Spires

Workshop Series

Cristian Jimenez & Richard Nunez-Gomez

Career Development Workshop series

For students whose goal is to pursue a PhD or MS graduate degree, the SPIRES program includes workshops on graduate program planning. The workshops are centered around the process of graduate school application, development of a personal statement, and strategies aimed at improving exam scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The GRE remains one of the most widely used and highly weighted criteria for graduate school admissions and scholarship/fellowship awards. The major goal of the graduate program planning workshops is to improve the competitiveness of PhD/MS applicants by improving GRE test taking skills. The series will introduce the process by which scholars acquire jobs & graduate admissions, and skills required for success. The workshops include the following. 

  • Job search strategy 
  • Personal Statement 
  • Time & Stress Management 
  • GRE Workshops 
  • Graduate School Application 
  • How to Prepare an Oral & Poster Presentation 
  • How to Choose a Research Lab
  • Interview skills 

Workplace Psychology Workshop Series

Longitudinal studies have shown that women in the STEM fields are significantly more likely to leave their occupations than women in professional fields, especially during the early stages of their careers (Glass, 2013). In order to help undergraduates in SPIRES navigate the workplace environment, as well as tackle the problem of family-career balance, the program will offer a series of workshops aimed at contemporary workforce issues. The goal is to minimize attrition of women and URMs in the STEM workplace after graduation. To accomplish this, we have assembled a team of trained specialists on campus to develop content for the program. The workshops offered will include the following. 

  • Closing the Leadership Gap 
  • Navigating the workplace 
  • Salary negotiation
  • Balancing family & career 
  • Dealing with imposter syndrome 
  • Conflict resolution 
  • Microaggressions & Emotional Intelligence