English DepartmentEnglish Department Professional Development
The English Department offers four different regular professional development opportunities every year.
Translating the PhD Colloquium
Open to students in all years. The colloquium offers 2 events per semester aimed at giving students a sense of the range of career possibilities open to students beyond the PHD. These events may include Duke Career Services, as well as Duke PhD alumni now working in a variety of fields. They may take the form of presentations, workshops, Q and A with prospective employers.
Dissertation Workshop
Open to students who have passed the preliminary exam, this workshop runs in Fall and seeks to provide support and community to students at all stages of dissertation writing.
Article Writing Workshop
A workshop designed to help students turn a seminar paper, conference paper or dissertation chapter into a scholarly article. This workshop normally runs in the Spring.
Academic Jobs Workshop
Primarily open to students on the academic job market, this workshop is run every Fall by the department Jobs Officer.
The Graduate School - Professional Development
The Graduate School offers a deep bench of professional development training, workshops and support with the goal of helping you succeed in the career path of your choice. Programs include:
- Teaching ideas workshops
- Courses on college teaching and a formal certificate in college teaching
- Bass Instructional Fellowships
- Year long Preparing Future Faculty program
- Duke OPTIONS online program with a focus on teaching & mentoring, communication, professional adaptability, leadership, self-awareness, and professionalism & scholarly integrity
- Six-week Emerging Leaders Institute
- Professional Development Series featuring talks, workshops, panels and events to help students develop transferable skills
- Professional Development Grant program to support discipline-specific professional development programming
- Responsible Conduct of Research training
- Writing Support in the form of courses, consultations and additional support for international students
- Professional development blog
Duke Career Services
Career Services has many programs and services for doctoral students who want to explore their career options. This is a description of their offerings taken from their website at https://careerhub.students.duke.edu/channels/doctoral/
Advising
Our experienced advisors are available to meet with all doctoral students at Duke. We work from a strengths-based perspective, tailored for each individual and can be viewed as attaining mastery in the Duke Career Development Process and competencies for career readiness.
During advising appointments, we look at what you are interested in, explore your likes and dislikes, identify competencies and skills you prefer to use and ones you want to develop, and reflect on past experiences to guide future decisions. We also examine how your strengths can impact your interest areas, how your personality can direct certain work environments, and how your personal values guide your choices while studying at Duke as well as career decisions. Schedule an appointment online in Handshake to get started.
Drop-in Advising
Bring quick questions or application documents (resumes, cover letters) to be reviewed by a career adviser or Career Ambassador Team member. Drop-in Career Advising is available several weekdays. More information
Career Hub Alerts
You can personalize your Career Hub alerts so that we only send you information that is valuable to you. You can choose topics, frequency, and layout! Click on the Personalize Your Hub button at the top of the page for more information.
Workshops, Programs and Events
A number of workshops, discussions, career fairs and unique advising opportunities are offered each year to help you explore and make decisions. You can view all events and filter by type and topic in Career Hub.
Handshake
View thousands and apply to opportunities available around the world (many posted especially for Duke students). On-Campus Interviews (actually on-campus or remote) are managed through Handshake. You will want to keep an eye on Handshake for career events and opportunities. Log in and update your profile today–https://duke.joinhandshake.com.
You can get started on your own or meet with us before you start and at any point. If you would like a thought partner or career advisor to work through something, please schedule time to meet with a career advisor in Handshake.
Collaborations with The Graduate School, Office of Postdoctoral Services and Others
The Academic Job Search and Careers Beyond Academia series of events will be important for you to consider. We co-sponsor these series with The Duke Graduate School and the Duke Office of Postdoctoral Services. Videos from both series can be found on the Duke Postdoc Services YouTube channel