Programming Opportunities

By skill category:

• Career Preparation
• Communication
• Leadership
• Research Skills
• Teaching

By audience:

• PhD
• Postdoc

By disciplines:

• Humanities & Social Sciences
• STEM & Medicine

By location:

• Evanston
• Chicago
• Online

The Academic Job Market Preparation Workshop Series aims to demystify the application materials required for the academic job market. Each participant will develop their materials with the guidance of facilitated morning workshops and collaborative working groups in the afternoon. Postdocs and graduate students from all disciplines are welcome. You must register separately for each workshop you wish to attend.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Public Humanities Graduate Research Workshop of the Kaplan Humanities Institute provides participants with opportunities to develop professional skills and networks to make their scholarship more relevant, legible, and meaningful to publics across and beyond the university. As part of this workshop, we explore what constitutes publicly engaged scholarship while developing more grounded communication and translational skills that can help participants pursue a diverse set of careers within and outside of the academy. With an eye to connecting theory to practice, workshop participants are also given research support and mentorship opportunities to pursue their own public humanities projects during the course of the year.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Alice Kaplan Institute for details.

The Biostatistics Collaboration Center (BCC) supports Feinberg investigators in the conduct of high-quality, innovative health-related research by providing expertise in biostatistics, statistical programming, and data management. Graduate students and postdocs can sign up for a free 1–2-hour consultation appointment to assess their research needs, scope of work, and to learn more about additional services and support available.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Feinberg School of Medicine for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers a variety of career exploration workshops throughout the year for general student audiences, as well as for students in specific disciplines or who are interested in pursuing careers in specific industries. Titles of some of these workshops include: Job Search Resources and SMART Professional Goal Setting; Imagine PhD Demo for Humanists and Social Scientists; Beyond the Professoriate’s Training Platform: Demo for PhD Students; Skills, Values, & Your Career; Consulting 101.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

What is the public purpose of the disciplines known as “the humanities”? How does humanistic knowledge and craft strengthen communities? And how can I put my doctoral training to work for the public good—within and beyond the academy? This eight-week summer program is designed to help PhD students interested in public scholarship and/or careers in the public humanities grapple with these questions. Participants will explore the role of the humanities in public life through interdisciplinary classroom discussion and hands-on practice.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Center for Civic Engagement for details.

Graduate students and postdocs who complete CIRTL programs can receive four ascending levels of certification to demonstrate their mastery of the core ideas central to CIRTL: learning communities, learning through diversity, and teaching as research.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

Dataquest is an online service with over 200 self-paced, interactive courses on using R, Python, and SQL for data analysis. PhD students, faculty, and postdocs interested in learning or improving their data analysis skills in support of their research are eligible for access. Undergraduates, master's degree students, and staff may request access if engaged in a relevant research project with a faculty sponsor or supervisor, or via special arrangement.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Research Computing Services for details.

This program is open to post-candidacy PhD students in all disciplines and teaches Design Thinking principles that students can apply to all areas of their lives. The class will include small-group discussions, short reading and writing assignments, hands-on creation, and conversations with alumni. 

This class will run weekly on Wednesdays from 12:00–2:00 PM during Winter 2024 on the Evanston campus. Attendance is required for all sessions.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Graduate School, Northwestern Career Advancement, The Personal Development Studio Lab (McCormick School of Engineering) for details.

Dissertation Boot Camps provide advanced graduate students with a place and time to make fast, efficient progress on dissertation writing with tools and resources to create positive writing habits. During the two-week camp, students work independently on their writing as well as have the opportunity to participate in workshops, one-on-one coaching, and peer consultation. The Boot Camps are intended for graduate students who have begun the dissertation writing process.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Writing Place for details.

ELP Foundations is a hybrid course that pairs online instruction in the summer before students arrive on campus with in-person experiences in Evanston and Chicago in September. ELP Foundations provides linguistic, emotional, academic, and practical support to entering Northwestern PhD and MFA students through online content on using American English and practical advice on integrating into an American university and the local culture. Students will begin to build their new support network over the summer online and then have the chance to meet their classmates in person in September to explore the Chicago area together.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit English Language Programs for details.

English Development through Guided Exploration (EDGE) is an extra-curricular program designed to provide international graduate students with an opportunity to practice their English conversation skills with international and American peers. Students in this program participate in outings led by fellow students (graduate leaders). Students can choose the outings that best fit their interests and schedule.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit EDGE for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers a variety of job search workshops and programs throughout the year for general student audiences, as well as for students in specific disciplines or who are interested in pursuing careers in specific industries. Titles of some of these workshops include: Putting Together Your Academic Job Market Portfolio; CV Writing; Best Practices in Resume & Cover Letter Writing; Intro to Behavioral Interviewing; How to Develop a Research Talk for Non-Academic Roles; Negotiation Best Practices.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Fellowship in Leadership allows participants to develop their capacity for leadership and delve into questions about leadership, teamwork, and fellowship that interest them and their peers. Fellows work collaboratively with program faculty and staff in an environment that fosters deep learning through inquiry and real-world problem solving. The fellowship is open to full-time PhD students, postdocs, law students, medical students, and selected high-potential staff. To be eligible, students and postdocs must participate in the Leadership Coaching program prior to January of their application year.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Center for Leadership for details.

The Graduate Engagement Opportunities (GEO) Community Practicum enables graduate students across disciplines to connect theory and practice through a quarter-long internship with a community organization and a credit-bearing seminar on engaged scholarship. The experiential component of the GEO program is a 10-week placement at a community organization. This placement serves as a structured opportunity for students to bring their expertise to bear on social issues, develop mutually-beneficial community partnerships, and/or develop new professional skills and experiences.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Center for Civic Engagement for details.

Graduate Teaching Fellows is a year-long program to support advanced graduate students in developing their pedagogical skills and knowledge and provide them with a learning community in which to discuss and discover strategies to strengthen the culture of learning and teaching at Northwestern. Throughout the program, fellows deepen their pedagogical development through implementing or sustaining an initiative in their department, participating in an interdisciplinary learning community, developing and facilitating an interactive workshop for an interdisciplinary audience, cultivating a relationship with a faculty mentor, and creating a reflective ePortfolio and Teaching Statement.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

This executive education-style workshop course teaches and enhances skills associated with effective grant opportunity identification, preparation, writing, and submission to researchers engaged in research. Postdocs may use the Employee Reduced Tuition Benefit to offset the cost of the course.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit School of Professional Studies for details.

English Language Programs' group language classes are offered through the Department of Linguistics for eligible graduate students and postdocs. Courses are designed for students at intermediate and advanced levels of English proficiency. These courses are only available to graduate students and postdocs in The Graduate School.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit English Language Programs for details.

The Humanities Without Walls (HWW) Predoctoral Career Diversity Workshop is a three-week, residential workshop designed to help doctoral students explore ways they can leverage their graduate training for careers both within and outside the academy. The workshop is open to students who are working toward but have not yet received a PhD in a humanities or humanistic social sciences discipline. Through a series of workshops, talks, field trips, and career-planning sessions, participants will learn how to apply humanistic values, insights, and skills to careers within the “public humanities,” the private sector, nonprofits, government and NGOs, arts administration, public media, and non-faculty positions in colleges and universities. In addition to a significantly broadened sense of the career possibilities that await humanities PhDs, graduates from the workshop will emerge with a network of contacts in a range of professional realms and a cohort of fellows from whom they may draw support and advice.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Alice Kaplan Institute for details.

Integrated Academic Skills is a comprehensive curriculum specially designed for new PhD or MFA students who need extra support in developing their proficiency in spoken English. This two-quarter sequence focuses on developing oral English skills for the academic context as students work toward fulfilling The Graduate School’s English proficiency requirement. Enrollment is based on students’ performance on their Versant placement test.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit English Language Programs for details.

The Graduate Writing Place runs a number of Interdisciplinary Writing Groups for PhD students who have already completed their coursework. These groups meet for two hours on a weekly basis to discuss and provide feedback on their own and fellow group members’ writing and writing processes. Groups are comprised of 5-6 members, and while no group contains more than one student from a single department/program, each group will be comprised of members who share either a qualitative or quantitative research focus. PhD students must apply to earn a spot in one of the writing groups.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Writing Place for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers introductory workshops and programs each quarter. These workshops seek to introduce students to relevant staff and the resources available to them.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The INVO Practicum is an unpaid six-month internship program open to Northwestern graduate students and postdocs who are interested in learning about the university technology transfer process. The interns are exposed to vast areas of innovation and gain hands-on experience in evaluating technologies for patentability, marketability, and commercialization readiness. This program requires attendance at training sessions and a commitment of 10 hours per week over a six-month period.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Innovation and New Ventures for details.

One-on-one leadership coaching allows graduate students and postdocs to build on their leadership strengths, explore their potential, and advance their personal leadership goals. Coaching consists of six 1-hour sessions in one academic quarter with a leadership coach.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Center for Leadership for details.

Successful researchers in engineering and the life and physical sciences face daily challenges managing and leading teams, communicating with business-oriented colleagues, and surmounting the hurdles associated with the commercialization of research. The Graduate School has partnered with Kellogg School of Management to offer a certificate program taught by Kellogg faculty that will equip promising post-candidacy doctoral students with the necessary business and leadership skills. Classes are held Mondays during eight weeks of the Summer Quarter. Students will be introduced to business concepts and specific frameworks for effective management relevant to both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. They will also gain a basic understanding of strategy, finance, risk and uncertainty, marketing, accounting, and leadership.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit TGS and Kellogg for details.

This program prioritizes professional skill development in writing and communication of scientific ideas, comprehension of the media landscape and consumer audiences, and preparation for the high demands of public engagement in science throughout the academic and professional sectors. The program is administered through a partnership between The Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and The Graduate School. Students can choose to take a 3-unit cluster of classes or earn a 5-unit certificate granted by The Graduate School.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Graduate School for details.

STEM and SBE (social, behavioral sciences and economics) graduate students and postdocs are invited to observe faculty teaching undergraduate or early graduate courses and meet with faculty to discuss their perspectives and methods. Participants also engage in group discussions on selected readings that address key topics in teaching. The time commitment is limited to facilitate participation. The program is completed in one quarter. It is intended to be a first step in learning about teaching, but has also been valuable for students who have completed the Teaching Certificate Program.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers a variety of networking workshops and programs throughout the year for general student audiences. Titles of some of these workshops include: Developing Professional Relationships On and Off-line; LinkedIn Best Practices; Networking Communications.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Northwestern Externship Program (NEXT) is a one-day shadowing program offering current Northwestern students the opportunity to accompany alumni on the job to learn more about different professional fields. Students spend time observing and often working alongside their alumni hosts to gain insight into the practical aspects of potential careers. With an increased focus on providing students with mentorship and career development opportunities, NEXT is a wonderful program connecting current Northwestern undergraduate and graduate students with our global alumni community.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Alumni Association and Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Odyssey Project is a free, 32-week, college-credit granting humanities program for income-eligible adults with limited to no access to higher education sponsored by Illinois Humanities. The program is offered in the Chicago neighborhoods of Albany Park, Greater Grand Crossing, and Cicero (taught in Spanish), as well as in Urbana-Champaign. The first-year course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the humanities through the study of philosophy, art history, literature, U.S. history, and critical thinking and writing. In addition to work in the classroom, students have the opportunity to see plays, visit museums, and attend public lectures. Northwestern students may apply to teach Odyssey Project courses and workshops. Stipends are available for teaching one of the first-year Odyssey courses. Graduate students must have the permission of their adviser to teach in this program.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Alice Kaplan Institute for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers an extended series career development course each summer for PhD students. This extended program seeks to supply students in any discipline with the skills to (1) navigate and use career tools and resources at Northwestern, (2) articulate their skills to different audiences and consider career objectives, (3) learn best practices in networking, (4) practice informational interview skills with professionals, (5) learn best practices in writing application materials, and (6) interviewing. Registration is via Handshake. Because this workshop series builds on itself, it is recommended to attend all sessions to get the most out of each session.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Academic Quarter Kickoff events are for all graduate students with teaching responsibilities at Northwestern. The conference features peer-led workshops, discussions on pedagogy, and an opening address featuring teaching perspectives from Northwestern’s own faculty, staff, and administration.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

Northwestern Career Advancement offers a series of four workshops, all of which are offered in Fall, Winter, and Spring. These 45-minute sessions seek to educate PhD students from all disciplines in best practices for (1) searching for jobs, (2) developing a professional network, (3) writing job application materials, and (4) preparing for interviews. PhD students at any stage of their career exploration process are welcome.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern Career Advancement for details.

The Graduate School and Office of Postdoctoral Affairs run quarterly “Mentoring Up” workshops for graduate students and postdocs in all disciplines who would like to learn best practices to help them establish effective and productive mentoring relationships with their mentors (“mentoring up”). These three-part training workshops are based on the “Entering Mentoring” curriculum developed by the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Participants who complete all three sessions are eligible to receive a certificate. Workshops include (1) Maintaining Communication and Aligning Expectations, (2) Enacting Equity and Inclusion, and (3) Building Self-Efficacy & Developing Professionally.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Graduate School and Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for details.

Reflective and Effective Teaching offers a unique cohort-based learning community for graduate students and postdocs from any discipline who aspire to improve student learning. Applicants, who are selected as teacher-scholars, can choose from our traditional three-quarter sequence of seminars and special-topics workshops or engage on a quarterly basis, selecting seminars and artifacts that align with their stage of teaching, availability, and goals.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

Research Communication Training Program (RCTP) was founded because of the need for scientists to have excellent communication skills. RCTP coaches graduate and postdocs on improving these skills. The program focuses on three important and basic components of communication: building confidence in all communication roles, enhancing the clarity of the message, and forming a connection with any audience.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit The Graduate School and CIERA for details.

Research Computing Services offers workshops on programming, data analysis, and other technical skills for Northwestern researchers. All members of the Northwestern research community are welcome. There is no cost to attend most sessions, but advance registration is required.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Northwestern IT for details.

Science Club is an after-school, mentor-based science program for middle school youth. This program brings graduate student mentors together with small groups of students to conduct fun and engaging scientific investigations.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Science in Society for details.

Graduate students and postdocs can learn about STEM teaching through online courses and concurrently participate in Northwestern's MOOC-Centered Learning Community.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.

The Searle Teaching-as-Research (STAR) program provides graduate students and postdocs with an opportunity to engage in evidence-based classroom research within the context of a supportive community of practitioners. STAR is open to graduate students and postdocs who are current or past participants of ONE of the following programs: the Teaching Certificate Program, Mentored Discussions of Teaching, the MOOC-Centered Learning Community, or an equivalent program at another institution.

Sponsoring Unit: Visit Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching for details.