Jaisree Jayaraman

University Support Services and Resources for Academic Success, Professionalization, Funding, and Job Search: A Comprehensive Orientation Program for Graduate Students

Abstract: There are several resources and services provided by different offices and programs at Purdue University to support the academic success, professional development, and job search preparation of its graduate students. As for financial support for their graduate education itself, there are various internal funding sources available in the form of fellowships and assistantships, beyond those offered by their respective departments and graduate programs, as well as access to external funding sources facilitated by a funding database maintained by the Graduate School. However, many graduate students are never able to take advantage of these resources simply because they are not aware of them. Many students find out about them only incidentally over the course of their time at Purdue and sometimes too late. This proposal aims to fill this gap in communication and information dissemination. Knowledge of these resources will enable more graduate students to utilize these resources for their success, potentially leading to enhanced recruitment, retention, and quality of life of graduate students. At the beginning of every fall and spring semester, several new student orientation events are held at the university, school, department, and program levels, but their reach, scope, and effectiveness at introducing students with the various support services and resources across the university and community is very limited. Similarly lacking is the dissemination of such information through other mediums such as brochures, flyers, websites, email, and so on. This proposal aims to organize a more accessible, sustained, and comprehensive series of orientation and information sessions for graduate students, familiarizing them with university support services for academic success, professional development, funding, and job search preparation.