Some graduate students’ eyes are veering off the academic track.
Today, about 10 to 20 percent of Duke graduate students pursue non-academic careers, said Peter Sigal, director of graduate studies and associate professor of history. The uptick in students choosing paths outside academia has prompted the Graduate School to explore programs that support their interests and goals.
“There has been a lot of publicity about the difficulties that there are in getting hired in universities,” said William Wright-Swadel, Fannie Mitchell executive director for career services. “We have seen more students saying that they are open to the idea of going in a different direction.... Ph.D. education is becoming progressively more reflective of what’s happening in the world.”
The Graduate School is working to strengthen its ties with the Career Center to expand career opportunities for graduate students. Efforts are ongoing but have included establishing two standing positions for career counselors to work specifically with graduate students, providing leadership series for doctoral candidates interested in the non-academic job market, hosting networking events and offering more one-on-one opportunities for graduate students to discuss future opportunities with Career Center staff, Wright-Swadel noted.
This increased collaboration between the Graduate School and Career Center was based on a May recommendation by a task force commissioned by the Graduate School, said Jacqueline Looney, senior associate dean for graduate programs.
The Graduate School also tracks its graduates after they leave Duke their future place of employment and their reasons for choosing the employer, Wright-Swadel said.
This information can be helpful to those considering graduate school but concerned about job placement, Looney added.
“We put all of our data online, we’re very transparent,” she said.
Some of the University’s departments are also discussing how they can change their mission statements to reflect broader public goals, Sigal said. The history department, for example, promotes intelligent critical engagement that is necessary for becoming productive citizens, but this message is sometimes overlooked.
“We need to do a better job thinking about the ways that our research and academic discourse addresses public debates and issues,” he said.
Although Sigal said the Graduate School should work to serve the needs of all students, graduate programs in humanities and social science departments are primarily focused on preparing students for academic careers.
“By training future university instructors, we are hoping that they will work with students... to help them analyze the ways in which historical knowledge can create better critical thinking,” he said. “We also hope that the books and articles that our graduate students publish will alter the ways in which we understand the world around us. We should admit that we do a better job with preparing students to be university instructors than we do preparing them to do other things.”
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