• Scholarly and professional writing in one’s field ♦♦♦
• Managing complex writing projects ♦♦♦
• Public speaking ♦♦♦ 
• Making formal presentations in one’s field ♦♦♦ 
• Employing effective visual communication ♦♦
• Communicating with diverse audiences ♦♦♦ 
• Communicating across multiple platforms ♦♦

Graduate Writing Center

The Graduate Writing Center offers a variety of workshops and thesis-writing support programs. The GWC offers FREE appointments with friendly, experienced writing consultants to all registered UCLA graduate and professional school students. They provide online videos of workshops on a variety of topics, including writing journal articles, conference proposals and presentations, literature reviews, grant writing, and for non-native English speakers in improve their English writing skills. They also have a collection of the best online resources for writing, including how to communicate with broader audiences.

 

Your Department or Program
Check with your department or program and mentors for opportunities to practice presenting your work inside your research groups, disciplinary area and at conferences and symposia. Look for guidance with significant writing projects within your research group or department, by seeking feedback, offering to provide feedback, and utilizing workshops or other training opportunities.

 

Grad Slam
Grad Slam is a campus and UC-wide competition that showcases and awards the best 3-minute research presentations by graduate students. Think TED Talks on steroids. The competition aims to strengthen the important career development skill of articulating graduate research concisely and effectively to a non-specialist audience. It also highlights the excellence, importance and relevance of UCLA graduate students and their research.

 

CIRTL
UCLA is part of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) nation-wide online network of 40+ universities seeking to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices for diverse learners. The CIRTL@UCLA program supports the professional and career development of graduate students who are engaged in teaching now, or who are considering academic careers, through a CIRTL@UCLA Certification Pathway, Courses and Workshops, Resource Guides and a robust learning community. Much of their training involves skills development in public speaking, speaking to diverse audiences, and utilizing multiple communication and teaching platforms.

Toastmasters Public Speaking Practice Groups

• Time management ♦♦
• Setting realistic goals ♦♦
• Maintaining progress towards goals ♦♦
• Understanding and navigating requirements and expectations of my program ♦♦♦♦
• Balancing academic and research responsibilities with other aspects of my life ♦♦♦
• Personal health and wellness ♦♦
• Managing personal finances and planning for the future ♦♦♦
• Developing community and social relationships ♦♦♦
• Actively engaging with different identities and opinions ♦♦♦
• Developing healthy boundaries and self-advocacy skills ♦♦♦♦

Your Department or Program
Your mentor, department or program should be able to help you with realistic goal-setting, maintaining progress, and navigating program requirements. Programs and disciplinary areas offer many avenues to practice engaging with different identities and opinions and developing self-advocacy skills. 

 

Division of Graduate Education
Graduate Division oversees graduate student appointments and services and provides a number of centralized resources. In particular, graduate students facing challenges to their training progress for any reason, should reach out to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Case Managers for assistance and guidance to available resources. Graduate Division also provides workshops for graduate students related to navigating your training, obtaining fellowship funding, financial wellness, diversity and inclusion and other topics. 

 

Graduate Writing Center
The Graduate Writing Center offers a variety of workshops and thesis-writing support programs. The GWC offers FREE appointments with friendly, experienced writing consultants to all registered UCLA graduate and professional school students. They provide online videos of workshops on a variety of topics, including writing journal articles, conference proposals and presentations, literature reviews, grant writing, and for non-native English speakers in improve their English writing skills. They also have a collection of the best online resources for writing, including how to communicate with broader audiences.

 

Graduate Student Resource Center
The Graduate Student Resource Center (GSRC) offers workshops year-round on topics related to wellness, self development, funding, success in your program and more. You can visit their office for drop-ins, free printing services, and more. Join their newsletter for more information about upcoming events and to stay connected.

• Use the GSRC Resources Flow Chart to quickly identify campus resources for a variety of needs.
• GSRC Weekly Virtual Drop-In Hours on:
  • Financial Wellness Coaching
  • Graduate Student Support
    
  • First-Gen Graduate Student

UCLA Wellness and Self Development Resources
UCLA offers a number of wellness and self development resources for graduate students.

Wellness:

• Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center
• GPB Wellness and Reporting Resources Page
• Free Counseling for Graduate Students:
  Behavioral Wellness Center (BWC)
  Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS)
  Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)
  Resilience in Your Student Experience (RISE)
• Case Managers
• Center for Accessible Education

Financial Wellness:

• UCLA Financial Wellness Program
• GPB Short-Term Emergency Loan Program
• UCLA Economic Crisis Response Team
• Basic Needs Center

Finding Community:

• Dashew Events for International Scholars
• First To Go Office
• Veterans Resource Center: Serving Veterans and Military Connected Students
• Bruin Resource Center
  Bruin Guardian Scholars: Current & former foster youth
  Bruin Underground Scholars Program
  Collegiate Recovery Program
  Students with Dependents
  Undocumented Student Program
• Networking and Affinity Groups

Engage Across Difference:

• UCLA Equity Diversity and Inclusion Training Hub

Graduate Programs in Bioscience (GPB)
GPB hosts workshops related to time management and achieving balance, goal-setting, mentoring relationships, successfully navigating your training, personal wellness, and diversity and inclusion. 

Leadership Series 

Entering Mentoring Course 

Mentoring Up Series

Individual Development Plans Coming soon!

• Managing projects ♦♦
• Obtaining funding in a research or professional setting ♦♦♦
• Managing a budget in a research or professional setting ♦
• Developing entrepreneurial skills ♦
• Leading the planning of an event or initiative ♦ 
• Leading a team ♦♦
• Working in a diverse team ♦♦
• Collaborating across different working styles ♦
• Resolving interpersonal conflict ♦♦
• Managing mentor and mentee relationships ♦♦
• Identifying opportunities for service and community engagement ♦♦♦♦

Graduate Writing Center

The Graduate Writing Center offers a variety of fellowship and grant application writing workshops. The GWC offers one-on-one writing consultant appointments for fellowship writing support and provides access to an archive of fellowship applications. They provide online videos of workshops on a variety of topics, including fellowship and grant writing. 

 

Your Department or Program
Your mentor, department or program should be able to help you with developing skills around managing projects, obtaining funding, working in teams and with people with different working styles, managing mentoring relationships and with opportunities for service and engagement. Look to identify mentors in these areas beyond your faculty mentor, including other faculty, senior trainees, advisors and administrators. 

 

UCLA Leadership, Project Management and Collaboration Resources
UCLA offers a number of leadership resources for graduate students

Finding and Obtaining Funding:

• The Division of Graduate Education hosts a searchable graduate student funding database and holds several workshops per year on fellowship funding and financial aid. 

Entrepreneurial:

• Advanced Degree Consulting Club (ADCC)
• BioTech Connection Los Angeles (BCLA)
• Startup UCLA
• Nucleate LA

Leading a group or planning events:

• Networking and Affinity Groups
  
• SOLE Student Leadership Toolkit

Opportunities for Service and Community Engagement:

• UCLA Volunteer Center
• UCLA Health Community Engagement
• Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) 
• Advancing Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE)
• Scientific Excellence through Diversity Seminar Series (SEDS)

Graduate Programs in Bioscience (GPB)
GPB hosts workshops related to time management and achieving balance, goal-setting, mentoring relationships, successfully navigating your training, personal wellness, and diversity and inclusion. 

Leadership Series 

Entering Mentoring Course 

Mentoring Up Series

Individual Development Plans Coming soon!

• Creating an inclusive classroom for learners from diverse backgrounds ♦
• Applying evidence-based pedagogical methods ♦
• Designing and developing a course and learning goals ♦
• Developing effective assessments for learning outcomes ♦
• Training learners in research skills and techniques ♦♦
• Advising, role modeling, and mentoring ♦
• Using instructional technology effectively ♦
• Developing a teaching philosophy ♦♦

CIRTL
UCLA is part of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) nation-wide online network of 40+ universities seeking to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices for diverse learners. The CIRTL@UCLA program supports the professional and career development of graduate students who are engaged in teaching now, or who are considering academic careers, through a CIRTL@UCLA Certification Pathway, Courses and Workshops, Resource Guides and a robust learning community. Much of their training involves skills development in evidence-based pedagogy, creating inclusive classrooms, designing courses, learning goals and assessments, using instructional technology, and developing a teaching philosophy.

Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT)
They foster and champion effective teaching, grounded in sound pedagogy and enhanced by innovation, to promote successful learning for our diverse student population. To realize this mission, they collaborate with faculty and other campus partners, drawing on our wide range of expertise in pedagogy, educational technology, assessment, learning spaces, and curricular research.

Graduate Programs in Bioscience (GPB)
GPB hosts courses and workshops related to developing research mentorship skills, both as a mentee and mentor. 

Entering Mentoring Course 

Mentoring Up Series

 

UCLA Career Center – Graduate Career Services
The Graduate Career Services team at the UCLA Career Center provides one-on-one coaching, workshops and networking events for graduate students, around topics of career exploration, career path preparation, job search, networking and interviewing skills, in preparation for jobs inside and beyond academia. Look for event announcements in your email. Log in to their online professional development platform, Handshake, to access upcoming events, schedule coaching sessions, AND check out their resource guides below.

Career Exploration Resource Guide

Networking Resource Guide

Job Search and Resume Resource Guide

Interviewing and Negotiation Resource Guide

Academic Job Search Resource Guide

 

Your Department or Program
Check with your department or program, and mentors for opportunities to mentor more junior research trainees, including undergraduates, new graduate students, summer researchers, etc.

• Understanding how to access and assess literature and research in your discipline ♦♦
• Developing command of the existing knowledge in your discipline ♦
• Developing familiarity with interdisciplinary knowledge and research approaches ♦
• Designing research to address important questions in your field ♦
• Mastering research methods in your field and relevant adjoining fields ♦
• Collaborating effectively in research ♦♦
• Upholding ethical norms and practicing responsible conduct and dissemination of research ♦♦
• Practicing civility in scholarly exchange and the research environment♦ 

Your Department or Program
Your mentor, department and program should be your primary resources for developing your research, scholarship and academic skills. There may be questions or issues around your research and the way your research group/mentor operates that you do not even know to ask. Check out our Research Training Cheat Sheet that includes questions every research trainee should ask. Consider including the questions you do not know the answers to in your meetings with your mentor, more senior trainees, and research group. Understanding how faculty mentors/research groups respond to each of these questions can help graduate students compare research environments when choosing a dissertation or postdoctoral lab.

 

Scholarly Expertise and Integrity Resources

UCLA Library:
Help and Training for Researchers

Graduate Programs in Bioscience (GPB)
Graduate Programs in Bioscience and Bioscience Postdoc Affairs host courses in Responsible Conduct of Research and Rigor and Reproducibility that meet NIH and NSF Fellowship and Traineeship requirements. Also, many workshops provided by GPB touch on effective collaboration, mentoring relationships, and other best practices in research settings.

Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR) and Rigor and Reproducibility Training

Leadership Series 

Entering Mentoring Course 

Mentoring Up Series