Professional Development

Professional Topics, Advice & Tools

Regardless of what your career plans may be, your experience in graduate school should incorporate more than just coursework, research, presentations, and publications. The Graduate School provides resources and programs designed to enhance your graduate education experience. These opportunities will help prepare you for success in your future endeavors. Professional development is not just attending workshops; it happens while you pursue your degree. Begin today by exploring our resources below or visit the Continuing Education website.

Professional Development Image: Career, Personal, Student and Academic Development,

 

LSU has resources to assist you with:

  • Career Guidance

  • Networking

  • Entrepreneurship

Handshake at LSU is an excellent resource available to all current students and alumni. Handshake tailors each users experience based on your preference. Visit the Olinde Career Center website to learn how to sign up to start browsing thousands of available jobs and internships today.Visit GoinGlobal.com and start browsing over 80,000 pages of content curated by local industry experts, providing country-specific career and internship resources for students and professionals interested in working domestically or internationally.

LSU has resources to assist you with:Instruction Methods

  • Research Integrity

  • Graduation Preparedness

  • Course Design

  • Classroom Management

  • Evaluation

Trainings are offered regularly through the Faculty Technology Center. Frequent topics include Moodle, Zoom, TurningPoint, and other technologies that impact teaching and learning.The Imagine Academy offers over 300 e-learning courses and opportunities for Information Technology industry certifications. 

LSU provides resources and opportunities for:

  • Mentorship
  • Diversity
  • Financial Education
  • Communications Skills

LSU is now a member of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) network. CIRTL provides professional development, workshops, and graduate coursework that can lead to different certification levels.

LSU has obtained institutional membership to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). The NCFDD is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from over 450 colleges and universities. In addition to the resources available to you as an institutional member, the center also offers professional development training and intensive mentoring programs.

The Center for Academic Success (CAS) helps students achieve the higher levels of learning necessary for academic success in college and beyond. CAS offers services such as free tutoring, Supplemental Instruction (SI), Academic Coaching, workshops and online resources. Students who use our strategic academic support resources increase their grade point average, stay in their majors of choice and graduate on time. This fresh perspective on learning helps students achieve academic success! Additionally, the CAS empowers faculty with instructional support through faculty workshops and consultations on implementing high-impact practices to help students increase their academic performance and build critical thinking skills.

LSU provides resources and opportunities for:

  • Professional Writing
  • English as a Second Language
  • Time Management
  • Critical Thinking
  • Individual Development Plan

Several departments have graduate student conferences that provide opportunities for students to present their research alongside open calls for work from students at other universities. They frequently include world renowned keynote speakers. Many offer opportunities for interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary presentations as well. Some examples of these conferences include:

  • LSU English Graduate Student Association’s Mardi Gras Conference
  • Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference
  • History Graduate Student Association Conference
  • The LSU Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Graduate Student Conference
  • Department of Philosophy Graduate Student Conference 
  • The Annual Comparative Literature Conference. 

Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a method to enhance graduate students’ professional and career improvement in partnership with your advisors. An IDP will assistance you with:

  • Assessing your existing strengths, passions, and weakness.
  • Creating a plan for evolving and improving skills to help you achieve your academic and professionals goals.
  • Improving your goals and related skills with help of your advisors and other mentors.

The IDP provides a systematic identification for graduate students' needs, setting goals and helping their professionals and academic development year-by-year during their Ph.D. journey. Hence, graduate students can stay focused on their research and papers. The IDP will help you to prepare for your future while you are in grad school.

IDP: Initial form

IDP: Annual Form

IDP: meeting reporting form

On-Campus Resources

Personality Test

Self Assessments

Science & Technology

Social Sciences and Humanities

Preparing Future Faculty Program

The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program is a national movement to transform the way aspiring faculty members are prepared for their careers. PFF programs provide doctoral students, as well as some master’s and postdoctoral students, with opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities at a variety of academic institutions with varying missions, diverse student bodies, and different expectations for faculty.

Three Minute Thesis Logo

Three Minute Thesis is a competition that challenges research students to communicate the significance of their projects to a general audience in just three minutes. Learn more about the 3MT® by clicking the button below. 

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®)