Together, we are up to the challenge
The time you spend during graduate school can be some of the most rewarding as well as the most challenging times in your life. It is an opportunity to create lifelong friendships and learn skills that translate into a strong career. It is also a time when you can be challenged the most intellectually, emotionally and often financially. There can be incredible uncertainty about how your hard work and learning will translate into a long term career under the best of circumstances.
But we are now faced with an entirely new set of challenges stemming from the global health crisis, growing economic uncertainty and the need to confront institutional racism. In response to the spread of COVID-19, ASU has made a host of changes to make you feel as safe and healthy as possible as you return to campus. Read the ASU Coronavirus FAQs for more information. To help prepare you for entry into an increasingly challenging job market, the Graduate College has stepped up our professional development programming. And with an increased sense of urgency, I think all of us are seeking a deeper understanding of how equity, inclusion and justice shape each other's lives differently depending on skin color.
As students, you are dealing with these issues while also learning new ways to take and teach classes, to interact with faculty and fellow students, to conduct research, to build a professional network and to develop employable skills.
The Graduate College is here for you — now and in the future
We are dedicated to listening to and connecting with you as we face these challenges together. We strive to create a community with support structures in place to make it easier for you to overcome any difficulties and achieve your professional and personal goals. Whether you are looking for a mentor, funding opportunities, professional development, connections to graduate faculty or tools that make it easier for you to meet your graduate requirements, we have what you need.
It’s our sincere hope that you will develop an affinity for the Graduate College that continues once you become an ASU alumnus. Visit our welcome page to find out more about the resources and programs available to you.
https://graduate.asu.edu/welcome
for online students:
https://graduate.asu.edu/welcome-online
Elizabeth Wentz
Vice Provost and Dean
Graduate College
More stories from the Graduate Insider
Reflection: Turning knowledge into action
Reflection. It is a simple and powerful word. It invites us to pause, look back, and find meaning in what we have experienced so that we can move forward with clarity and purpose. In universities, reflection helps us adapt today to shape tomorrow. It is how we turn our learning, research, and creativity into impact.
Inside Graduate College’s Three Minute Thesis competition
When Aliyah Egan stepped onto the stage as a master’s student in last year’s Graduate College Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, she faced a challenge familiar to many researchers: explaining complex, specialized work to an audience with little or no background in her field.
Mentoring with intention: Strengthening graduate support at ASU
January is National Mentoring Month, a time to celebrate the impact mentoring can have and to reflect honestly on where gaps remain. At Arizona State University, mentoring is recognized as a critical component of graduate student success.