ESPM 376
PhD as Process: holistic professional way finding
The goal of this course is to provide integrative support for thriving in the PhD. What are strategies for efficiency and effectiveness? What are approaches for balancing personal and professional growth? How can we address anxiety, burn-out, and isolation? How can we prepare for a shifting career landscape? The course will offer strategies for time and energy management, staying grounded during difficult times, overcoming writer’s block, nurturing intrinsic motivation, combating decision fatigue, saying no, addressing fear, preparing for the job market, and supporting broader cultural change in academia.
Topics
- Explore general strategies for success. Each PhD is unique, but there are common strategies for success. We will examine approaches (supported by cognitive science and psychology) to help you maximize productivity. Explore specific strategies for fulfilment. While there are shared strategies for success, these must be implemented in a highly individualized way. We will help you develop tools for balancing your personal and professional needs and bringing more authenticity to your career. Apply these strategies to a landscape of change. Much is changing in academia and the world, and we can no longer look at our individual success in a vacuum. We will help you reconcile your personal path forward with broader questions in our communities and institutions.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027