Graduate Professional Development Course

Hello Dear Grad Students:

As some of you know already, I am coordinating a Graduate Professional Development Course at U of Toronto. The pilot is to start September, 2012. A number of people have inquired. Those of you who are interested, you must be a U of Toronto graduate student in the Biosciences, Faculty of Medicine. The course is open to Biochemistry grad students (as that is my department). Any others will be added to a waiting list.

The course will focus on ways to optimize your graduate experience and cultivate skills such as collaboration, leadership, initiative, creatively thinking "outside the box," and communication while maintaining a satisfying family life. Some topics to cover are how to succeed in the highly competitive academic arena and to find the nonacademic career right for each student. There are 12 interactive lectures, each followed by a guest panel of 3-4 PhD or MSc graduates (academic and nonacademics) to discuss their career pathways. Evaluation is based on class participation, oral presentations and written homework.

If any of you qualify and would like to take this course (postdocs can also check it out for a fee), you can find me on linkedin, connect with me with an appropriate message, and I'll send you the details. We may also offer it in the summer as a workshop, condensed version.

Also, if you are at another university and would like to start one at your department, you may contact me as well for more information.

Good luck  - perhaps see you in class!