blog posts

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  Development is a Dance: Tips for a Non-Linear Journey

  Jun 1, 2022 8:30 am

  "A baseball scout once told me, 'Development is a dance.' He was talking about how young baseball players don’t improve on a linear path. Some take steps forward and then back, or laterally, before figuring it out."

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  Creative and Collaborative: Trying out Careers in Publishing

  Jun 17, 2019 12:00 pm

  I recently had the opportunity to participate in a “Try-It-Out Experience” through the Grad College Career Development Office and the University of Illinois Press. This one-day professional development opportunity provides graduate students with a focused goal-setting session, industry connections, and the chance to explore new-to-them career paths.

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  Creating Connections with Advice from the Surgeon General

  Jul 20, 2023 1:15 pm

  Andrea Bridges shares tips for fostering connection in our lives.

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  Creating a Roadmap for Graduate School Success

  Feb 9, 2021 5:30 pm

  Grad school is stuffed with opportunities. This blog will help you start creating your roadmap in 4 simple steps!

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  Courtney Richardson's Transformation of Historical Information

  Nov 1, 2020 5:45 pm

  Doctoral student Courtney Richardson reads aloud her award-winning 2020 Image of Research entry and shares how she created it.

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  Copyright and Your Thesis

  Feb 6, 2017 6:30 pm

  Copyright can be a tricky topic for students working on their theses. With complex contractual language and so many rules and exceptions, it is easy to become overwhelmed. Luckily, University of Illinois Copyright Librarian Sara Benson is here to help!

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  Coping with Compassion Fatigue

  May 6, 2020 12:45 pm

  Dr. Tara Powell's recent Zoom workshop on "Self-care, Preventing Burnout and Compassion Fatigue" struck a chord with over 1000 people in the university community, maxing out the potential registrants for a Zoom meeting. That's not surprising during these strange times when many people are doubling down on efforts to check-in (virtually or in-person) on friends and family members who are struggling. Powell offers some tips for those in caregiver roles during the COVID19 pandemic, but they are applicable in our everyday lives as well. 

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  Cher. Definitely, Cher: LLM Student Wins First Place at Illinois Global Talent Show

  Nov 8, 2019 4:15 pm

  LLM student Marie Joe Noon won first prize at the inaugural Illinois Global Talent Show for her vocal performance of "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston. Annie caught up with Marie after the show to learn about her singing inspiration (definitely Cher), her hometown, and how singing translates to confidence in the courtroom.

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  Celebrating our Graduates at the Spring '24 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

  May 15, 2024 11:15 am

  Doctoral hooding is the end of one journey and the beginning of another. We've got a behind-the-scenes view of this semester's celebrations.

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  Celebrating Our Graduates at the December 2023 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

  Dec 11, 2023 12:45 pm

  Doctoral Hooding is the culmination of an academic and personal journey. These are some of our favorite moments from the December 2023 Hooding Ceremony. 

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  Building Community in Graduate School

  Oct 18, 2018 4:30 pm

  By starting a graduate program at the University of Illinois, you have joined a large, vibrant community of people committed to exploring and understanding the world. You’re surrounded every day by tens of thousands of fascinating, dedicated, and creative people.

  Within such a large and dynamic community, though, it can sometimes be challenging to connect with others. You may be wondering how to find those connections and build relationships with people around you. Good news, though: everyone else is wondering the same thing.

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  Broadening the Reach of Comedy in CU

  Apr 4, 2018 10:45 am

  Stephanie Brown always thought she’d go back to grad school to get her PhD “eventually,” the winner of the 2018 Graduate Student Leadership Award said. But a few years working in the entertainment industry in LA and New York convinced her that the time was right. It would be several years until the #MeToo sexual assault awareness campaign took off in late 2017, but for Stephanie, enough was enough. 

  Stephanie is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Communications Research at Illinois. This semester, she’s wrapping up her dissertation and plans to defend this summer. When she’s not exploring issues of gender in comedy for her research, she’s living them. Stephanie founded and runs Broad Comedy, a local comedy group in Champaign-Urbana that is dedicated to diversifying voices in the local stand-up comedy scene.  

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  Bringing the Magic of Iranian Music to the Heartland

  Apr 29, 2019 11:45 am

  The University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign is home to a highly diverse student body and their respective student associations, which aim to cultivate and share with each other their music, food, art and traditions.

  In this piece, we feature an event organized by the Iranian Cultural Association (ICA) on our campus during the Spring 2019 semester. ICE hosted Kayhan Kalhor, a globally recognized musician from Iran known for his transcendental music and for his ensemble collaborations with other musicians across the globe. Kalhor is known to play several instruments in particular the Kamancheh and the Setar. This event was made possible by the ICA along with support from Center for South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and several other units on campus. 

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  Ask the Grad College: On Taking Time off from a Busy Schedule

  Jan 15, 2024 9:15 am

  I haven’t seen my parents in two years, and I would like to plan a trip home. I have an RA in a lab with year-round research. How do I approach taking time off for this trip?

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  Ask the Grad College: On Reading Teaching Evaluations

  Dec 10, 2023 9:00 am

  The last time I read my teaching evaluations, I dealt with some complex emotions. Some of the feedback felt constructive, but a lot of it felt mean. How do I sift through the comments and find what's helpful within them?

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  Ask the Grad College: On Changing Career Plans in Graduate School

  Jan 20, 2024 8:00 am

  I started my program thinking I wanted to go into academia, but I feel less and less interested in an academic job. I’m committed to finishing, but I don’t know what kinds of jobs I should look for. What do I do? 

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  Ask the Grad College: How Much Time is Enough Time?

  Feb 28, 2024 8:30 am

  I spent about 2 hours completing my first homework assignment. After I turned it in, I learned that my friend spent 6 hours on the assignment. Should I be spending more time on each assignment?   

  
  

  
  
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  Applying for Fellowships: Telling the "Story of You"

  Mar 29, 2017 4:30 pm

  When applying for fellowships, you may be asked to provide a personal statement, professional goals statement, or something similar.

  A personal statement gives you an opportunity to elaborate on and offer context for information contained in other documents, such as a résumé, CV, research statement, or letters of reference. It gives you a chance to write the story of you:  experiences that have motivated you, people who have inspired you, ideas you’ve pursued, and choices you’ve made. I’ll offer some strategies for approaching these kinds of statements, but first are some suggestions for what to avoid.

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  An Internship Can Help Change the Direction of Your Career

  Sep 20, 2016 4:30 pm

  Should you do an internship in grad school? Kristin Divis says “Yes!” and once you hear her story, it’s easy to understand why.

  This summer, after graduating with a PhD in Psychology from Illinois, Divis started an exciting, full-time job at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia is also, as it turns out, where she’d worked as an intern for several years while in grad school.

  I spoke with Divis earlier this year, shortly before she graduated and not long after she accepted that full-time offer. She wanted to share her reasons for doing an internship, what she learned, and why you should consider doing one, too. Here’s what she had to say...

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  An Insider's Guide to Acing Your Thesis Format Review

  Oct 19, 2017 12:00 am

  When writing a thesis, most students are focused on the content – and rightfully so! You want to make sure chapters are well researched and well written, the citations are placed correctly, and all of the data is recorded and analyzed. Formatting is probably one of the last things you think of. But paying careful attention to the overall look of your work is a key element to creating a polished and professional-looking thesis. The Graduate College Thesis Office is here to help!

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  A Month in Wellness with Katherine Hatcher

  Mar 11, 2019 1:15 pm

  Katherine Hatcher founded her blog and Instagram account, "Grad Self-Care" in October 2018 as a way to share her story about health and wellness in graduate school. Through it, she connected with countless other graduate students from around the country who are working to find their own meaning of work-life balance. In this post, Katherine shares with us her monthly wellness routine and tips for setting up and sticking to your own. 

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  Alexandra Spitzer's "Inspired by Plants"

  Jun 26, 2024 2:30 pm

  Graduate student Alexandra Spitzer reads aloud her award-winning 2024 Image of Research entry and shares how she created it.

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  AI @ Illinois: How Are Illinois Graduate Students Using Generative AI?

  Oct 5, 2023 9:00 am

  Generative AI is here, and it's making waves. We asked grad students at Illinois about how they're using AI in their everyday lives and work. This is what they told us.

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  AI @ Illinois: Complex Conversations Around Generative AI

  Oct 6, 2023 12:00 pm

  The proliferation of generative AI products has led to a wide variety of opinions about the efficacy, ethicality, and potential impact of AI on different dimensions of our lives. We asked Illinois graduate students for their thoughts.

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  5 Ways to Not Get Intimidated & Overwhelmed When Applying to Graduate School

  Nov 1, 2020 7:30 pm

  University of Illinois bioengineering graduate students share their top five tips for applying to graduate school.

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  5 Tips for Talking about Your Work

  Sep 18, 2018 1:15 pm

  So, what do you do?

  This is a question graduate students hear frequently—whether from scholars in their field, people in an elevator, or family members. And while at first the answer might seem simple—it’s what you do every day, after all—finding ways to frame and explain your work to others can be a challenge. Thinking about your answer to this question is important since there are many situations when you might need to answer it: applying for fellowships or funding to support your work, job interviews or networking events, interviews with the media, or discussions with political leaders regarding policy. And recently, several UI students found themselves confronted with this question when former President Obama made an impromptu coffeehouse stop during his visit to campus!

  Below are some tips for talking about your work to help you prepare no matter the situation.

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  3 Quick Everyday Tips for Surviving & Thriving on Zoom

  May 7, 2021 5:30 pm

  Zoom fatigue is real. We share a few quick tips for before, during, and after online meetings that you can do to avoid burnout.