in general, and since the dust has settled a little bit, I wanted to get an update on where we are. So I reached out to Melissa Welshans, Ph. D., Assistant Director of CFSA (Center for Fellowships and Scholarships Advising) here at Syracuse University to help us understand what's changed, what has stayed the sam...

Great news! Our grad assistant, Ava Breitbeck (doctoral candidate in Science Teaching) is our newest podcaster, and this is her very first episode! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Hannah Payne, a Masters student in Art History and 2026 Palitz Scholar, joins GradCast to share her passion for art history and the importance of effectively engaging the public in scholarly endeavors as a graduat...

"The world is moving so fast, we all need to be thinking big picture" says Shawn VanDerziel , President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the foremost source of information on the transition from college to career. No one is better suited to provide this big picture, and I was delighted to get his take on where the jobs economy is...

Meg Healy, a PhD candidate in English at Syracuse, joins GradCast to discuss videographic criticism, in which audiovisual media are used to interpret texts and make scholarly arguments in ways very different from traditional print-based academic essays. Find out how Meg uses videographic tools to enhance her research into sci-fi films.

Listen in on a conversation with Dr. Ramon Goings, a faculty member and doctoral program director in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and founder of The Done Dissertation, a consultancy helping doctoral candidates and dissertation advisors develop habits that promote productive writing and efficient degree completion. Learn about the "80% Rule&q...

Now here's an unexpected way to do career exploration: ask a subject area librarian! And that's exactly what I did. I reached out to Steph McReynolds, Librarian for Business, Management and Entrepreneurship, a curator of an excellent research guide on careers, who walked me through her research's fascinating resources. What followed were some ways of learning about companies and opport...

Stacy Hartman, Program Officer for Higher Education Initiatives with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), discusses how professional organizations have addressed the need to prepare doctoral students for a range of careers.

We have talked about how to get the coveted tenure-track job on Gradcast, but we've never really discussed what it's actually like to get tenure! I was so glad that Candace Receno, Ph. D., Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair, Exercise Science and Athletic Training at Ithaca College, newly-tenured, could join me in a great conversation about the process and what it looks like to...

"In a world of robots, be a human," says Maren Wood, Ph. D., CEO and director of the Center for Graduate Career Success, home of Beyond the Professoriate , an invaluable career exploration platform brought to you by the Graduate School. But what does that mean in the context of job searching? How and in what ways should we use AI in our job search, how much is too much, and how do we sta...

I've known Allison Alberts, Ph. D. (English Literature, Fordham University) since our days in grad school together--I owe her a ton for all the reviewing and constructive conversation about my work to this day! I was delighted, then, to have her on the podcast talking about her career as a private high school English teacher, since many people are interested in finding ways of teaching that ar...

Emily Roberts (Ph. D., Biomedical Engineering, Duke University) made a big pivot from her research to her current role as founder of Personal Finance for Ph. D.s https://pfforphds.com/ , helping fellow Ph. D. students and degree holders navigate the world of budgeting while getting a Ph. D. I'm happy to announce that Dr. Roberts will be joining us on Friday Sept. 5th via Zoom to share her insi...

In this episode, Ashley Watson, Assistant Professor of Communication at SUNY Geneseo, discusses the research behind her recently completed dissertation, “Born Unveiled: The Process, Protest, and Product of Racialization among International Black African Collegians in U.S. Graduate Education” (University of Minnesota, 2024).

Syracuse is now home to a fantastic resource for international students! Interstride is an interactive portal supporting international students in their job search, immigration journey, and community building. If you've ever been unsure of where to look for jobs with employers who are willing to sponsor, this is the place. If you've had questions about how to present your value to employer...

Mallory Fix-Lopez discusses her consultancy Language ConnectED, which provides research communication and professional development trainings for academics. Fix-Lopez will visit Syracuse on February 28, 2025, to deliver a 4-hour workshop for international grad students on “Telling Your Research Story.”

Ten years after the Report of the MLA Task Force on the Future of Doctoral Education in Modern Language and Literature, task force chair Russell Berman (German and Comparative Literature, Stanford) reflects on which of the report’s recommendations have had traction over the past decade, which goals have been elusive, and where we stand now with efforts to help PhD students pursue diverse career op...

As president of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), Suzanne Ortega, Ph. D. advocates for graduate issues, leads research projects, and fosters best practices in graduate education. In this episode, Ortega discusses CGS’s mission, her role with the organization, and what institutions can do to improve graduate experiences and outcomes. If you've ever wanted to hear a high-level discussion of the...

Carrie Murawski, PhD has a fascinating career trajectory. Starting out as a visit assistant professor at a small liberal arts college, she transitioned to being a full time, tenure-track faculty member--before deciding to take a different path. Recently arrived at Syracuse University, she is the Director of DEIA Learning and Development at Syracuse University. Carrie and I talked about her roles i...

The Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for graduate students who have written dissertations which respond to and participate in deep and meaningful conversations within religion, values, and ethics. Fellows receive a $31,000 stipend to complete the writing stage of their dissertation, and it is available regardless of citizenship status. I was privileged to sit...