We’re starting with a little trip to the more artistic side of the VCU grad experience, and soon we’ll be exploring graduate mentorship, grad school finance questions, fellowships, and more.

As always, if you have questions you want answered or you have a topic idea for a GradPod episode, email us at gradschool@vcu.edu. We’d love to hear from you. And now, let’s get on with the show

GRACE: Hello, happy Tuesday, and welcome back to GradPod. Whether or not you’re a student in one of VCU’s nationally ranked arts programs, our campus is full of opportunities to express yourself and to enjoy the creative work of others. This week, we’re joined by Anna Leonard and Trey Bernhardt-Hall to learn about one of those opportunities for expression, VCU’s literary magazine, Blackbird.

GRACE: Hello. Hi. Hey. Welcome. How are you guys today?

ANNA: Lovely. Yeah, doing great.

GRACE: Would you like to take a moment and introduce yourselves? Anna?

ANNA: Sure. Sure, I’ll go. My name’s Anna Leonard. I am entering into my third year in the MFA program studying Creative Writing, and my concentration is in poetry.

I am also the associate podcast editor for Blackbird and moving into the managing editor role for Blackbird, so I’m a big fan of the journal and excited to chat about it.

TREY: And I’m Trey Bernhardt-Hall. I am entering my third year of the Creative Writing MFA, and I’m studying creative nonfiction and poetry, and I am the lead editor for the Blackbird Literary Podcast.

GRACE: And you guys are doing some really cool work over there. But before we talk about the podcast specifically, for those who might not be aware, do you wanna fill me in on Blackbird’s sort of whole deal? It’s been around for quite a while, I understand.

ANNA: Yeah, we were founded in 2002 as one of the premier completely online journals. We publish poetry, fiction, nonfiction, book reviews, interviews, craft essays. We have an art feature, and we’re slowly moving into incorporating more mixed media in our flights, which is what we call our issues.

We recently moved to a different platform. We were previously in the sepia HTML, very 2002-coded website, and now we’re hosted by WordPress. So we have a totally different look as of, I’d say, two or three years ago, I think, is when we made that switch. And now, we’re continuing to try to grow via the Blackbird Literary Podcast, which Trey can talk a little bit more about, and incorporating more video essays, sound-based literature that we’re hoping to publish in a fully mixed media flight later this summer.

TREY: All right. Moving all the way into the year of our Lord, 2026.

ANNA: As we go. Yes.

TREY: Yeah. Blackbird is special because, you know, it was launched at a time when people laughed, like the thought of an audiobook or even a Kindle. There, there’s a real hesitancy to trust the digital movement towards art and, that interfacing between the public and the access that that would create.

And, you know, I think that Blackbird was really cutting edge for understanding that the- I mean, print media will always be treasured by everyone who loves literature. This is not like a better or worse. But I think that they were really forward-thinking and understanding that by publishing online and being able to hold a massive archive, that it really does create a more accessible platform for journal, literary journals.

And that was part of what fueled the concept behind the Blackbird Literary Podcast, is thinking about the vehicle of sound as an entrance ramp for those who maybe do not sit and read poetry or literary fiction, or see themselves as being part of, like, a literary community. The art of podcasting mimics the intimacy of music or other media that maybe is more readily available and maybe meet somebody where they are. And so that, I think that aligns with kind of the birth of the magazine.

GRACE: Yeah. I mean, that’s great. And I think people d- I mean, do you think that people feel sort of intimidated by the kind of concept of a literary magazine, maybe in a way that they’re not by a podcast?

TREY: Yeah. I mean, I would. I think that- So I’m from Appalachia, and I’m from, like a working class family, and the you know, the irony of that my mom, read me Shakespeare when I was a kid.

So class stereotypes aside, you know, my mom was an English teacher, so I was definitely exposed to literature, and my great-grandma was reading, like, Hemingway and Virginia Woolf back when they were being published. But from, like, a class dynamic, I think many people just don’t see themselves in the things that represent, like, ivory towerism or, like, you know, bourgeois culture.

And so I think that, like, a lot of the, you know, friends and family I have back home who did not hit the ground running hooked on phonics or, like, you know, in that space that, you know, a portion of my family was, has a lot of skepticism or even just, like, alienation of that, like, high art, quote unquote.

And, you know, I think that that’s also seen through, like, learning disabilities. You know, my grandma is dyslexic, right? And so, like, the page was not a place that she found comfort, you know? And so I think that it’s common, whether from, like, a class paradigm or, like, a lot of different vantage points for just some people to not fully see themselves in literary magazines or publishing.

GRACE: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That’s a great point. And, sort of jumping off of that, so Blackbird is largely staffed by graduate students, right? And you are both, as you said, graduate students. Can you tell me a little bit more about how that works from a student perspective?

ANNA: Yeah, sure. So the lead editorial team and associate editors of Blackbird are all within the graduate programs of either the MFA in Creative Writing or an MA in English. So our MFA and MA students are able to join in as associate editors, which doesn’t offer any stipend boost. But then our lead editors are able to join Blackbird for their graduate teaching assistantship, because it is also largely an internship, an internship program for undergraduate students.

So in a given year at Blackbird, there are 35 undergraduate interns who join our various teams to get work experience, volunteer experience working for a literary magazine. So the groups that they can join are poetry, fiction, nonfiction, if they wanna read our submissions and help us discern what best fits the taste of Blackbird. So they really, like, are our tastemakers, along with our lead and associate editors, which is a really exciting opportunity.

But then we also have a lot more, I would say, practical aspects that they can join in on, such as media. I previously was serving as the lead media editor for Blackbird. And I guess I still am through the summer, but we’ll see how that goes. And they can also help with our copy editing team, and our art team. We also have an art feature, like I mentioned, in every flight, and so we have a pretty small art team. But they can get a wide variety of experiences and really help with a lot of the labor of the journal.

And outside of working in these small groups, our undergraduate interns also have a weekly seminar. So we’ll have experts from the field come in to talk to them about various subject matters, such as a publishing expert, an editing expert, an author, a local author, an author who is from Africa. We had a Namibian author come and visit us via Zoom, which was a real treat this past semester.

And our lead and associate editors, so the graduate students who really run the journal and do the bulk of the administrative work for the journal, will also give presentations. So it’s a sort of teaching opportunity for all of the graduate students, a learning opportunity for the graduate students and the undergraduate students, and it’s a really enriching experience for everyone involved.

And then we also have Jessica Hendry Nelson as the faculty editor, Devin Walker-Figueroa, the faculty poetry editor. And then from the podcast internship angle, most of our interns came from partnering with Kinetic Imaging and the School of Music. And then we’re starting to also explore partnering with the Robertson School in media production. And so that’s such a wide lens if you, if you think through the podcast interns and the, you know, the standard, the, the traditional Blackbird internship. It’s a pretty wide swath of the university, which is pretty exciting.

GRACE: Yeah. I mean, that sounds like a really unique opportunity for them, for the students involved. And so forgive me for asking, but the work that you are publishing, so it’s, you know, staffed largely by students. You guys are putting it together, you’re getting it out. Is, is the actual work itself, is that largely students, or tell me, tell me what you’re putting out.

ANNA: So it’s, it’s no VCU students, faculty are able to submit to the journal, so very much so it is a non-local gig that we are operating under. We have a variety of emerging and established writers that we publish. Yeah, not, not majorly students. I don’t know, Trey. Trey, you add. Yeah. You add.

TREY: Yeah, yeah. So we really publish from, like, Pulitzer Prize, Guggenheim, like, top echelon household name l- literary figures directly beside first-time publication. Even those either operating outside of academia, like working writers, all the way through folks post MFA, who are cutting their teeth, getting- ‘Cause Blackbird is really considered a heavier hitting publication. We’re one of the top-ranked journals in the country, especially within our poetry, and then that also kind of informs the type of prose that I feel like we gravitate towards and that gravitates towards us.

And the fiction can be extremely experimental. And so, you know, I think that it’s, it’s lucky because also it publishes a pretty large amount of translation, so there’s really a global conversation happening through a local internship slash, you know, community program. So it’s a local entity with a global output relationship and community.

GRACE: So a project that is curated by our graduate students, but that is global in scope in terms of its output and aiming for an equally global audience it sounds like.

TREY: Absolutely.

GRACE: What a, what a lovely thing. So last question, when is your next episode? And if you can, each of you, in a word, what is the vibe?

TREY: The next episode is almost done being mixed, and then it will be mastered. The release date is to be determined because next week I’m leaving the country for three weeks. So unless we have an extremely expedited, literally logistically impossible- turnaround, it will be likely late June. Once- so that I can return and we all think through the release rollout, get all the platforms updated, get the media things lined up. And so we’re on the home stretch, but there are so many moving parts that we are hanging on for dear life. Joyful dear life. And Anna, anything to add to that before my word?

ANNA: I’m, I’m stuck just thinking so hard about what my word might be. I think this, the episode, it, it’s so multifaceted that it is so hard to find a word, but it sounds like Trey has it all figured out. So Trey, I need to hear your word before I can even comprehend a word on my own.

TREY: Oh, I was just gonna shoot from the hip.

ANNA: See, that’s where we’re diff- we have a different approach. Same problem, different approach.

TREY: I was gonna do- All right. Neil Young, first thought, best thought. And I would say that this next episode for me, and listeners cannot see the, the eyes of floundering movement, but I would say in a word-

ANNA: Trey, would it be appropriate to share the title of episode three?

TREY: Yeah, I was gonna just use the, the, that was my initial- I thought you might.

ANNA: Yeah, it’s- Maybe we could each take one word.

TREY: Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. I would say ascent.

ANNA: Ooh. And I would say the accent.

TREY: Oh-ho. Whoa. Good. Good cheat code. We did it.

GRACE: Would either of you like to elaborate, or you just, we’re just leaving it there? You’ve done it.

ANNA: I think, I think you’ll, you’ll completely understand when the episode comes out if you choose to listen, which I hope you do, we featured quite a few different accents. And I think that that has been- Now I’m trying to really spin this into a beautiful sentence with both words. The accent has allowed us to have some kind of ascent-

TREY: Uh-huh.

ANNA: towards greater meaning about the conversation of access that I think we’re always thinking about and involved with in doing something so multimedia, so avant-garde. I think that’s like a, an important word that we use often, especially when we’re speaking with our interns who we work with to create something so abstract and strange, yet emotionally resonant of trying to get them to think outside of the box of what kind of sounds feel appropriate and- won’t disarm a listener, but will instead arm them with the ability to better understand the text that we’re giving them, which may be more challenging, as we’ve been talking about.

TREY: There we go. There’s those MFA tuition dollars at work. Yeah. And to, just to further Anna’s point, to challenge that notion of appropriateness, I have a vocal disability and, you know, I think that that’s made me- I’ve had long bouts of silences where I didn’t know if I would talk again, and that makes the materiality, the components of identity and experience and selfhood that generally we materialize or represent with the notion of a voice really became clearer.

And I think that when you listen, I mean, to al- almost all media, you’re hearing the same thing that people have critiqued within visual culture of th- the, the politics of the body on camera. The politics of the voice through sound have the same ableism, the same heteronormativity, the same white supremacy. All is captured in the voice. And so we’ve really prioritized the materiality of voice to be as diverse and representative as the texts are in the journal.

And so, when we were especially thinking through this episode, the concept became really visible really quickly because as I was recording one of the readers, they m- they kept apologizing for their accent, in the same way that previously, a reader has a vocal disability and kept apologizing for her vocal tremor. And the thing they’re apologizing for is the, is part of the value that makes them human and makes their voice special.

And so I think that this episode is just a small articulation of a subtlety that we’ve already been doing and plan to continue to do, is to push the possibility of what folks envision a voice on a podcast or in an artful representation can be and who can and should be visible. And so it’s kind of, it’s articulating a thing we already valued, but we really wanted to spotlight and cluster an episode around that.

GRACE: Oh, that’s great. I cannot wait for this to come out. And, listeners, watch this space. When we have a release date, or maybe when we have a released episode, we will post about it and send out a little, little update on the Substack. If people wanted to see the work that you’ve already put out, where would they find that?

ANNA: They can find that on our website at blackbird.vcu.edu. We’ve got a tab that says Podcast where you can listen to our first and second episodes. But otherwise, you can find us at Blackbird Literary Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

GRACE: All right. You heard her. Go check it out. And we will all be waiting for that episode later this summer. Thank you both so much for being here today. This is a project that I’m really excited to share with our listeners, and I can’t wait to hear the finished product.

TREY: Thank you. Yeah, thank you for facilitating all this and being such a great interviewer.

GRACE: Oh, well, gosh, that’s so nice. Appreciate you, and thank all of you out there for joining us this Tuesday. We will be back in a couple of weeks with more grad, grad content. Bye.

ANNA: Bye.

TREY: Bye.

CREDITS:

GradPod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Alberton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sullic and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Lettow, Assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

Blackbird can be found here: https://blackbird.vcu.edu/ and episode three of the Blackbird Podcast, “Ascent, Accent,” is live now

 Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome back to GradPod. With graduation right around the corner, we're bringing you a special rerun of one of our most helpful episodes. In this episode, I, your host, Haya Hamid, am joined by my very resourceful colleague, Jamie Taylor, Special Assistant to the Dean and Vice Provost of the Graduate School. We're here to answer your most common questions about VCU's upcoming commencement events, including a breakdown of the special hooding ceremony for PhD and EdD students.

I want to start by congratulating those of you who are graduating this semester. We are so excited for you and this huge milestone in your journey at VCU. While many procedures and rules have remained the same from previous commencement ceremonies, I do want to make a note of an important change.

Starting this year, a graduate ticket is strictly required for all students who wish to participate in VCU's university-wide commencement at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Saturday, May 9, 2026. Please note that while guests do not need tickets to attend the ceremony, graduates will not be granted entry without one. So here's how to claim your ticket.

Visit vcugrad.universitytickets.com, log in with your VCU credentials, and select the May twenty twenty-six commencement event. After answering the required questions and checking out, you can choose between a mobile or PDF ticket.

If you run into any technical issues, please email univevents@vcu.edu with your full name and V number for assistance. We will also be sure to include this link and email in our show notes. For PhD and EdD students, please be sure to also complete the graduate school's RSVP form as that is more specific to your hooding ceremony.

Finally, stick around until the very end because we're closing out with a heartfelt message from Dr. Manu Gupta, Dean and Vice Provost of VCU's Graduate School, dedicated specifically to our graduates. He is here to encourage you to keep pursuing knowledge and to use your education as a launchpad for the lives you will change, the impact you will make, and the success you will achieve. So let's get into it.

Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome back to Grad Pod!

With graduation right around the corner, we’re bringing you a special rerun of one of our most helpful episodes.

In this episode, I, your host, Haya Hamid, am joined by my very resourceful colleague, Jamie Taylor, Special Assistant to the Dean and Vice Provost of the Graduate School. We’re here to answer your most common questions about VCU’s upcoming commencement events, including a breakdown of the special hooding ceremony for Ph.D. and Ed.D. students.

I want to start by congratulating those who are graduating this semester—we are so excited for you and this huge milestone in your journey at VCU! While many procedures and rules have remained the same from previous commencement ceremonies, I do want to make a note of an important change.

Starting this year, a Graduate Ticket is strictly required for all students who wish to participate in VCU’s Universitywide Commencement at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Saturday, May 9, 2026. Please note that while guests do not need tickets to attend this ceremony, graduates will not be granted entry without one.

To claim your ticket, visit vcugrad.universitytickets.com, log in with your VCU credentials, and select the 2026 May Commencement event. After answering the required questions and checking out, you can choose between a mobile or PDF ticket. If you run into any technical issues, please email UNIVevents@vcu.edu with your full name and V-number for assistance. We will also include this link in our show-notes. For PHD and EDD students, please also be sure to complete the graduate school RSVP form as that is more specific to your hooding ceremony.

Stick around until the very end, because we’re closing out with a brand-new, heartfelt message from Dr. Manu Gupta, Dean and Vice Provost of VCU’s Graduate School, dedicated specifically to our graduates! He is here to encourage you to keep pursuing knowledge and to use your education as a launchpad for the lives you will change, the impact you will make, and the success you will achieve. Let’s get into it!

• Commencement tickets: vcugrad.universitytickets.com

• Questions? univevents@vcu.edu Please be sure to include your full name and V number in your email.

HAYA:  Welcome back to Grad Pod, the official podcast of the VCU Graduate School, where we highlight the stories, resources, and opportunities shaping graduate education at VCU.

HAYA: Today’s episode is all about preparing for what comes next, specifically careers in academia. If you’ve ever thought about becoming a professor, teaching at a college level, or navigating the world of higher education, this episode is so for you.

We are spotlighting the Preparing Future Faculty Program or PFF graduate certificate through the School of Education. Previously housed in the graduate school, a program designed to equip graduate students with the tools, experience, and confidence to step into faculty roles. From building a competitive academic portfolio to gaining real classroom experience and understanding the landscape of higher education, PFF is all about turning your long-term goals into a clear actionable pathway and career in academia and beyond, honestly!

HAYA: Today, we’re joined by someone who has experienced all of that firsthand as a student in the program. I’m so excited to welcome Damali Curry, a doctoral student in leadership, EDd program, here at VCU. She is a student and participant in the Preparing Future Faculty Certificate Program. That means she is completing both the doctoral and certificate programs simultaneously at the School of Education. Damali, thank you so much for being here.

DAMALI: Thank you so much for having me here. It is such an honor, and I’m glad to be with you today.

HAYA: I’m really excited to talk to you about your experience through the PFF program; but, before we dive in, I’d love to start by just learning a little bit about you and your journey. What led you to pursue your doctorate and a certificate? Just generally about your interest in higher education. So can you walk us through what the preparing future faculty program looks like from a student perspective?

DAMALI: So first, from an intro perspective, I am actually coming back to the higher ed process later in life. I actually completed my undergraduate degree over 30 years ago where I thought I wanted to be a history professor, but I decided to do other things, like have a family and get married. So I did that and now I’m coming back to higher ed to get the doctorate.

HAYA: Wonderful. Well thank you for sharing that. What does this program look like for you as a student from week to week? Like what are you doing in the PFF program and what is it adding to your doctoral degree that’s so different from what you’re doing, you know, in the EDd program?

DAMALI: What’s interesting about doing the PFF program or certificate along with the EDd is that it’s given me the opportunity to have exposure to higher education teaching. So, as I stated earlier, I initially thought when I initially graduated from undergraduate that I wanted to be a college professor, but you know, as life has it for any of us.

I made other choices and just decided to, when I came back and learned about this program, I thought, oh my gosh, this is a full circle moment where I can come back and revisit that idea and dust off that goal of becoming a teacher at the college level.

Whether I decided to do it full-time or as an adjunct faculty, I wanted to have that opportunity to, uh, revisit, uh, the skills needed to be in the classroom. Now I’m not new to presenting or public speaking or doing training, but it is a very different experience to train versus teach, right? So when you’re training from a corporate perspective, it can be sometimes performative because it’s about having the perfect presentation and the talking points.

Whereas when you’re teaching in class, you really need to make sure that the students are getting learning outcomes. From what you are talking about. So it’s not just about having great talking points, it’s also understanding how to develop a course so that those taking it are having concrete learning outcomes versus being entertained, if you will.

HAYA: So can you tell us a little bit about the activities or projects that you’ve been working on to specifically develop those meaningful experiences for your students?

DAMALI: Yes. Well, let me just tell you, some of our coursework has been surprisingly hard. I, you know, and challenging. I thought it would be easy to come up with a syllabus, but I tell you what, when we got our first template and it was blank, and it was like, you know what?

You have to fill out this whole syllabus, and I thought it was humbling, but it also was so rewarding to actually come up with an entire syllabus, all the readings, what the exercises would be, what would the rubric be, what, how would the course be graded and what was most important from a learning outcome perspective.

That’s a skill. Right. So that’s very different from training, isn’t it? Although, you know, my master’s degree was in human resource development and it included a lot of training development type of courses, but very different when you’re thinking about teaching a course. So that was a very key assignment, writing a syllabus.

Another thing we had to do was actually create a class schedule. Have you ever been in class where you thought: the professor kind of ran out of time and didn’t get to go over everything, or have you ever had a course where it lagged for too long and you’re thinking, what’s going on? Well, they may or may not had a class schedule, and that’s something else we had to learn as well as an assignment, was to actually map out an entire class.

If you’re gonna have an icebreaker, how long would you take? If you have a discussion, how long would you take? So that was another assignment that I thought was very helpful.

HAYA: I love everything that you shared specifically as it relates to getting organized in the classroom, because it reminds me a lot of instructional design, which is my Master’s background, and so I wanna actually learn a little bit about, f rom your perspective, see as the difference between instructional design, human resource development, which is also the other concentration when I was in the instructional design program.

And the PFF, I just want understand a little bit about, you know, how you are all in corporate instructional design and how is that so different for you as a future faculty and how does that, you know, also differ from HR.

DAMALI: What a great question. So how it differs right off the bat, how it differs from HR is that from an HR perspective, although many companies talk about employment development, some companies as we know do it, do it very well and some maybe not so much.

And so there can be variations as to how in depth do you really want to teach employees because you know what, we really need them to get back to work. Because, we have sales goals, we have other goals. So the thing with HR or any organization when you, when you incorporate training is that unfortunately sometimes there’s competing priorities. And so yes, we want to train the employees, but. Not too much now because I need them here and they need to complete their task.

Whereas when you come into a higher education space, you are signing up for learning and so that’s the greatest difference I can talk about right now is that you have the space for learning. Everyone’s there to learn. That’s what you signed up for, whereas that’s not always the case from an organizational perspective.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing. I mean, intentionality is everything; and from hearing your experience, that really seems to be evident in how the PFF program is designed and all the meaningful outcomes you get to, you know, apply into the classroom. So thank you for clarifying that.

My next question for you is about building on teaching philosophies. So, this program focuses a lot on building real materials, like you just mentioned, syllabuses, timelines, class schedules, and building hands-on experiences, as well as exposing students to the dynamic aspects of higher education like AI research, administration, and so on and so forth. Which of those have been the most impactful for you and why?

DAMALI: So, let’s talk about research a little bit. Research is obviously very important to VCU and being able to take this at VCU research was highlighted, of course, because we’re an R1 institution. What also was highlighted in the coursework and that I was able to learn and explore is that as a PFF student, as I look at opportunities, I have to decide for myself.

Do I also want to be in an R1 school to teach or would I want to be in a R2 or maybe a teaching focus school? And also, does research always mean running a lab or does it mean that you’re in the classroom and you are integrating. You’re teaching knowledge as you’re making decisions from an administrative perspective.

One model that I came across in this work was the Boyer model of scholarship, which really talks about not just looking at research as a separate task, but looking at how faculty contributions are very diverse beyond just publications and research that, scholarship shows up in so many other places, and you could be applying your knowledge to help real world problems, and that also should count.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that, and I actually wanted to ask you this even before this question, but what’s one moment or experience in the program that made you feel like, I can really do this, all of this, and I can be faculty and obviously you can! I mean, you were already in the doctoral program. This is a very elective and optional program that you have gone above and beyond in participating in and being a student of, but, you know, again, what made you feel like I can do this?

DAMALI: I love that question. Thank you so much. Well, let me tell you, I actually had to teach, a full class solo, and, so in my teacher experience, externship and with that. I was teaching a doctoral level course. I was in charge of the entire class, and I had to come up with everything.

Now, my mentor did provide me with some structural questions so I could use those. But, I also came up with all the slide deck. I came up with it, and by the way, I did have a class schedule, and so I had my time off. I was gonna do an icebreaker, I was gonna do this, and I was gonna do that, and I had my schedule together.

But what I found interesting at the end of the class. I had this kind of like, oh, I can do this. But I also had some lessons learned from that. There is a lot of sensory or sensors that you have to deal with when you’re teaching because when I had to run the class solo, which was very different than playing backup or working more in a TA or junior faculty role, when the professor’s there and I may be running chat.

Well now being in charge of the entire class, I had to run the chat, make sure I was keeping on schedule with the talking points, making sure I was answering questions, leading the discussion. So it’s like several things going on at once. It’s actually a lot when you really think about it.

HAYA: Yeah. No, that’s really impressive. I mean, a doctoral class, and I’m assuming this was on Zoom, it seems like.

DAMALI: Yes. Okay.

HAYA: So that’s even like double the work. Double the work to keep the people engaged, to stay on track. I mean. Wow. Okay. I, too would feel like I can do this! Thank you so much for sharing that. I wanna ask you a little bit about mentorship in your field.

How has working with faculty mentors, shout out Jenna Lenhardt, we just mentioned you! How has work working with faculty mentors shaped your understanding of what it means to be in academia?

DAMALI: Well, if you haven’t looked at the news lately,. You know, or been living under a rock, you should know that higher education has, come under quite a bit of scrutiny as it relates to are they providing the skill sets needed for people’s careers?

And so something like this, the PFF certificate is actually very intentional to actually create not only the experiences you would need to ramp up that skillset or refresh it. If you need some refreshing or to learn different things or relearn different things. It also is giving you an opportunity to talk with your faculty mentors about your career.

I’ve had a conversation or several conversations with my mentor, actually with my CV actually. I had to convert from a resume to a CV and then also talking about upcoming interviews, also talking to my mentor about. Being a reference and writing a reference letter. So these are conversations that don’t always take center stage in our coursework.

When you think about going through a bachelor’s or master’s or doctoral degree, sometimes that’s not always the conversation because you know what? You have other things that you’re learning from a scholarly perspective, but. This certificate really puts the career upfront. And so it certainly answers the question that many people have on their minds, like, is something worth an investment?

HAYA: Yes, absolutely! Because, this is all about making sure you have the right skills and also the right marketing documents that you would need in making the applications. I love that. I mean, what else could you ask for in a job, right? I mean, not only are you getting the training, but also the mentorship, the connections, the network and the guide to move forward in a more positive direction, whatever that means for you.

So I love that for the PFF program, and I think our school of education in general does a great job of that as a former student. Thank you for sharing that.

My final question for you, Damali, as someone who is completing both the PFF certificate and your doctoral program with a major in leadership, just not, you know, easy work, with also considering your additional responsibilities of, you know your life, your personal life, and with all of that being considered.

What would you say to a student who might not want to take that extra work? Because it is extra work, which you can really speak to, and it has been a busy time. So what would be some words of encouragement or caution that you might share with them?

DAMALI: Yes. So certainly it’s more work, but you know what? That’s what goals are for, right? Any goal that you have, whether you’re getting in shape or wanting to get a doctorate [degree] and a certificate at the same time. It just takes more time and more discipline. So really what I would like to just tell people is that, to really consider and think about their goals.

If they ever thought about teaching at the collegiate level, but don’t necessarily have all the skills or would like the opportunity to practice before, you know, actually. Going into a particular job doing that. This is great for that. And also to come full circle, I mentioned earlier that over 30 years ago, when completing my undergraduate degree, I decided not to go after, uh, my PhD in history at that time and to go have a family.

Well, now, later in life, I’ve actually used this program along with the certificate to rebrand myself. I’m actually divorced now and I’m an empty nester, and I decided to go back to school. And so for me it was like, you know what I’m doing this! What’s another APA article to read? You know what I mean? Let’s just get it done.

HAYA: Wow. Thank you for sharing and like you said, all good things take time, right? And, with that being said, we are wrapping up this episode with a huge thank you to Damali Curry.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us and giving some really actionable advice in my opinion. That’s true. That’s true. She’s shaking her head. It’s true!

So thank you so much for that! To our listeners, whether you’re just starting your doctoral journey or looking for that final piece, remember that VCU’s Preparing Future Faculty Program is here to help you turn your passion for teaching into a career.

Be sure to check out the links in our show notes for more information on the PFF certificate and other resources from the VCU graduate school. Until next time, keep dreaming big, work hard, good things take time.

Shape the future of higher education, until we see you in the next episode!

Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program page: https://soe.vcu.edu/academics/certificate-programs/certificate-programs/

Request information from the PFF program: https://soe.vcu.edu/request-information/

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

Thinking about funding travel? Wondering how to fit travel into your degree, or just starting to imagine what’s possible? Today’s conversation is your guide to making global learning part of your graduate journey.

GRACE:  Hello. Happy Tuesday, and welcome to Grad Pod!

This week, we are talking about travel! Specifically studying abroad and away, and to do that, we are joined by Stephanie Tignor from GEO, the Global Education Office. Stephanie, hi!

STEPHANIE: Hey!

GRACE: How’s it going?

STEPHANIE: Not bad. How are you?

GRACE: Thanks for joining us.

STEPHANIE: Thank you, It’s nice to be here.

GRACE: So you have come here today to talk to us about studying abroad in a way, and I have to admit, I was prompted to invite you in part because I keep seeing all these emails coming across.

STEPHANIE: It’s been a busy semester.

GRACE: Yes, I think it has. So why don’t we start by just telling us a little bit about your office and what you do and what kind of opportunities there are for graduate students.

STEPHANIE: Absolutely. I come from the Global Education office, like you said, global education office or GEO as we call ourselves. We always say we’re sort of the one-stop shop on campus for all things international. We work with all units across the institution.

I think we’re one of the few areas of the institution that really touches on everything. We are broken down into different departments, so I am the executive director of global learning. We have other departments like our partnerships division, our immigration division, and our English language program. Our outreach, you know, communications, there’s, there’s other, there’s other departments, but global learning is specifically focused on increasing the global engagement of our students and our faculty.

I always say we get to do all the fun things. I tend to think about our work and our programs in terms of the populations that we serve. So there’s sort of two primary populations: one is our international student population, and then the other is our domestic student population or sort of everybody.

GEO does work with a large number of, um, well, all of the international students at the institution, I should say, not just a large number of them, all of them. We support the students when they like. Get to VCU, so we don’t do the immigration piece in global learning. Those are, that’s what our immigration services colleagues do.

We essentially have two teams in global learning. We have the global student engagement team and the education abroad team. Our global student engagement team is the one that’s really focused on those international students. And then on the other side of the coin. You know, we have education abroad, but there’s also more than just those two things that we do.

Part of our mission is bringing together international and domestic students really for mutual benefit. Right? Yeah because it’s beneficial for international students when they engage with our, our domestic students and they become, you know, more of a part of, the fabric of our institution.

And, it’s really great for our, you know, domestic students to meet and interact and benefit from, from getting to know and, and bring into the fold, right into the, into the RAMily, as they say, our international students.

GRACEL Yeah. I think we’ve, we’ve talked about some of these programs on the grad pod before.

STEPHANIE: Yes. With Kelly, and, yes, and maybe even Jill.

GRACE: Yeah, and so listeners, if you haven’t checked out, we have an international students episode that was just a couple of months ago.

STEPHANIE: Yeah.

GRACE: And we talked at length about some of the really fantastic opportunities available for students to connect, whether they’re international or domestic, and then the services available for international students on campus.

STEPHANIE: Yes. So at, at the heart of what we do, whether it’s study abroad. Or the campus programming, or the community-based programming that we offer.

All of it is really to help our students build cultural agility and to build mutual understanding and really support our students in gaining the skills that they need to be more successful in the world after graduation!

Right! Both, while they’re students, but also, but also once they leave VCU. Go and seek employment and live their lives and become a part of our world. I always say it’s a little bit cliche, but I think we all do what we do in global learning and in the global education office more broadly because we want to make the world a better place, and ultimately at the heart of it is world peace.

You know, if you’re really thinking about what the, what the point of it all is.

GRACE: Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, can you tell me a little bit more? There seems to be, so from some people I’ve talked to, there seems to be a bit of an impression that study abroad and away is mostly for undergraduate students, that this is something you do.

You know, when you’re in your very early twenties and you’re working on your bachelor’s degree and you go spend a semester in Italy, you know, jetting around on a Vespa, right?

STEPHANIE: Because, but ‘cause that’s what they all do.

GRACE: No, yeah, exactly. That’s the only study abroad that anyone can do. Right. But there are programs for graduate students. Is that right?

STEPHANIE: Absolutely right. Study abroad is for everybody. There’s, there’s some kind of international program or opportunity for, for any student who is, who’s interested in seeking that out. You know, we, and we really try. Not to have it be the kind of thing that somebody has to do, a lot of work to seek out, but something that really is embedded into the programs and, and, um, integrated into the curriculum across the board.

So there are absolutely opportunities for graduate students as well. I think some of that misperception comes from sort of the history, right, of study abroad and how study abroad has been experienced by U.S.students, you know, over the years and how that has evolved as a. As a thing that people do, like in, you know, past generations, it was very typical to hear about a junior year abroad or a junior semester abroad.

But interestingly, as time has gone on and universities have evolved and students have evolved, what we’re seeing more of than anything else. Our short term faculty led programs, that typically happen in the summer or. Even now, winter break, spring break, those are some of the more popular time periods that students are going abroad for, or lengths I should say.

You know, there’s an assumption that well, graduate students can’t go abroad ‘cause you can’t do a whole semester because that would be, you know, for a master’s student, a quarter of their degree. Right, like, that would be a big chunk of their time; and that’s, it’s just, it’s not true! And we actually even do have semester programs.

There’s few, there’s fewer of them, but, but I would say far and away our most popular type of study abroad experience overall for VCU students are the short term faculty led experiences, which are group experiences and they tend to be pretty structured. So these are experiences where, you know, you’re gonna have an itinerary every day of the things you’re doing. It usually is tied to a course.

So you’re doing this as a part of an academic course, you’re having this experience as a part of that, you know, in order to fulfill the requirements of that course, but it, but it’s still, there’s a, there’s a great variety in, in where they’re going and what the courses might be and how that’s structured.

But even then, that’s, that’s not even the only option for graduate students and I think for graduate students, because. A graduate student is at the point in their academic career where they are becoming more specialized in what they’re studying. There’s often more of a, you know, a niche experience that we see students having at the graduate level when it comes to education abroad.

So this is where. You know, students do sort of have to, to work closely, both with our office and their academic or faculty advisor or academic department to customize an experience that’s gonna meet their needs and, and help them accomplish what it is that they’re trying to, you know, accomplish and learn through the experience.

So there’s a, there’s a great variety of what this can look like. And so, there’s a lot of these custom built, make your own. You know, studying abroad is a kind of experience I think that we see more of at the graduate level than at the undergrad.

GRACE: That’s fascinating. I didn’t even know that was an option.

Can you say just like a, a little bit more about that and maybe like if you have an example off the top of your head, like what it looks like to kind of build your own?

STEPHANIE: Yeah. So, and, and, and this is where, you know, students may not always think to do this unless it’s sort of presented to them, but you know, we see students, graduate students who might be.

There might be an opportunity that presents itself, let’s say an international conference or a connection with one of VCU’s partner institutions abroad, where maybe there’s a faculty collaborator with a VCU faculty here that officers an an opportunity for a, a student to come over to that institution and do, let’s say, a research experience for a short period of time or, you know, engage in some kind of like independent study, you know, or something, something that’s a bit more self-directed than, sure.

Than a typical program which is more prescribed. So we’ve, you know, we have sent for EX for instance, VCU has a campus. In Doha in Qatar, and we’ve sent students at the graduate level there, I wanna say it was the Master’s of Educational Counseling program. We have sent a student over there in the past who did their practice experience working on our campus in Qatar.

You know, getting their hours in for, you know, student advising and, and whatever else they were, they were doing as a part of their. Their program that they were learning about student development and, and , you know, higher education practices across the world. And they had hands-on experience right there in, you know, on our campus in Qatar.

Thanks to that connection and the establishment of our campus there, I mean, we truly are a global institution and that. A great example of that where, you know, we have that resource for students. So that’s one example. You know, we also have a number of faculty-led programs, which I’ve already referenced, and there are programs that have graduate level courses on those programs, but there’s also programs that don’t have graduate level courses.

But we’ve had graduate students approach the faculty leaders of those programs and say, Hey. Can I come with your group and do some sort of special project part of that and maybe get independent study or, you know, capstone credit or what, you know, whatever that might be for them, whatever. That more flexible course , availability is within their program.

You know, most of the graduate programs have some kind of course within their curriculum. Be it an independent study type course or, or what have you, that would allow for more of that self-directedness to happen, you know, in, in planning something that’s more niche like this. That’s really cool.

GRACE: Yeah, those are both really interesting opportunities. So if a student is interested in pursuing something like this, it sounds like the place for them to start is really their department, or should they start by reaching out to you?

STEPHANIE: would say both. I would say having conversations with faculty advisors is really valuable because.

Our faculty are really internationally engaged and they don’t always, you know, flaunt that and, and, and, and mention that to students. You know, some, some do better than others. But our faculty do really interesting things, you know, research and other types of collaboration abroad. And some of that may not even involve them going abroad, but they’re working with collaborators who are abroad in other countries, maybe at our partner institutions.

And so I think just having curiosity, about who our faculty are, what their connections and you know, what, who their collaborators are in the work that they’re doing, or just what their knowledge is of, you know, where is the bright place to do this thing that I’m really interested in. They’ll know where the place, where that’s happening, where that’s at, and they often can open doors and make connections, which we may not, you know, even have knowledge of, which is great.

So I say, absolutely talk to faculty, advisors and, and, and faculty across the departments to express interest in engaging internationally. You know that the more you share what your interests are as a graduate student with the faculty around you, the more they can help you and connect you.

And then definitely connect with us in GEO to see, you know, what connections we have. I mean, we have a plethora of international partners, um, that you can see on our website. It’s visible to anybody who has an eID. You know, you have to log in through the VCU system to see it, but you can, you can see who all of our partners are abroad so that you can get a sense of, you know, where maybe you could connect and, and do something and, and how you could customize something.

We have a whole team in the Global Learning Department of Education abroad, advisors who sit down with students and can meet with you on Zoom, can meet with you in person, you know, whatever suits your needs, and just really hear what you’re interested in, but also share.

What opportunities are available, and then another, there is sort of a third place that I would also recommend connecting, which is VCU’s National Scholarship Office, which is housed in the Honors College.

So there’s this misperception, this is one of my big pet peeves at VCU, if I can say it. There’s a big misperception that you have to be an honors student, that the honors program is only an undergraduate program, so automatically graduate students are gonna be like, what?

That’s not for me, but there’s, you know, there, but you don’t have to be an honor student. You obviously don’t have to just be an undergrad to work with the National Scholarship Office. So there’s two fantastic colleagues over there, the director of the National Scholarship Office, Mr. Jeff Wing, and then, the associate Director, Dr. Meredith Sisson.

And, they are the ones who work with students across the institution who are interested in applying for the funding to help students to do things like Fulbright, which is a very prestigious U.S.government funded program for doing international research and, and work like this or the Borin Fellowship, which is, you know, more of a national security focused program that’s also government funded.

You know, so there’s, I mean there’s, there’s many, opportunities. I won’t list them all, but, but a number of them are internationally focused, so, so we partner really closely with. With Jeff and Meredith regularly to support students and, you know, identifying these avenues to help them get abroad and to find, and to get the funding to do it, ‘cause obviously there is, there is that cost that helps. That’s always like the elephant in the room, right? Is like, well what’s the cost and how do I cover my airfare, and all of that; and so, you know, obviously with the scholarships and fellowships that they offer through the National Scholarship Office, those are typically fully funded programs.

So that’s another super important place to connect. Yeah. Those are great resources. Yeah. Thank you. True.

GRACE: Now there’s a distinction that I’ve seen in some of the emails coming out of Geo that I was not familiar with, which is you’ve, there’s study abroad and there’s Study Away.

STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm.

GRACE: What does that mean?

STEPHANIE: Yeah, so that’s a good question, and this is something we didn’t really start doing until. The pandemic. So domestic study away are experiences that would happen here domestically in the U.S. or in its territories, as opposed to, you know, study abroad, meaning outside of the United States. We have started working with some faculty on domestic programs since the pandemic because.

Travel was halted. International travel in particular was halted during the pandemic, but we still wanted to engage students in place-based education, you know, experiential education and support faculty who wanted to, who needed a framework to do the things that they had, you know, ideas to do. So, you know, there was a faculty, for instance, who had created an experience that she was leading to Arizona, where they would visit the U.S. Mexico border and they connected with local organizations that were supporting the migrants and learning about, you know, global migration and all of the things that surround that topic.

We have also worked with and supported faculty through our seed grant program that we offer faculty funding to, to create new things for students.

We worked with some faculty who created a program in the Deep South on the Civil Rights Trail Program last year. So those were some faculty from Poli Sci, from Political Science and the College of Humanities and Sciences, there have been some faculty and interior designers who’ve done some interesting things on the eastern shore of Virginia.

So, usually with these domestic programs, we are asking that to be working with faculty who are creating experiences that are tied in some way to themes of the United Nations Sustainable development goals or what we call the SDGs, the UN-SDGs, are these, it’s sort of a roadmap for peace, if you will.

There’s various goals that the UN has identified for world peace and there are 17 of them in total. So things like, you know, world problems essentially, that we all can be a part of helping to solve and ultimately all should be a part of helping to solve in, in some way, shape or form in the work that we’re doing.

Despite what discipline, you know, we’re coming from, there are ways that we can, we can all approach these things and, and help to solve them. So some of the goals are things like gender, equality and clean water and sanitation, or, affordable and clean energy or zero hunger, peace, justice, and strong institutions.

There’s many of them. There are 17 of them in total. Yeah, but, we do encourage the faculty that do domestic programs to sort of theme their programs in some way in connection with the SDGs. So, they are global learning programs, they’re happening domestically, but they’re focused on global issues because what happens in the U.S.is not in isolation, right?

Like the thing, right. The problems that we face in our own country. Typically our problems that other countries are also facing or that have implications internationally. Right?

GRACE: Yeah!

STEPHANIE: So I think that’s really at the heart of what we see with those domestic programs. There are fewer of those than there are international programs, but that’s an, that’s an area that we are supporting faculty to increase in, in development

GRACE: Domestic programs with an international spirit. Yes, exactly. That’s great. And this just popped into my head, do you ever get international students turning around and doing study abroad or study away programs?

STEPHANIE: Yes, absolutely. I mean..

GRACE: Coo!

STEPHANIE: I mean we, we, like I said in the beginning, we sort of tend to think about our two populations being international and domestic, but that doesn’t mean that we’re forcing the international students to stay here.

There’s great benefit to any student studying abroad or participating in these kinds. These are high impact experiences, so they have the potential to benefit those who participate, and we certainly want our international students to participate in them. I will say that oftentimes though, when I, when I interact with an international student, let’s say at an event or like if I’m sitting at an information table about our office.

I’ll say,” Hey, do you wanna study abroad?” They’ll say,” oh, I, I’m already studying abroad here.” And I’m like, well, yes, yes. And you can still also go abroad. So that’s really been cool to see, you know, our international students participate in some of our programs abroad. You know, we’ve. We’ve had students go on faculty-led programs, we’ve had them do longer programs, like semester programs as well.

So really, anything that’s available for a domestic student is available for an international student in terms of study abroad. Oh, the places you will go?

GRACE: Yes, exactly. Exactly! All right, so my last question and to tackle the sort of other elephant in the room. Yes. I, at this particular moment in the geopolitical landscape, I have been seeing the emails coming out of your office.

Yes, trying to keep students aware and prepared as things change, which they are doing every day.

GRACEL Could you tell me a little bit more about how your office kind of puts those messages together? What kind of information are you providing for students who might have concerns about the travel that they have planned?

STEPHANIE: Yeah. That, you know, let’s, let’s talk about that briefly. Yes, absolutely. I think it’s really important that we talk about this and it has been very. Active time for us, , this, this year with everything that’s going on in the world. You know, I think our, our, our VP for Global Initiatives, Jill, Dr. Jill Bloon, my boss, she always says.

Global education never sleeps!

And, and it’s true that we have jobs that are directly impacted by things going on in the world, and we have to respond to them. You know, I think we were one of the early responders to, for example, the COVID-19. Pandemic because we had students abroad. We had students in China, we had students in Italy, in the places where they were first hit with those large pockets of viral activity.

And so, you know, we were ones who were first sort of paying attention to that and sort of sounding the alarms; and, so we do pay very close attention to world events and know that those events impact our international students. Oftentimes on a very personal level, which is very, very difficult, right?

Like some of our students are from the region that’s impacted right now. You know, we have a large number of students from there, and we want to be sensitive to their needs and the challenges that they’re facing, you know, because of those things. So we often do respond and communicate things like even just a reminder of the resources that we provide in our office and the ways we can support students who are dealing with, with whatever it might be.

Then obviously because we have students abroad, we have to do the same. We have to constantly be monitoring where there might be events that could impact our travelers because we have a duty to keep them safe and to keep them informed and make sure that they’re paying attention to messaging in particular, that might be coming out like the U.S.Department of State.

So a lot of our travel structure is, you know, and sort of parameters for response are built around the Department of State’s travel advisory levels and messaging from, the State Department. So as I’m sure you’re aware from getting our messages, there have been, you know, some recent changes in communication from the Department of State, including increases in travel advisory levels for the region, you know, in the Gulf in particular, impacting, you know.

Our campus and Qatar, for instance, Qatar is now at a travel advisory level three, which is to reconsider travel according to the Department of State. We also have seen the Department of State come out with the message of worldwide caution, which is cautioning travelers anywhere in the world, any U.S. travelers abroad, that there are, there’s a heightened risk right now.

And so. Sometimes those messages, if just taken at face value, could cause panic or concern. You know, oh gosh is this you gonna cancel programs? Do I need to come home? And we always wanna provide context and information to help students better understand what that messaging is and why it’s there, and how it impacts them.

So like our recent messaging, you know, we’re assuring folks that we are still running programs. There certainly are concerns. If you have, you know, on your flight itinerary, have you connected through Dubai, like that might be something we need to reconsider right now because of the airspace being controlled and for good reason in that region.

But, you know, we’re still running programs and there haven’t been, you know, specific threats. I think there’s the, the Department of state is cautioning travelers of, you know, potential risk for sites that are connected to the U.S. I think, you know, U.S.embassies abroad particularly could be a target, you know, for those who are, who are wishing harm on the US, you know, things like that.

So it’s good for our students to, to know that, have that situational awareness when they’re traveling to stay safe and to stay connected. And, not just with VCU, but with the Department of State through the, the mechanisms that our government provides, such as our Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, also known as STEP enrollment, which is a system that we want all of our students to be enrolled in, so that the U.S.knows about their presence in that country so that if there was an emergency, they could reach them and, and support them, you know, whatever that might look like.

So yeah, we have a duty of care as an institution to, to keep all of our travelers safe with, with so much international travel happening. But we also want students to know that when these things come out, it doesn’t mean everybody comes home, you know, don’t go anywhere, batten down the hatches, just stay in your basements.

Like, yes, you can still travel, but let’s, let’s, here’s some tips and here’s some things you need to know to make sure you’re doing so safely. And I think this also really underscores the importance of connecting with us and of utilizing those support, making sure that students are registered with our office so that we know that they are abroad so that we can respond and connect with them if there is an emergency, you know, we have some great resources like our insurance plan, we have a comprehensive international insurance plan that we require all students to be enrolled in.

If they are participating in some kind of university sanctioned international travel experience, it’s great support. I mean they’ll help you out. If you have, you know, your flight delayed and you have to get yourself a hotel for the night, they’ll reimburse you for that.

You know, they’ll get you connected with an English speaking counselor if you’re in another country and you. Are feeling the stress of it and, you know, anxious of world events and or you’re feeling homesick and you need to speak with a therapist. You know, they have coverage for that. So we have a really great plan and everybody’s gotta get into it, you know, so these are all the kinds of things that we’re doing to allow our students to keep traveling, to keep exploring the world and learning from the world and, but doing so safely.

So, yeah. So that’s, I hope that’s helpful. It’s a little bit of what’s behind some of those messages? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

GRACE: Look, forewarned is forearmed. Yes. But the world is still out there waiting for us. Yes. And it’s, despite the vagaries of geopolitics , these experiences are still there.

They’re still waiting, they’re still worth pursuing. Mm-hmm. , and VCU’s gonna do what they need to do to make sure that our students have the information they need to pursue them safely.

STEPHANIE: Absolutely. And to do so affordably, you know, one of the things we communicated in our most recent message was, if you’re going somewhere this summer or this fall, book your flights now! ‘cause prices could be going up. You know, that’s one of the ramifications..

GRACE: Sure.

STEPHANIE: ..of this conflict in the Middle East right now is the potential for, for rising gas prices and oil prices and airfare prices. So, you know, cost is a big concern for our students and we want them to, we wanted them to have a heads up about that.

You know, obviously, in addition to all of this. Scholarship information that we always provide and ways that we also help students tap into aid in order to go abroad. But yeah, this, that’s a, that’s one of the big considerations right now is just watching those, those airlines, um, prices and, and making sure that students are, are able to to get on their programs in an affordable way.

GARCE: Yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate the scope of information that comes out of your office. It’s a, it’s a, I’m, I’m sure it’s a lot of work to put together, but I, I know that the students appreciate it.

STEPHANIE:Yeah. It’s a big world, so there’s, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot going on, so there’s a lot of, a lot of things that we have to do to respond to it, that’s for sure.

GRACE: All right. Last question as we wrap up. If you could study abroad anywhere right now, Ooh. Where would you go and what might you study?

STEPHANIE: Oh my gosh, that is a great, great question. You know, I work in higher education and international higher education, so that is my. That is my passion and something that I am always enjoying learning more about and, and, you know, every country does higher education a little different from, from another.

There are programs that we’ve done like this where we, you know, we’ve sent students to some of our partners or, you know, even to our campus in Qatar, like I mentioned earlier, to learn about, you know, how the systems are running there. So I can imagine myself, I mean, anytime I go anywhere I’m always asking like, what are the universities nearby and, and whatever.

I would say one of my favorite places to go is Mexico.

Mexico has always been one of my favorite countries. I love Spanish, I love the people of Mexico. I love the diversity of Mexico. So I feel like if I had to hop on a plane today and go anywhere, it would probably be Mexico. And there’s so much more to learn down there.

You know, we just started partnering recently with more universities in the Yucatan Peninsula because we had a Mexican ambassador come to campus a couple of years ago, he gave a talk and we had some great connections made as a result of that visit. And, there’ve been a number of new things kind of built with universities in Mexico, particularly in the Yucatan.

So we’re talking with somebody in social work, a faculty member in social work who’s gonna start to build a new program there; so that’s kind of top of mind for me right now. So I’m thinking I would love to go down there and I would love to visit the institution, learn more about it, and meet with their students.

That would be probably what I would do if I were to go anywhere today. But, gosh, I mean, there’s the world, the world is so big and I think the more you travel, the more you realize just how, how big it is and how little you know. Even though you’ve, you know, done more and more travel throughout your life, you know, there’s just so much more.

I always say if I had nine lives to live, you know, this is what I would do and here’s all the things I would do. So, there’s never enough time to see everything and learn everything that there is. In the world and all the places, you know, not to mention the places I haven’t been. A long way of answering that question, but that’s kind of where my, where my brain goes is, is to sort of the things that we’re, we’re building for VCU right now and, and of course all the rest of it.

GRACE: Well, that’s a great place to leave us. And, for all of you listening, you know, you with your, with your one life to live. Yes. Consider studying abroad or studying away, and follow your professors around campus. Anyone who looks particularly well-traveled to find out what they’re doing or, reach out to GEO, and what is your website again for students who are interested?

STEPHANIE: Yes, so global.vcu.edu.

GRACE: All right. You heard her global.vcu.edu. Go see what they have to offer and consider. Taking off this summer or next year and doing some studying in, in a new place. Yeah. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for being here with us.

STEPHANIE: Thank you so much for having me.

GRACE: We will be back with all of you in two weeks for another episode of Grad Pod. Bye bye.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA: As engineer and inventor, Theodore Vaughn Kaman said, scientists study the world as it is. Engineers create the world that has never been. Behind every breakthrough in engineering is a person, a scientist, who is driven to build, innovate, and reimagine what’s possible. In this episode, we’re spotlighting the journey of a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where curiosity, creativity, and community converge to shape innovative research.

HAYA: Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today I’m joined by Dr. Lauren Linkous, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the VCU College of Engineering.

She works in a wireless communications lab, to say the least, and Dr. Linkous does a lot there, but she has a unique talent for bridging the digital and physical worlds together with degrees in both bachelor’s in engineering, in electrical engineering, and physics from VCU. Dr. Linkous began her research journey in undergrad.

Today, he is primarily working on using machine learning to automate and investigate wireless security concerns. She is not just asking about how technology works, she is asking about how we can build better systems, develop future researchers, and make STEM fields more inclusive. So Dr. Linkous, welcome to the Grad Pod!

DR. LINKOUS: Thank you so much for having me and for that sweet intro.

HAYA: Thank you for being here. We’re so happy to have you.

My first question for you, well first of all, tell us a little bit about yourself, your journey here to VCU and what led you to pursue such a cross cutting research focus, and what excites you the most about this field?

DR. LINKOUS: Oh wow. So that’s a story! So I started in 2018 with Dr. Laura Elwin is in the math department where she took me on as a student researcher for her publication on neonatal infant lung systems, which is a daunting problem, to say the least; and she is definitely the driving force behind that.

But with her, I learned a lot about how to conduct research early on, what the investigative process looked like when you had a question that really depended on a correct answer, right?

Because that paper and specifically was on how premature babies are, their chest wall is very flexible. So when they were born too premature, they would go into systems collapse and pass away. So we started looking into what happens, why does this happen, and can we mathematically model this in order to hand it off to somebody else that would be able to go?

Cool, now that you have defined the problem, it’s our turn to take and fix it. And since then a lot of other students have worked on it. It’s gone on to be other publications and it’s been Capstone projects and Engineering and it’s, I’m not really in touch with it anymore, but that project was definitely a large inspiration behind what I would do, kind of following into grad school and the next few years.

So I started grad school in 2018 would’ve been that fall. I had my first year of classes with a professor, was getting to learn hands-on, a lot of, hands-on research, a lot of robotics, and then COVID shut everything down. So from there I started more digital work, which was a different kind of interesting, I think, and that’s kind of where I started branching into more wireless devices and that computational research.

Right, because when you’re shut up at home with just you and your cat, there is not a lot of hardware or experimental work that can be done. So I got more into this automation process and more into learning how things work at a low level. And I think from there, that really spiraled out the next five years of my research and led into all of these other projects I’m now on and working with all of these awesome people.

HAYA: Thank you so much for sharing that and for giving us a little bit of insight about, you know, how you, you came here, and also kudos to you for making the best out of such a dark time without, you know, access to lab and other physical materials. It seems like you really have, you know, created something so beautiful out of your time in isolation or, you know, just not working in person.

DR. LINKOUS: At the end of the day, COVID students, we had to do what we had to do. But take us a little bit before that, pre COVID, pre-grad school, what was that transition like for you from undergrad to graduate school? What were some of the biggest adjustments that you had to make, as a researcher and also as a student?

Yeah, so. When I transferred into engineering, after I was in the math department for my last two years of my undergraduate degrees, I got very heavily involved in engineering’s VIP program. So that’s our Vertically Integrated Projects program where undergraduate students are able to take multiple semesters of courses.

In a research lab. So you start getting hands-on experience with these tools. You learn how to program, you take all of the theory and things that you’ve seen in class and maybe some of your lab sections, and you start applying it. So I was first working in the UAV lab. With Dr. Clinky and I had a very good mentor there that definitely helped me fine tune, you know, what I was doing and some of like the hands-on work I really hadn’t gotten before, just.

Because I didn’t, you know, I’m not from a technological background. I started programming a little bit at 14, but I didn’t have hands-on experience until I really came to Richmond and started being introduced to these hardware labs. ‘cause it’s not an easy thing to get started with. And you really need to community to build up and to learn these and to start putting all of this into application.

So when I was working with Dr. Clinky and in the UAV lab and getting this hands-on experience. I was getting into research early and it didn’t really feel like it because we were all on a team, so we had that sense of community. We could go to each other for help. We could partner up and work together.

It was still a class, but it was, I don’t know, it felt like lower stakes, I guess would be the way to put it. It’s more of my focus was just on learning, kind of at my own pace instead of meeting test and paper deadlines, which I personally think was very good for me and getting this experience. So by the time I graduated I had done several semesters of that and I think that was very critical for my ability to transition into graduate school.

And,I just very much attribute that early research and the investment of my graduate student mentors and the faculty for being able to really just make it to the end of my PhD program.

HAYA: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that; andI love the resilient approach and, it seems like you’ve figured out all the important points pretty early on. So, graduate school often requires balancing technical work with long-term vision, you know, like you just said, in asking the right questions and, you know, taking an effective approach to problem solving. How did you stay motivated during the harder seasons of grad school? You know, you know, during those sleepless nights and what kept your curiosity alive?

DR. LINKOUS: I like to think I’ve always been highly motivated and very curious and that’s just a key part of my nature and what, you know, those sleepless. Yeah. There are a lot of sleepless nights. I really should be here pitching good habits, you know, and I, as much as I wanna be funny about it, I do wanna pitch.

You need sleep, you need to get on a routine. You need to be eating, like, and eating well. Sometimes it is a protein bar, kind of lunch day, but you need to be taking care of yourself during these programs. There’s just no way about it because if you can, if you’re not taking care of yourself first, like the research is second, we’ll joke about it.

We’ll joke about, you know, what drives us and maybe. Cry a little bit because that is honestly just part of the school experience sometimes, and you just need to let it out. But not, not like in a negative way, I promise. We’re, we’re okay, maybe. Mm-hmm.But Jo, joking aside, you know, I, I’ve always been highly motivated and I do enjoy what I do when it comes down to it.

And, it’s getting on a routine, finding this community, and. Not being afraid to reach out and ask for help is going to be like those key driving factors of what do you do when it’s three in the morning, nothing works. This was due at midnight; and the answer is, email your professor and tell them you’re, you know, you’re trying, but it’s not working out.

Because a lot of times, you know, they’ll, they’ll understand, they might not give you an extension, but they’ll understand. And then I would say get a hobby. Get, get something that will keep you sane. I like to show people cat pictures. I’ve got a very spoiled cat. I’ve always had, you know, various spoiled cats.

But ha, having something that’s not your work is going to make it easier to get through this. Having friends that you can. Genuinely talk to and not just talk at, it’s fine if they’re your coworkers. It’s fine if you just know them because you’ve been in classes for four years together and you’re all just kind of stuck.

Just talk to somebody. Because a lot of that, without this, without these human factors, you know, you’re just, it’s not insurmountable, I think, to get through a graduate degree, but it does not need to be miserable.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. Very real and very human response. You know, especially coming from you who has someone who has been in school for very long and so, that’s very valuable advice. And, she’s talking from experience. Dr. Linkous, VCU has a very strong research community, as you know and have been involved in for many, many years now. How have you found your sense of belonging here and what role has community played in your growth as a scholar, as a person, as an engineer, as a researcher? Can you chime a little bit onto that?

DR. LINKOUS: Yeah, so I think one of my longest running volunteer activities, which I think is what has really helped me find to connect to a sense of community outside of my work environment, is that I’ve been working with the RAM Pantry since about 20 18, 20 19. I think we started collaborating vaguely then, Dr. John Jones over in Life Science is my contact over there for that. And I mean that, that’s been a joy to work with. We started on a shoestring budget with a little magnet sensor to get it working and now there’s two capstone teams, sorry, three capstone teams. I was just involved with like the last two and a couple grants and it’s rolled out across Richmond and you know that I just can’t sing the praises enough of the efforts of everybody involved in that.

I mean there, there’s just so many people that I could thank for my success and to thank for just being there. There are students that I’ve mentored that I just can’t sing their praises enough because even when they’ve had a rough time, you know, they keep trying, they keep at it and I mean, sometimes things don’t work out.

That’s just part of life and part of, you know, learning to work on projects, it’s not all about research, even if so many of those habits overlap. Yeah, I do a lot of volunteering. I do a lot of mentoring and I think that’s part of what keeps me sane.

HAYA: I love to hear it and I love hearing about, you know, your, real, your works application in these settings and community engagement and, working with Ram Pantry and your work is truly cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary. So I love when I get to hear about, you know, things like this. And last but not least, Dr. Linkous, do you have any words of advice for incoming engineering students or researchers who are particularly interested in the path that you’re pursuing? You know, flora is yours.

DR. LINKOUS: You’re gonna be terrified the first time your mother calls you doctor. Ah. Yeah, no. I mean, that one’s only partially serious. Again, I enjoy what I do. I enjoy reaching out to people and working with all kinds of people, and the crux of my interdisciplinary work is just because.

Everybody brings something unique to the table. No, no matter what you’re doing, no matter who you’re reaching out to, there’s always something there to collaborate on, to work towards, to create, to, I think make the world a little bit better in its own way. You know, you, you don’t have to impact everyone. Sometimes one person’s enough, but yeah, for like new, for new incoming students of, of any, discipline, I think.

You know, I think they’re in for a good time. It might not be the easiest thing they’ve ever done. It might be the hardest thing they’ve ever done for some students. And you know, that’s, again, that’s just life. But I think they’re in for something very unique and I think if they stick with it, there is a payoff and you know, there it’s that payoff is gonna be a lot of their own growth and their own potential.

And yeah, I mean, I think they’re just in for something that is very, very unique.

HAYA: Thank you so much Dr. Linkous, for sharing your inspiring journey and insights with us today. For our listeners, whether you’re just starting out or deep into your graduate journey, remember that every breakthrough begins with a question and a commitment to keep exploring.

Thank you so much for joining us on Grad Pod, and we’ll see you next time as we continue to spotlight the voices that shape graduate education here at VCU.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  All right, listeners, this is a big one. We have an exciting opportunity. VCU is thrilled to be partnering with the City of Richmond to host the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, more commonly known as at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, starting on Monday, April 13th of this year, 2026, and running through Wednesday, April 15th.

We are expecting around 4,000 students before even counting faculty, staff, advisors, and volunteers. But that means thousands of emerging scholars from across the country will be right here in Richmond, presenting their research, building networks, and exploring what comes next, and VCU will be at the center of it all.

HAYA: Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight stories, experiences, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU.

I am your host, Haya Hamid, and today we’re talking about one of the biggest stages in the undergraduate research world, NCUR, and more specifically, NCUR 2026 at VCU.

So, you might be wondering what makes NCUR different. The National Conference on Undergraduate Research, or NCUR, again, is dedicated to promoting research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study.

The big picture idea is that this conference offers a unique environment for the celebration and promotion of student achievements from all disciplines.

Not just with a focus on STEM research, as we might stereotypically think, students will also have the opportunity to share and exemplify their research, give talks, attend the Future Fair, which is NCUR’s version of the graduate program fair. Additionally, students will also have access to real-world student career readiness development.

And more importantly, introduce them to our UNcommon campus, the UNparalleled support and resources they will have access to, and the UNmatched excellence of our graduate programs at VCU.

For those of you who might be joining us for NCUR and have never heard of VCU, welcome. Virginia Commonwealth University, or VCU, is a powerhouse of opportunities featuring over 140 different graduate programs ranging from certificates to master’s programs to doctoral degrees and even first professional degrees.

If you are interested in learning a little bit more about the opportunities here in terms of programs, schools, and colleges, make sure to visit our website, graduate.vcu.edu.

You’ll see the graduate programs tab, which has all of our programs listed by schools and colleges, as well as their STEM classification.

And, if you are interested to learn a little bit more about support on campus, the resources you’ll have access to, like professional development, community and connection, and financing your graduate studies, UNcover graduate studies at VCU series, which is housed under our prospective students tab.

You’ll gain access to digestible content, like short videos and even testimonials so you can learn a little bit more about life here at VCU for our graduate community. And, again, if you haven’t heard about VCU and you are joining us from out of state or an international student, I want to let you know about our graduate education innovation program or GEIP, which is a distinctive tuition structure, making our programs more accessible for out-of-state students and international students, making the tuition more comparable to our in-state rate, and that can be found under our prospective students tab as well.

Back to the conference! Hosting NCUR is more than just managing or facilitating a national conference. It is an opportunity for us as a university to showcase our research culture, our graduate programs, and the mentorship that defines our academic community.

This is really a moment for us to demonstrate what makes VCU a leader in innovation and success and what makes us so UNcommon.

For that, the Graduate School is very excited to host the Go Beyond the Podium series. This is a series of curated school tours and professional and career development sessions designed just for NCUR attendees. These experiences will offer a unique opportunity for our undergrads to step off the conference floor and into the heart of VCU’s graduate programs, research, and professional landscape.

These sessions are really designed to bridge the gap between our students and professionals, and also really graduate students. So, you can make those meaningful connections, and we have a couple of options for you.

You can take advantage of our schools and colleges’ tours, where you can get an inside look at the College of Engineering, College of Health Professions, and School of Medicine.

This will also be an amazing opportunity, again, to connect with the people running the program, participating in the program, and getting a real feel for their academic and research settings.

Of course, these series go beyond the campus doors to also offer hands-on professional and career development sessions, so you will be able to sign up for multiple specialized sessions hosted by the Graduate School’s professional development team, the Writing Center, and University Career Services.

Those professional development sessions, at large, will be interactive workshops and sessions to help you look at examples of strong and successful personal statements, resumes, and even the best graduate programs for your trajectory.

So, we are really excited to be offering those tools you need so you can put your best foot forward as you progress in your academic and professional career! And, of course, all of those sessions will be available on the schedule of the conference once that’s finalized.

In addition to that, the Graduate School will also have a page on its website dedicated to NCUR (coming soon!). That should be very easy to find. And once again, that plug is graduate.vcu.edu, and you’ll be able to register for all of our events.

To give you some more logistical context for our go beyond the podium excursions for logistical reasons and planning, and some of you might appreciate having this information, VCU will be providing shuttles from the Monroe Park campus to the Greater Richmond Convention Center. And of course, we’ll also coordinate all transportation for our college and school tours, so no stress on that end!

We are also committed to ensuring an accessible experience for all 4,000 attendees. So if you are already finding yourself interested in these sessions and have a specific ADA requirement for sessions or transportation, please reach out to us at gradschool@vcu.edu

Catering to our faculty, attendees, and graduate students. Our university leaders will also host a fireside chat, a dynamic and candid conversation rather as opposed to a formal, you know, a series of presentations. Titled Confluence of Sciences and Arts in the Age of AI, this will be a riveting panel amongst university leaders, and I won’t give away too much, but we are looking forward to that conversation.

Moderated by Vice Provost and Dean Manu Gupta of the Graduate School, and celebrated panelists: Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Art Saavedra, Dean of the School of the Arts, Dr. Carmenita Higginbotham, and Vice Provost of Research and Innovation, Dr. Srirama Rao. And, for our graduate community and graduate students really who are looking to make an impact, we need all the support we can get and are currently seeking volunteers to make NCUR 2026 a success.

This is not only a fantastic way to network with faculty and staff from across the country, but also to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into a massive conference like this. We anticipate needing support with: registration, check-in, assisting with events set up, ushering attendees, successions, and other duties as needed.

I will put a link in our description and transcript of this episode, so please sign up if you have some time to give and are interested; and of course, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to gradschool@vcu.edu

And, finally, to our visiting students, faculty, staff, volunteers, and really anyone in between, I wanna take a moment to welcome you to Richmond in advance. Of course, Richmond offers far more than just the convention center and our university, and we want to encourage you to explore the city’s rich culture! You know, whether it’s walking along the James River, visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) or Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA), or even enjoying the culinary scene with over 900 dining options, or maybe you wanna experience a local vibe! Whatever it is that you like to do, there is something for everyone in Richmond, and that is what makes the city an incredible place. We were hoping to just introduce you to one part of that, and that is what makes VCU a place UNlike any other.

Richmond is ready to showcase the future of research! Whether you’re presenting, volunteering, or exploring, we cannot wait to see you there.

Thank you so much for listening to Grad Pod, and be sure to check the transcript of this episode for the volunteer signup, registration details, and other links that were mentioned on this episode.

We cannot wait to welcome you to VCU, and this has been Grad Pod.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at gradschool@vcu.edu, and we may answer your question on an episode!

Episode links:

• Graduate School website: https://graduate.vcu.edu/

• NCUR Web Page on our Wesbite: https://graduate.vcu.edu/ncur/

• UNCover Graduate Studies at VCU :https://graduate.vcu.edu/current-students/professional-d%E2%80%A6

• Graduate Education Innovation program: https://graduate.vcu.edu/prospective-students/geip/

• Volunteer sign up (graduate students and staff only): https://forms.gle/KxJ7AzoWFqRNJVh26

• Contact information: Gradschool@vcu.edu

• Beyond the podium series registration will be shared by the NCUR team via emai

HAYA: Gerontology is about more than just aging. It’s about purpose, longevity, and creating systems that allow people to live well across their lifespan, not just when they’re aging.

Here at VCU, we are so proud to be named as the only age-friendly institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia by the Gerontological Society of America.

M And, the only, NAB or National Association of Long-Term Care Administrators Accredited Institution for Assisted Living Administration. That recognition truly reflects our commitment as an institution to disrupting ageism and advancing wellbeing for all generations.

HAYA: Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we explore all things related to VCU graduate student life and more!

Today I am joined by Edmund Boxley, a current student in the VCU Gerontology program, who also works within the department.

Edmund brings a unique perspective as both a learner and a team member supporting the mission of disrupting ageism and advancing person-centered practices. Edmund’s experience offers a clear window into what makes this program meaningful and impactful, and a strong choice for future graduate students within the interdisciplinary world of gerontology.

If you are considering a career in aging services, health, longevity, health, wellness, public health, social services, or really any field that is just connected to improving quality life, this conversation is for you, and it will help you understand the opportunities and community waiting here for you at VCU.

So Edmund, welcome to the Grad Pod!

EDMUND: Thanks for having me!

HAYA: We’re so excited to have you here, and I think this is the first interview that I’m doing with someone who fulfills both the role of student and administrator, so I’m so excited for all the perspective that you are going to bring.

EDMUND: I’m excited to share. Thanks for having me.

HAYA: Yeah.

Again, Edmund, you are not only a current gerontology student, but you also work within the program. So, from your dual perspective, what do you think makes VCU’s gerontology program different and unique from other graduate programs, especially for someone considering a career in aging services or health longevity?

EDMUND: Something that was really striking from the moment I joined VCU Gerontology as a staff member was just how committed everyone is to practicing what they actually teach in the program.

So, the VCU Gerontology program is holistic, ethical, and it’s pretty cost effective. It’s 30 credits for a master’s, which is pretty cool! That’s a good deal. Shorter than many master’s programs out there. And, it’s totally online, so you can do it full-time or part-time. And that was really exciting to me when I first got there. And, gerontology is so multifaceted. You can do a lot with a gerontology degree, not just direct service or care.

You can be a researcher, a teacher, nonprofit director, community liaison, policy advisor, assisted living administrator, and loads more.

Some of the gerontology professors also use innovative teaching methods, like what’s called “un-grading,” and this is all about intrinsic motivation to learn versus just trying to get the grade and checking off all the boxes of assignments.

So, our program teaches students how to lead in an aging world, really in any job sector that they want to, and they’re really emphasizing being able to walk away from this program having real-life skills that will help you in your career, and again, not just checking off boxes for assignments.

This is like real knowledge you get to implement in daily life and whatever job sector that you want to go into.

HAYA: Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing and for touching on all of these new ideas really, the interdisciplinarity of gerontology is a perspective that I’m seeing for the first time, but I think you explain it very well. There are so many different aspects that go into aging, and it’s such a multifaceted experience that is almost,I don’t want to say unpredictable, but everybody navigates it in a different way, and, so drawing strengths, again from all of those disciplines is really important. And thank you for shining light on that.

You know, as a person who really appreciates the interdisciplinary perspective, my next question for you is about gerontology being a field that is rooted in purpose and people.

What moment or experience in the program has most affirmed you that you chose the right graduate pathway for yourself?

EDMUND: Oh man, I love telling this story. I really like to joke that I did not find gerontology; gerontology found me. I’ve been in the communications field for about seven years now.

And, I knew that I always wanted to work with queer and trans elders in some capacity. I wanted to do oral history or I wanted to do some kind of community work with queer and trans elders.I just had no idea how I was gonna get there.

And, it’s kind of funny that I was already on this life trajectory before I even really realized where I was going. So when I got the job offer from gerontology, I went with it against really people around me kind of going, “What an odd field to go into. Like, why? Why do you wanna do that?”

But, there was just something about it for me personally that just really spoke to me in a really deep level and I just went with it and I have not looked back since. I have not regretted that decision at all. It has been so impactful.

And, now that I’m in the program, I’ve been able to help facilitate elderhood focus groups with queer and trans elders, listen to their stories, hear about their own experiences of being in elderhood and what that means, what the strengths for that can be, what they have to contribute to the world, and really to my community as well, and that was just so important to me and one of the biggest moments that affirmed that, yeah, this was the right path. This was the right choice. It was good to trust my gut.

It’s funny that you mention purpose too, because you’re absolutely right.

I think VCU Gerontology does a really great job of incorporating a sense of purpose and people into our daily work and into our programs. Also, in Blue Zones around the globe—which if you don’t know what a blue zone is, it is a densely populated area or community where people have really long life expectancies.

So, you have high percentages of centenarians living in these communities, and one of the key shared traits through these communities is having that strong sense of purpose.

That’s something that the programs at VCU Gerontology really incorporates, that they really want you to lean into your sense of purpose and your passion. And, because it’s so multidisciplinary, really you can do anything with it.

I was never expecting gerontology to be something that I could use in a communications field, and yet here I am.

HAYA: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing. And, I want to just say, even though you say that gerontology found you, Edmund, you definitely found your place in gerontology with your niche interest.

And, being able to translate your passion into real-life experiences, whether it be focus groups or creating meaningful materials to share with prospectivecs who might be interested in creating the same pathway—or maybe a different pathway, because in gerontology that is possible. And so thank you for sharing such a heartwarming story really. I loved hearing that. So, thank you again.

Up next, we wanna talk about VCU’s gerontology program being a nationally recognized program and truly one of a kind in Virginia and beyond, but it is nationally recognized for heavily focusing on disrupting ageism and promoting person-centered care.

How have you seen that mission embedded in coursework, your assistantship, or your day-to-day work within the department?

EDMUND: Disrupting ageism! It’s the bedrock of this whole program.

Disrupting ageism is at the root of all of our work. I think mine especially as a media and communications professional, you know, the way we talk about aging really matters.

It can impact your wellbeing, as a fun fact: if you have positive ideas about aging and you talk to yourself about that, it can add literal years to your life. It adds to your longevity!

Within the program, disrupting ageism is a key component. I find it comes up in every single class that I am in.

Professors and instructors find ways to talk about disrupting ageism, whether we’re talking about age and ability inclusion, whether we’re talking about stereotypes in media, or we’re talking about ageism in healthcare and how older adults and elders receive services or even where those things are lacking; we find ways to weave that into every aspect of what we do.

And, personally in my own coursework, I’ve done independent study on person-centered trauma-informed communication, which was a fascinating thing to blend into my comms professional history.

And, I use this in my day-to-day work as well as my interpersonal relationships with colleagues, professors, and other students. It’s something that’s become really impactful in almost every facet of my life, and, then also I’m learning to disrupt ageism in modern technology.

Personally, as a media comms professional, that’s a big area that I’m looking into. I was a co-author on chapter nine of our new textbook, Disrupting Ageism from Theory to Practice, and actually just wrote a blog piece about Spotify Wrapped’s “listening age” for our department, which is a really interesting thing to think about, you know?

You may not consider that to be something that’s ageist, but that’s an example of stuff that as a media and comms professional, I pay attention to and I do, and I write about, and we talk about this a lot in our program. It just comes up everywhere. I’m also learning to do that in my personal life as well. I think one of the big things that we emphasize is that disrupting ageism isn’t something that just happens inside of the classroom. You have to bring it out into everyday life too. If you see something, say something. So it’s really important that disrupting ageism happens every day. And at VCU Gerontology, that’s just what we do.

HAYA: Where can we read your blog post about the Spotify Wrapped age? Whatever they put in their new Wrapped profile.

EDMUND: It’s on our website: gerontology.chp.vcu.edu

HAYA: Okay, wonderful. And we’ll be sure to plug that in the transcript of this episode because that is really cool. Everything that you said about defying ageism, I think it just brings a new perspective, especially thinking about defying ageism in your personal life.

Link to article Disrupt Ageism: Spotify Wrapped & your listening ageL https://gerontology.chp.vcu.edu/about-us/featured-news/disrupt-ageism-spotify-wrapped--your-listening-age.html

So again, with all of that being said, I just also wanna plug in that VCU Gerontology, their staff and team members are able to come in and talk about these important things.

So, I would definitely be interested in learning a little bit more about building habits and taking more actionable plans to defy ageism, not only in the workplace, but everywhere around us. Like you said, Edmund, it really sparked some inspiration and interest in me, so thank you for sharing.

Many prospective students wonder what career options exist after a gerontology degree. And we kind of already discussed this, but from what you’ve seen in your role in the program and also as a student, what kind of jobs or pathways do graduates typically pursue and how does the program help students get there?

EDMUND: Absolutely! Gerontology isn’t a single job. It’s a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual lens that makes you indispensable in fields that are already being reshaped by population aging.

And, our program teaches students how to navigate this world through ethics and through powerful leadership. We also have a really long track record of students getting accolades. VCU Gerontology students are change makers. We have had three of our alumni be featured in Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40, and this year (recorded in 2025), Alexa Van Aartrijk from the Span Center, who’s a VCU Gerontology alumna, was selected as part of Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40, and we’re so thrilled!

Many of our graduates go on to work for policy development at the state and federal level. They’re working in regional nonprofits, private healthcare industries.

They’re leaders in home and community-based services. They do research, they’re in higher education, they’re direct care and service providers. They advocate on the state and local levels, and that’s just a few examples.

Our program really helps students get to these places by offering a lot of supportive services, which I think we’re gonna talk about in a second, but really by offering a lot of supported services like career counseling, one-on-one discussions, and connecting current students to our network of alumni, which is expansive. And, as I’ve mentioned, our alumni are all over the place doing all kinds of fantastic work, and they’re just such powerful change makers in our world today.

One of the benefits of being in the program is getting connected to that network of people and being taught versatile skills that enable you to be effective in whatever job sector that you’re aiming to bring this gerontological perspective into.

HAYA: In terms of job opportunities or opportunities in general, I would think, you know, as a world, as a population, we are aging exponentially. And the population of people who are making it to age as much as we are now requires experts to answer these important questions and solve critical issues as the population is aging and also increasing. So, I mean, I think it’s a no-brainer.

EDMUND: You’re exactly right about that. Our population is absolutely aging. By 2030, actually, one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. By 2050, the 85-plus population will have nearly tripled.

HAYA: Absolutely! And, there is no time like the present to train these skilled professionals to be able to put their best foot forward, there comes the time when all these statistics are relevant, and to be able to provide the kind of support that our aging population will need, and so the point that I’m trying to emphasize is that this is not only important work, but very important work! And like you said, Edmund, this touches a very multifaceted, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary field. So the opportunities are truly unlimited.

Finally, graduate school is a commitment and students want to know what support looks like. What resources—you know, assistantships, mentorship, or community aspects within the gerontology program—have been most meaningful to you, and how have they shaped your graduate experience at VCU?

EDMUND: Thank you. As a quick note for clarity’s sake, it’s not interdisciplinary; it’s just multidisciplinary. I would hate for that to come back and bite me in the butt.

Grad school is such a huge commitment. When I was initially exploring other grad programs before this one actually, and I looked at quite a few, the community atmosphere at VCU Gerontology was just unmatched.

None of the other programs that I looked at felt nearly as welcoming or supportive as this program was; and, something that’s really awesome about this program, and you mentioned this earlier in our conversation about VCU being the only age-friendly school in the Commonwealth, is just how awesomely accepting our program is of the fact that grad school happens at different times for everybody in their life.

So, we have people who are retirees that enter our program and are learning alongside people who are just getting their bachelor’s for the first time. That’s incredible to me. So, I get to learn alongside so many other different people and constantly being shown by professors how important it is and how encouraged it is when you’re stepping into a new class and especially a new field like gerontology, how okay it is to step in and go, “Oh, wow, I know absolutely nothing. There’s so much that I don’t know,” and how encouraged that actually is.

Because, really, they want you to walk away at the end of it going, “Oh my gosh, wow, I learned so much. I understand now what I didn’t understand before.” I really appreciate that as a learner.

For faculty members, you know, I talked about how our program is really holistic, and I feel like that’s really embodied through the support of faculty members in the program. They view you as a whole person.

You’re a person with your own life outside of class. So, when life happens, you’re met with understanding and compassion alongside accountability and responsibility. Grace is given where grace is warranted, and I really appreciate that.

One of the other supports, I think we already talked about this, was the career counseling support as well. And this is for students and alumni.

At any point, even after you graduate, you can come back to faculty members and say, “Hey, can you sit down with me? I think I wanna get out of assisted living administration and I wanna go more to working in a nonprofit.” You can go online and fill out our little scheduling form, and they’ll sit down with you and go, “Great. Let’s see how we can make that happen. Who do we need to put you in contact with? What kinds of skills are transferable here? Let’s go over your resume, we’ll help you practice for the interview.”

So there’s a lot of really cool supports in place like that. The awesome part of that is that prospective students can also sit down with one of our faculty members to chat about our programs and to figure out, you know, within their job sectors, what can gerontology do to help me here? What kind of leg up would this give me in making me indispensable in my career field?

HAYA: Thank you for sharing. I think what really stands out to me is the lifelong community, or at least what feels like a lifelong community: “once in gerontology, forever in gerontology.” And I guess thank you for choosing VCU. I think it only makes sense to attend the option that is named the only age-friendly institution and one of the best in the nation. So I am really proud that this kind of program exists at VCU and that we are not only—well, you guys are not only doing a good job, but a great job.

So thank you for all that you do within your academic and professional community, and if you’re not aging, you’re not living. Thank you so much for joining us, Edmund.

EDMUND: You’re so welcome. Thank you for having me.

HAYA: We really appreciate it, and you guys are keeping the name great out there, so thank you.

As we wrap up this episode, what is now clear to me and hopefully to our listeners too: Edmund’s experience reminds us that when students join this program, they’re stepping into work that matters, work that drives real change, and work that prepares them to lead in a field that is ever-growing, ever-dynamic, and frankly changing every day.

If today’s conversation sparked your curiosity or helped you imagine your future in aging services, health, longevity, or person-centered practice or more, we invite you to explore more about VCU Gerontology. You’ll find faculty who will invest in you, a curriculum built around purpose, and a community that is shaped by empathy and welcomes learners at every stage of their pathway.

Thank you for listening to Grad Pod. Until next time, stay curious, stay connected, and keep imagining what your impact could be.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  Grad students, take yourself back to pre matriculation you, pre-grad school you.

Many of us were encouraged to dream big, but often without a clear roadmap of how to get there. We were told to chase opportunities, reach higher and aim for goals that sometimes feel out of reach.

Of course, this is not the case for everyone, but it is for many of us.

The truth is, navigating those dreams can be hard. Especially when it comes to figuring out how to fund your education, find meaningful experiences, or even apply for competitive national awards, that’s where the National Scholarship Office at VCU comes in.

So, whether you’ve heard of the Fulbright, the Born, or the Truman, or none of those, yet, you’re in the right place.

HAYA: Welcome back to another episode of Grad Pod, and happy Tuesday.

Today’s episode of the Grad Pod is all about demystifying scholarship. Fellowships and the resources available to you right here at VCU, whether you’re an undergrad, thinking about what’s next, or a graduate student exploring funding opportunities for research, travel, or further study.

This episode is for you, the National Scholarship Office, or NSO at VCU, isn’t just a place that you go to fill an application for a scholarship.

Yes, they help out with all of that and are very resourceful in that regard.

But, it’s also a space that empowers students to think bigger and not only for their academic and professional goals, but also to fulfill their desires for meaningful experiences, whether it be studying abroad to immerse themselves in new cultural experiences, or conducting research in a topic that they’re deeply passionate about.

NSO is here to assist them in every step of the way. Their team works directly with students to identify opportunities, strengthen applications, and build confidence throughout the entire process.

To help us better understand what the NSO does and how they can support students, we’re sitting down with Jeff Wing, assistant dean and director of the National Scholarship Office, and Marissa Price, a graduate student supporting NSO, and she’s also a graduate student at the Brand Center.

HAYA: Jeff and Marissa, welcome to the grad pod.

JEFF: Thank you for having us!

MARISSA: Thanks!

HAYA: To get started, could you tell us a little bit about the National Scholarship Office and its mission here at VCU, and kind of what you two do to support the initiatives of the National Scholarship Office?

JEFF: So the National Scholarship Office was started in 2005. Basically, with the intention of trying to make sure that VCU students and alumni eventually know about nationally competitive opportunities that might either support their educational endeavors or help them to accumulate the experiences that will lead to the kinds of future opportunities that they’re seeking.

We have three main objectives or purposes. First of all, is to make sure that our students and recent alums know about these opportunities and are aware of how they might fit into their future plans.

And then secondly, we work to make sure that the students understand that VCU students can and do compete successfully for these opportunities. So, kind of overcoming that initial hesitation that a lot of students have about, well, I’m not really sure I’m the right person for this opportunity.

Finally, we’re kinda like coaches. We’re working very closely with the students throughout the application process. Helping them at each step of the process, helping them to identify who their recommender should be, thinking about which opportunities actually align best with their future plans, and when the timing is right to apply.

A lot of these opportunities have kind of fairly broad windows when students could do them before graduate school, during graduate school, after graduate school.

Our job is to try to help the students understand the details of those opportunities, and then to really think strategically about how these opportunities best align with the timeline that the students’s on. Because we’ve all got lives outside of our professional aspirations as well, we sometimes have to figure out how to fit into the other opportunities that we want to pursue. And, while we’re situated in the honors college and kind of our initial focus was on undergraduates, we knew that we wanted to also work with graduate students and alumni.

We wanna work with students and alumni on the full spectrum, and so as we started to work with graduate students, we started to understand that there are some.

There are much more complex opportunities available at the graduate school level and that’s where Marissa has kind of come into play in our office this year, and previous graduate students who have worked with us have really helped us to focus on more on what are the opportunities that are specifically available for graduate students.

We’re never gonna become experts on all of those because they tend to be very discipline-specific. But we know that the work that we do translates to those specific opportunities as well. The questions, the advice that we can offer still applies. We just need more opportunities to try to understand what are the students, what could the students be applying for in specific disciplines.

Marissa can talk a little bit about what she’s been doing to help on that front as well. Yeah, so especially, you know, considering how the NSO helps grad students in particular, talking to the point of that everyone’s got a lot going on, of course, um, undergrads as well, but particularly grad students because then they might have a partner, they might have kids, they have, you know, a lot of other adult responsibilities on top of their academic responsibilities.

MARISSA: So that’s definitely something where, where I come in as the grad assistant for the office of helping with a lot of promotions and communication efforts and trying to get these opportunities out there. So we’re really happy to be on the show today to try to just make everyone aware that we’re a really great resource and you know, follow us on Instagram.

You know, get our emails, check out our blog. We have info sessions all the time and other events throughout the year. Really just making sure we get these opportunities, you know, and people’s sites, because we know how crazy life can get.

HAYA:  Yeah absolutely! And, now is definitely a good time to start thinking about funding for future semesters.

And, Jeff, you touched on this, you, talked about how your office sort of helps students build confidence to compete in these opportunities and show them that these opportunities are available to VCU students and you can do it; and, so, my question for you is for students who have not considered applying for a national award or any scholarship that they might perceive to be maybe too competitive, which there is no such thing as, what advice would you give to them about getting started?

JEFF: I think the first and probably most important thing for students to keep in mind is that the funding agencies or organizations in many cases aren’t interested in just funding students from the same schools over and over and over again.

They actually often have, as part of their mission to make sure that their opportunities are available widely and broadly across the educational spectrum.

Oftentimes, I think VCU students think they can’t compete because they’re not at an Ivy League school, they’re not at a school that’s as well known as some other schools perhaps, but the reality is that many of these organizations are actually seeking out students from places that are not as well represented in these really highly competitive opportunities.

Oftentimes, our students are more competitive than they would ever realize. As we say in our office on a regular basis, the only guarantee is that you cannot be selected if you don’t put an application forward, and we try to keep the focus on all of the applications as being an educational experience.

We know that in many cases, because these are highly competitive opportunities with oftentimes very low percentages of the applicants being selected, that we need to make sure that our students have an outcome that is positive from the experience of applying.

Whether they get the award or not, they should feel good about the fact that they’ve applied and should feel good about the way they’ve thought about their future and how this opportunity aligns with their future plans well before they ever get any feedback from the actual application review.

That’s been our focus since the start and I think as we’ve gotten more and more students to work with us, I think they have increasingly seen that as well as the real benefit that I now know how to tell my future story much more effectively than I did before and I’m much more confident talking about that in interviews or in uh, networking situations. Because a lot of times, that’s the hardest conversation we have with our candidates is: “okay, so tell me what you wanna be doing in 10, 15, 20 years, and how does this opportunity align with that?”, and even though they oftentimes have big dreams and aspirations, they frequently haven’t tried to kind of really make those into specific actionable steps that they can take, you know, towards that objective that they have.

And, I think oftentimes the process of applying really kind of forces them to articulate a clearer vision and the steps that they would need to take to get there; and, sometimes they walk out of that process with a much clearer action plan for what they’re gonna do next.

Regardless of whether they get this opportunity or not, I now know these are the steps that I need to be taking.

This is the progression that I need to be on if I want to get to this objective that I have for some point in the future.

MARISSA: Just to add to that too, most of the applications involve a personal statement, and so that’s like what Jeff mentioned of being able to kind of tell your story like that is such a crucial skill that you will need for every other application or job interview or anything for the rest of your life and, like Jeff said as well, even just networking, you know, because life can often be messy. Like you might have a lot of different experiences.

Maybe students have changed their major and their course of study. They’ve had, you know, some sort of different, opposite, experiences or exposures, and they don’t really know how to make sense of that in a 500-word essay or in a like one minute sort of elevator pitch about who they are. And, you know, connecting those past experiences with what they want to do in the future.

So, that’s a really great skill to try to just distill that down and come out with a clear narrative of your past and what you hope for your future to be. You know, so just getting that you can apply that to so many future things. And, then also, additionally, most of these scholarships you have to have some recommendations.

So if students, you know, haven’t already cultivated great relationships with their faculty or other mentors in their lives, this is an excuse for them to start. Because they’re gonna need that recommendation. And, we always say, start as early as you possibly can. Working with us, you know, we have many students that even start thinking about something maybe a year before it’s due.

HAYA:  I was wondering if there are any other myths or misconceptions about applying to scholarships on the graduate level, and maybe sort of also some of the roadblocks that people face about applying for funding in graduate spaces.

JEFF: Yeah, I think there are definitely a perception among students that there’s not enough funding and I think, I think we know that that’s true, generally speaking, partly because there’s been a kind of proliferation of graduate degrees that already funded, and so a lot of our students are in situations where they’re basically either paying for it and, and trying to work full time to help pay for it.

Or, they’re trying to figure out how I could cobble together funding to make this work if I wanted to be able to devote all of my attention to this graduate program in a short period of time.

There aren’t kind of great answers to that question in the sense that there’s no, you know, secret pool of money out there that nobody else knows about. But,the key thing I think, really is for our students, whether they’re in graduate school or they’re aspiring to.

School is to talk with students that have been ahead of them, that are two, three, four years ahead that have already been down this path. They may not know all the answers, but if you talk to enough of them, you’re gonna start to put together a much clearer picture of the landscape, and a lot of times these students, I always tell people the best question to ask is, what do you know now that you wish somebody had told you before you started? Because we all have those kind of aha moments. Where it’s like, oh, I didn’t realize I could have done it that way, or I could have applied for that opportunity.

You don’t want to have those after the fact. You need to have those moments much earlier in the process, and that really requires you to identify people who have been through your program.

Any graduate program that’s really trying to recruit students should be more than happy to put their applicants or their aspiring students in contact with their current students or their recent alumni.

Those conversations can be really rich and fruitful because a lot of times those students or alumni don’t just know about what they applied for. They also know what all their classmates applied for. They know what other opportunities were out there that they wished they had known about sooner.

Because they tend to talk about those things amongst their cohorts, and they learn pretty quickly about the things that some of the other students were applying for that they didn’t realize they could have applied for as well.

Our goal when we’re talking with graduate students, whether they’re just starting or whether they’re, you know, thinking about applying to graduate school, is to say you can’t network enough at this stage of the game.

You need to be talking, you need to be talking to the faculty. You need to be talking to the advisors, the admissions people. They’ve all got good information and you need to be collecting that information as well. But, you also need to be talking to the students who are in the program who have already been down this path and find out what they learned along that way that they wished they had picked up earlier.

HAYA: I’ve never heard the advice of networking when you’re applying for a specific scholarship or funding with the people who might have more experience, and not only to learn about what you wish you would’ve known, but also to sort of understand what they’re looking for to stand out.

Okay, so I wanted to ask the two of you. Can you share a success story of a VCU student or alum who received a national scholarship or fellowship, or any award that has impacted their journey? There’s a lot of them, and unfortunately, after 20 years of this, they tend to kind of come into my mind in ways where I start to mix up aspects of them.

JEFF: So I actually went back and did a little looking as I was thinking about this. A couple of students that came to mind that I think would be good examples for our graduate students.

One of our students who was a PhD student in engineering was working on some research and knew that there was some folks in Greece that were kind of doing some similar research, and there had been some collaborations between the research lab here at VCU and the research lab in Theia.

She came to us and said, you know, I’d like to apply for this Fulbright thing to go and, and do part of my dissertation research in Greece. Is this something that might work out?

And we said, well, it certainly could, and we’d be happy to work with you on that. She was one of those students who came to us probably a year or maybe a year and a half in advance.

And so it was kind of a long process. But, uh, she already had reached out to the folks in Thessalonica and and knew that they were, you know, open to this idea. And they had some. Equipment there that we didn’t have here, and so she had an opportunity to kind of use that as part of the, the, uh, catalyst for her application.

She went, she had a great, got selected, went, had a great experience, came back, finished up, and then did a postdoc, and she’s now in a faculty position.

We had another student many years ago now, although I, he, he’s pretty memorable. He was a sculpture student, graduate student in the MFA program, and he wanted to go to South Africa as I recall.

He had multiple interesting ideas for what he could do there, and my biggest concern when he approached us initially was, you’re gonna be able to pick one, settle on one, and Fulbright didn’t really care, and I kept reminding him, you can do more than one of these. Once you get down there, you just need to get them to say yes to funding you so that you can go and and experience this.

I said, you might not even do what you said you’re gonna do. You might end up doing something entirely different. And they’re fine with that too.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing, and these are just some of many stories. We now not only have students who have completed the scholarship, but also faculty who can provide insight and just advice, catering to their students who might be interested. So, we are truly surrounded by excellence.

Do not feel discouraged about this opportunity or any opportunity being too competitive, because we have VCU alums who are conquering these opportunities.

MARISSA: Yeah, and not only do we have this, you know, culture of Fulbright, folks here just at VCU, but really anyone who works with the NSO kind of becomes a part of us.

HAYA: Thank you so much, Marissa and Jeff, for being here today to check out all NSO opportunities. Check out nso.vcu.edu. That is their website, where you will find all opportunities and also including the graduate school newsletter, as well as other avenues. Thank you so much.

MARISSA: Thank you.

JEFF: Thanks for having us.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu, and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  Happy New Year and welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight stories, experiences, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today’s episode is in honor of National Mentoring Month. A time to recognize the importance of guidance, support, and connection in higher education.

Mentorship plays a meaningful role in helping both graduate and undergraduate students navigate their academic and professional journeys. And today, we are highlighting just that!

We’re highlighting that impact through one mentoring relationship at VCU. I am joined by Nicolas Morales, an undergraduate student in biology on the pre-med track, and Nour Abosamak, a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Translational Sciences program under the Wright Center for the Clinical and Translational Research, which is housed under the Office of Research and Innovation.

Nour is also serving as Nicolas’ mentor. Fun fact, they are both international students. Nour is joining us from Egypt and Nicolas is joining us from Colombia.

Thank you both for being here and welcome to the grad pod!

NOUR: Thank you for inviting me.

NICHOLAS: Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation.

HAYA: Yeah, it is so nice to have you guys here. I think this is our first time having two guests on the grad pod, so this is exciting.

To begin, I’d like to start with some introductions. Can you guys share with us a little bit about your program and how long you’ve been at VCU and what you plan to do once you complete your program?

And we can start with you, Nour.

NOUR: So, my program concentrates on translational research, which is translating theoretical findings. From the bench to bedside. So, translating applications from one population to the other, testing different methods. My personal research that I’m doing under the program involves using AI as a tool to improve health literacy specifically around oral cancer.

NICHOLAS: So, for me, I am a biology major. I started a couple years ago. It’s been taking a bunch of biology classes, chemistry classes, getting used to the basic sciences behind medicine. I have also had the privilege of participating in an internship, which I did last summer with the Pauly Heart Center. I was able to attend classes about the heart anatomy, medicine, how it works, and I also got the chance to meet my current mentor, Dr. Anin. I’m with her. I’ve been learning more about cancer. I have to treat it. I’ve been helping, volunteering , helping them investigate new treatments for breast cancer. I am just learning more about her previous research. I’m currently still doing the volunteering, helping as much as I can in my free time.

I’ve also worked at VCU, I started as a front desk worker. I was at the CLC at the Campus Learning Center. I just attended phone calls and managed the tutoring, and I am now, I just became a tutor for organic chemistry and biology classes.

Thank you guys for sharing. You certainly stay busy, I wanna get a little bit more into your mentoring relationship.

HAYA: My first question for both of you is, how did your mentoring relationship begin and what motivated you to get involved in this experience? Maybe could you guys talk a little bit about the graduate school mentorship program and how that pairing came along?

NICOLAS: Last year or a year ago? I first started with my previous mentor.

Yeah, I was looking for some guidance, in the medical field because in my family, I’m the first one to attend college in America, and of course it is very different from what it’s like in Colombia. So I just wanted to have someone. That’s been in this position before, you could, you know, give me some advice, tell me what to do and what not to do, and just how to prepare for medical school.

So, first, and it was great, he was doing a master’s at the time. He is currently in med school at UVA and he will always be there to support me. He will explain to me step by step what the process of becoming a doctor is, you know, going to med school, residency, fellowship, all these steps. He will explain it in detail.

We will discuss possible specialties, what he wanted to do in specific. And it was a great, great way of just learning more about the medical field here in America. And now, this year, it was, was it, I had the privilege of meeting Nour, as my new mentor. So with him, I’ve also got the chance to discuss medical school.

He’s given me a lot of advice and it’s just also having someone with a different perspective also helps a lot, you know, someone who came from Egypt. Different perspectives, different advice. Just the more advice it can get, the better.

NOUR: The Graduate School Mentorship program is a program hosted by the graduate school where they find graduate students. And undergrads who are interested in joining a mentorship relationship and match them together based on their interests and what their goals are after graduating from college. For example, in Nick’s case, he wants to go to med school, so they matched him with someone who has experience in medicine. My other mentee, Naya , is interested in getting a master’s degree, so I’m helping her with a graduate school application and how to get recommendation letters and how to improve her CV to be competitive for that graduate program.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that.

Mentorship can look different for everyone. Nick, like you mentioned, you have had multiple mentors and Nour you’ve had multiple mentees. So how would you describe your mentoring relationship, the two of you, and what has it personally meant to the two of you?

NOUR: So everyone in the research or the medical field has had a mentor at some point in their life, and I wanted to be a part of this.

I wanted to find people who want a different perspective and a different point of view. And I wanted to share that, as much as I can from my experience, even if it’s not the most extensive, but I think actively trying to be a mentor for someone or give advice to someone who is asking for it, is just paying it back because all of us had have had mentors during our, professional career.

NICOLAS: [Nour], I just love the fact that in Egypt, you were a physician, right?

NOUR: Yes!

NICOLAS: Yeah. So because of that. I get advice from someone who’s been already through all the medical school and exams process. Someone who already knows, who’s already in the position, where I, where I want to be. That is just something that I really look up to.

And, it’s just great having someone in that position where I can ask any question who I can go for advice. Who’s there to support me. And also, of course, Nour is a great guy. He’s very fun to talk to. We, we often go to get some food and it’s just, it’s fun having someone who understands my position, all the stress and all the work and everything that comes with being a pre-medicine student.

So, it is just, it’s a fun way of learning the best way. To accomplish my goals, and it’s just, and it’s another friend of mine that supports me and just helps me get through all this hard, hard work.

NOUR: So, Nick already came with a lot of advice from his previous mentor, so my contribution to his current goal is minimal with just follow ups and, making sure that anything missing in his resume or CV is achieved before he finishes his undergrad, which is great because he has multiple perspectives, which is a privilege to be honest.

My other mentee, that’s her first time being in the program, so we are working closer and more extensively, I would say, because she wants to get into a graduate school program this year.

So for both of my mentees, Nick and Naya, we meet two times a month. We follow up on the goals that we put the previous, on the previous meeting, and we just talk about anything that we wanna talk about in order to reach the goal that they want.

HAYA: Thank you guys for sharing. I really enjoyed hearing from both of you about how you perceive this mentorship relationship and what you enjoy about each other.

In honor of National Mentoring Month, why do you believe that mentorship is important in higher education? I know, no, you talked a little bit about its importance in research, but what does this do to help you build your VCU community professional development and even beyond that?

NICOLAS: We come here to learn and to experience, , you know, new things in new careers, new fields of study. And when it comes to that, the classroom is not enough to learn so much about the real world. There are so many opportunities out there. There are so many things you could do to make sure you do well in your career.

So, mentoring is an essential part of education, in my opinion. That’s where you get to learn from people that have been in your position before and they can teach you what they did and what worked, what didn’t work, and they can make sure you have the right tools to get where you want to be.

NOUR: I agree with Nick!

And also I wanna say that mentorship is not a one way road. All of us learn from each other because everyone in VCU has a different experience and different perspectives are very important to be exposed to in order to know things that we are all biased toward our own opinion. So getting a different perspective from someone who has different experience is valuable for anyone.

And VCU has students and faculty and staff from. A lot of different disciplines and the goal of science is to bring those individuals with their experiences from those different disciplines together in order to help both ourselves and the community.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think you did a really good job of tying that together, Nour at the end finally.

What advice do you guys want to give to other students, whether undergrad or graduate, who are considering participating in a mentoring relationship or program, but maybe they’re unsure about taking that first step? What would you guys advise them to do for undergraduates?

NICOLAS: I will highly advise you find a mentor as soon as possible. Because it’s just a great way to. Know what you should do next or what not to do next. Mentors are just a great way. They give you kind of a heads up on your career. They know where, like, where to go, where to find opportunities. They can just help you so much get ahead in your career goals, and it’s just an incredible way of making relationships, making connections, and expanding your network.

So looking for mentoring will be, I will say, one of like the main things you should do in undergraduate school.

NOUR: I agree with Nick and also to undergraduate students, I think an advice would [be] like, a good advice would be starting or it doesn’t have a mentorship program and doesn’t have to be official.

It doesn’t have to be through an arranged program like the graduate school mentorship program, however. Any opportunity that you can get to find someone else who can give you their opinion, especially if they have experience relevant to what you’re asking is not gonna harm you. It is actually gonna give you a solution to possible problems that you might experience later in your path.

And, if you think you are doing everything perfectly, that is. In most cases not true, and you will not know that without getting someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t have to be someone older than you. It can be a colleague, it can be a parent, a family member. Just don’t be shy to ask questions. And, for graduate students, I would say mentorship is probably already a part of your career.

You got taught a lot of things through people that you met throughout your career, so I think it’s the best next step for you to share this knowledge with people around you.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think that’s the beauty of it all. Every mentor was once a mentee, and the hope and goal is to continue that cycle.

Thank you both for sharing your perspectives today, Nour and Nicolas. Your experiences highlight how mentorship creates space for growth, confidence, and connection. Whether your mentee is going to med school or starting a graduate program. I love the beauty of, , finding commonalities and being able to support your mentees in whichever step of the process they are.

And for you mentees to openly receive that guidance and really take full advantage and be resourceful with this relationship. So thank you all for listening. National Mentorship Month is an opportunity to reflect on the people who have supported us along the way and to consider how we might support them in return.

Graduate education is not about the degrees we earn. That’s another reminder, but about the relationships we built throughout the way.

HAYA:  Happy New Year and welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight stories, experiences, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today’s episode is in honor of National Mentoring Month. A time to recognize the importance of guidance, support, and connection in higher education.

Mentorship plays a meaningful role in helping both graduate and undergraduate students navigate their academic and professional journeys. And today, we are highlighting just that!

We’re highlighting that impact through one mentoring relationship at VCU. I am joined by Nicolas Morales, an undergraduate student in biology on the pre-med track, and Nour Abosamak, a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Translational Sciences program under the Wright Center for the Clinical and Translational Research, which is housed under the Office of Research and Innovation.

Nour is also serving as Nicolas’ mentor. Fun fact, they are both international students. Nour is joining us from Egypt and Nicolas is joining us from Colombia.

Thank you both for being here and welcome to the grad pod!

NOUR: Thank you for inviting me.

NICHOLAS: Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation.

HAYA: Yeah, it is so nice to have you guys here. I think this is our first time having two guests on the grad pod, so this is exciting.

To begin, I’d like to start with some introductions. Can you guys share with us a little bit about your program and how long you’ve been at VCU and what you plan to do once you complete your program?

And we can start with you, Nour.

NOUR: So, my program concentrates on translational research, which is translating theoretical findings. From the bench to bedside. So, translating applications from one population to the other, testing different methods. My personal research that I’m doing under the program involves using AI as a tool to improve health literacy specifically around oral cancer.

NICHOLAS: So, for me, I am a biology major. I started a couple years ago. It’s been taking a bunch of biology classes, chemistry classes, getting used to the basic sciences behind medicine. I have also had the privilege of participating in an internship, which I did last summer with the Pauly Heart Center. I was able to attend classes about the heart anatomy, medicine, how it works, and I also got the chance to meet my current mentor, Dr. Anin. I’m with her. I’ve been learning more about cancer. I have to treat it. I’ve been helping, volunteering , helping them investigate new treatments for breast cancer. I am just learning more about her previous research. I’m currently still doing the volunteering, helping as much as I can in my free time.

I’ve also worked at VCU, I started as a front desk worker. I was at the CLC at the Campus Learning Center. I just attended phone calls and managed the tutoring, and I am now, I just became a tutor for organic chemistry and biology classes.

Thank you guys for sharing. You certainly stay busy, I wanna get a little bit more into your mentoring relationship.

HAYA: My first question for both of you is, how did your mentoring relationship begin and what motivated you to get involved in this experience? Maybe could you guys talk a little bit about the graduate school mentorship program and how that pairing came along?

NICOLAS: Last year or a year ago? I first started with my previous mentor.

Yeah, I was looking for some guidance, in the medical field because in my family, I’m the first one to attend college in America, and of course it is very different from what it’s like in Colombia. So I just wanted to have someone. That’s been in this position before, you could, you know, give me some advice, tell me what to do and what not to do, and just how to prepare for medical school.

So, first, and it was great, he was doing a master’s at the time. He is currently in med school at UVA and he will always be there to support me. He will explain to me step by step what the process of becoming a doctor is, you know, going to med school, residency, fellowship, all these steps. He will explain it in detail.

We will discuss possible specialties, what he wanted to do in specific. And it was a great, great way of just learning more about the medical field here in America. And now, this year, it was, was it, I had the privilege of meeting Nour, as my new mentor. So with him, I’ve also got the chance to discuss medical school.

He’s given me a lot of advice and it’s just also having someone with a different perspective also helps a lot, you know, someone who came from Egypt. Different perspectives, different advice. Just the more advice it can get, the better.

NOUR: The Graduate School Mentorship program is a program hosted by the graduate school where they find graduate students. And undergrads who are interested in joining a mentorship relationship and match them together based on their interests and what their goals are after graduating from college. For example, in Nick’s case, he wants to go to med school, so they matched him with someone who has experience in medicine. My other mentee, Naya , is interested in getting a master’s degree, so I’m helping her with a graduate school application and how to get recommendation letters and how to improve her CV to be competitive for that graduate program.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that.

Mentorship can look different for everyone. Nick, like you mentioned, you have had multiple mentors and Nour you’ve had multiple mentees. So how would you describe your mentoring relationship, the two of you, and what has it personally meant to the two of you?

NOUR: So everyone in the research or the medical field has had a mentor at some point in their life, and I wanted to be a part of this.

I wanted to find people who want a different perspective and a different point of view. And I wanted to share that, as much as I can from my experience, even if it’s not the most extensive, but I think actively trying to be a mentor for someone or give advice to someone who is asking for it, is just paying it back because all of us had have had mentors during our, professional career.

NICOLAS: [Nour], I just love the fact that in Egypt, you were a physician, right?

NOUR: Yes!

NICOLAS: Yeah. So because of that. I get advice from someone who’s been already through all the medical school and exams process. Someone who already knows, who’s already in the position, where I, where I want to be. That is just something that I really look up to.

And, it’s just great having someone in that position where I can ask any question who I can go for advice. Who’s there to support me. And also, of course, Nour is a great guy. He’s very fun to talk to. We, we often go to get some food and it’s just, it’s fun having someone who understands my position, all the stress and all the work and everything that comes with being a pre-medicine student.

So, it is just, it’s a fun way of learning the best way. To accomplish my goals, and it’s just, and it’s another friend of mine that supports me and just helps me get through all this hard, hard work.

NOUR: So, Nick already came with a lot of advice from his previous mentor, so my contribution to his current goal is minimal with just follow ups and, making sure that anything missing in his resume or CV is achieved before he finishes his undergrad, which is great because he has multiple perspectives, which is a privilege to be honest.

My other mentee, that’s her first time being in the program, so we are working closer and more extensively, I would say, because she wants to get into a graduate school program this year.

So for both of my mentees, Nick and Naya, we meet two times a month. We follow up on the goals that we put the previous, on the previous meeting, and we just talk about anything that we wanna talk about in order to reach the goal that they want.

HAYA: Thank you guys for sharing. I really enjoyed hearing from both of you about how you perceive this mentorship relationship and what you enjoy about each other.

In honor of National Mentoring Month, why do you believe that mentorship is important in higher education? I know, no, you talked a little bit about its importance in research, but what does this do to help you build your VCU community professional development and even beyond that?

NICOLAS: We come here to learn and to experience, , you know, new things in new careers, new fields of study. And when it comes to that, the classroom is not enough to learn so much about the real world. There are so many opportunities out there. There are so many things you could do to make sure you do well in your career.

So, mentoring is an essential part of education, in my opinion. That’s where you get to learn from people that have been in your position before and they can teach you what they did and what worked, what didn’t work, and they can make sure you have the right tools to get where you want to be.

NOUR: I agree with Nick!

And also I wanna say that mentorship is not a one way road. All of us learn from each other because everyone in VCU has a different experience and different perspectives are very important to be exposed to in order to know things that we are all biased toward our own opinion. So getting a different perspective from someone who has different experience is valuable for anyone.

And VCU has students and faculty and staff from. A lot of different disciplines and the goal of science is to bring those individuals with their experiences from those different disciplines together in order to help both ourselves and the community.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think you did a really good job of tying that together, Nour at the end finally.

What advice do you guys want to give to other students, whether undergrad or graduate, who are considering participating in a mentoring relationship or program, but maybe they’re unsure about taking that first step? What would you guys advise them to do for undergraduates?

NICOLAS: I will highly advise you find a mentor as soon as possible. Because it’s just a great way to. Know what you should do next or what not to do next. Mentors are just a great way. They give you kind of a heads up on your career. They know where, like, where to go, where to find opportunities. They can just help you so much get ahead in your career goals, and it’s just an incredible way of making relationships, making connections, and expanding your network.

So looking for mentoring will be, I will say, one of like the main things you should do in undergraduate school.

NOUR: I agree with Nick and also to undergraduate students, I think an advice would [be] like, a good advice would be starting or it doesn’t have a mentorship program and doesn’t have to be official.

It doesn’t have to be through an arranged program like the graduate school mentorship program, however. Any opportunity that you can get to find someone else who can give you their opinion, especially if they have experience relevant to what you’re asking is not gonna harm you. It is actually gonna give you a solution to possible problems that you might experience later in your path.

And, if you think you are doing everything perfectly, that is. In most cases not true, and you will not know that without getting someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t have to be someone older than you. It can be a colleague, it can be a parent, a family member. Just don’t be shy to ask questions. And, for graduate students, I would say mentorship is probably already a part of your career.

You got taught a lot of things through people that you met throughout your career, so I think it’s the best next step for you to share this knowledge with people around you.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think that’s the beauty of it all. Every mentor was once a mentee, and the hope and goal is to continue that cycle.

Thank you both for sharing your perspectives today, Nour and Nicolas. Your experiences highlight how mentorship creates space for growth, confidence, and connection. Whether your mentee is going to med school or starting a graduate program. I love the beauty of, , finding commonalities and being able to support your mentees in whichever step of the process they are.

And for you mentees to openly receive that guidance and really take full advantage and be resourceful with this relationship. So thank you all for listening. National Mentorship Month is an opportunity to reflect on the people who have supported us along the way and to consider how we might support them in return.

Graduate education is not about the degrees we earn. That’s another reminder, but about the relationships we built throughout the way.

CREDITS:

HAYA: Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!HAYA:  Happy New Year and welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight stories, experiences, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today’s episode is in honor of National Mentoring Month. A time to recognize the importance of guidance, support, and connection in higher education.

Mentorship plays a meaningful role in helping both graduate and undergraduate students navigate their academic and professional journeys. And today, we are highlighting just that!

We’re highlighting that impact through one mentoring relationship at VCU. I am joined by Nicolas Morales, an undergraduate student in biology on the pre-med track, and Nour Abosamak, a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Translational Sciences program under the Wright Center for the Clinical and Translational Research, which is housed under the Office of Research and Innovation.

Nour is also serving as Nicolas’ mentor. Fun fact, they are both international students. Nour is joining us from Egypt and Nicolas is joining us from Colombia.

Thank you both for being here and welcome to the grad pod!

NOUR: Thank you for inviting me.

NICHOLAS: Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation.

HAYA: Yeah, it is so nice to have you guys here. I think this is our first time having two guests on the grad pod, so this is exciting.

To begin, I’d like to start with some introductions. Can you guys share with us a little bit about your program and how long you’ve been at VCU and what you plan to do once you complete your program?

And we can start with you, Nour.

NOUR: So, my program concentrates on translational research, which is translating theoretical findings. From the bench to bedside. So, translating applications from one population to the other, testing different methods. My personal research that I’m doing under the program involves using AI as a tool to improve health literacy specifically around oral cancer.

NICHOLAS: So, for me, I am a biology major. I started a couple years ago. It’s been taking a bunch of biology classes, chemistry classes, getting used to the basic sciences behind medicine. I have also had the privilege of participating in an internship, which I did last summer with the Pauly Heart Center. I was able to attend classes about the heart anatomy, medicine, how it works, and I also got the chance to meet my current mentor, Dr. Anin. I’m with her. I’ve been learning more about cancer. I have to treat it. I’ve been helping, volunteering , helping them investigate new treatments for breast cancer. I am just learning more about her previous research. I’m currently still doing the volunteering, helping as much as I can in my free time.

I’ve also worked at VCU, I started as a front desk worker. I was at the CLC at the Campus Learning Center. I just attended phone calls and managed the tutoring, and I am now, I just became a tutor for organic chemistry and biology classes.

Thank you guys for sharing. You certainly stay busy, I wanna get a little bit more into your mentoring relationship.

HAYA: My first question for both of you is, how did your mentoring relationship begin and what motivated you to get involved in this experience? Maybe could you guys talk a little bit about the graduate school mentorship program and how that pairing came along?

NICOLAS: Last year or a year ago? I first started with my previous mentor.

Yeah, I was looking for some guidance, in the medical field because in my family, I’m the first one to attend college in America, and of course it is very different from what it’s like in Colombia. So I just wanted to have someone. That’s been in this position before, you could, you know, give me some advice, tell me what to do and what not to do, and just how to prepare for medical school.

So, first, and it was great, he was doing a master’s at the time. He is currently in med school at UVA and he will always be there to support me. He will explain to me step by step what the process of becoming a doctor is, you know, going to med school, residency, fellowship, all these steps. He will explain it in detail.

We will discuss possible specialties, what he wanted to do in specific. And it was a great, great way of just learning more about the medical field here in America. And now, this year, it was, was it, I had the privilege of meeting Nour, as my new mentor. So with him, I’ve also got the chance to discuss medical school.

He’s given me a lot of advice and it’s just also having someone with a different perspective also helps a lot, you know, someone who came from Egypt. Different perspectives, different advice. Just the more advice it can get, the better.

NOUR: The Graduate School Mentorship program is a program hosted by the graduate school where they find graduate students. And undergrads who are interested in joining a mentorship relationship and match them together based on their interests and what their goals are after graduating from college. For example, in Nick’s case, he wants to go to med school, so they matched him with someone who has experience in medicine. My other mentee, Naya , is interested in getting a master’s degree, so I’m helping her with a graduate school application and how to get recommendation letters and how to improve her CV to be competitive for that graduate program.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that.

Mentorship can look different for everyone. Nick, like you mentioned, you have had multiple mentors and Nour you’ve had multiple mentees. So how would you describe your mentoring relationship, the two of you, and what has it personally meant to the two of you?

NOUR: So everyone in the research or the medical field has had a mentor at some point in their life, and I wanted to be a part of this.

I wanted to find people who want a different perspective and a different point of view. And I wanted to share that, as much as I can from my experience, even if it’s not the most extensive, but I think actively trying to be a mentor for someone or give advice to someone who is asking for it, is just paying it back because all of us had have had mentors during our, professional career.

NICOLAS: [Nour], I just love the fact that in Egypt, you were a physician, right?

NOUR: Yes!

NICOLAS: Yeah. So because of that. I get advice from someone who’s been already through all the medical school and exams process. Someone who already knows, who’s already in the position, where I, where I want to be. That is just something that I really look up to.

And, it’s just great having someone in that position where I can ask any question who I can go for advice. Who’s there to support me. And also, of course, Nour is a great guy. He’s very fun to talk to. We, we often go to get some food and it’s just, it’s fun having someone who understands my position, all the stress and all the work and everything that comes with being a pre-medicine student.

So, it is just, it’s a fun way of learning the best way. To accomplish my goals, and it’s just, and it’s another friend of mine that supports me and just helps me get through all this hard, hard work.

NOUR: So, Nick already came with a lot of advice from his previous mentor, so my contribution to his current goal is minimal with just follow ups and, making sure that anything missing in his resume or CV is achieved before he finishes his undergrad, which is great because he has multiple perspectives, which is a privilege to be honest.

My other mentee, that’s her first time being in the program, so we are working closer and more extensively, I would say, because she wants to get into a graduate school program this year.

So for both of my mentees, Nick and Naya, we meet two times a month. We follow up on the goals that we put the previous, on the previous meeting, and we just talk about anything that we wanna talk about in order to reach the goal that they want.

HAYA: Thank you guys for sharing. I really enjoyed hearing from both of you about how you perceive this mentorship relationship and what you enjoy about each other.

In honor of National Mentoring Month, why do you believe that mentorship is important in higher education? I know, no, you talked a little bit about its importance in research, but what does this do to help you build your VCU community professional development and even beyond that?

NICOLAS: We come here to learn and to experience, , you know, new things in new careers, new fields of study. And when it comes to that, the classroom is not enough to learn so much about the real world. There are so many opportunities out there. There are so many things you could do to make sure you do well in your career.

So, mentoring is an essential part of education, in my opinion. That’s where you get to learn from people that have been in your position before and they can teach you what they did and what worked, what didn’t work, and they can make sure you have the right tools to get where you want to be.

NOUR: I agree with Nick!

And also I wanna say that mentorship is not a one way road. All of us learn from each other because everyone in VCU has a different experience and different perspectives are very important to be exposed to in order to know things that we are all biased toward our own opinion. So getting a different perspective from someone who has different experience is valuable for anyone.

And VCU has students and faculty and staff from. A lot of different disciplines and the goal of science is to bring those individuals with their experiences from those different disciplines together in order to help both ourselves and the community.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think you did a really good job of tying that together, Nour at the end finally.

What advice do you guys want to give to other students, whether undergrad or graduate, who are considering participating in a mentoring relationship or program, but maybe they’re unsure about taking that first step? What would you guys advise them to do for undergraduates?

NICOLAS: I will highly advise you find a mentor as soon as possible. Because it’s just a great way to. Know what you should do next or what not to do next. Mentors are just a great way. They give you kind of a heads up on your career. They know where, like, where to go, where to find opportunities. They can just help you so much get ahead in your career goals, and it’s just an incredible way of making relationships, making connections, and expanding your network.

So looking for mentoring will be, I will say, one of like the main things you should do in undergraduate school.

NOUR: I agree with Nick and also to undergraduate students, I think an advice would [be] like, a good advice would be starting or it doesn’t have a mentorship program and doesn’t have to be official.

It doesn’t have to be through an arranged program like the graduate school mentorship program, however. Any opportunity that you can get to find someone else who can give you their opinion, especially if they have experience relevant to what you’re asking is not gonna harm you. It is actually gonna give you a solution to possible problems that you might experience later in your path.

And, if you think you are doing everything perfectly, that is. In most cases not true, and you will not know that without getting someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t have to be someone older than you. It can be a colleague, it can be a parent, a family member. Just don’t be shy to ask questions. And, for graduate students, I would say mentorship is probably already a part of your career.

You got taught a lot of things through people that you met throughout your career, so I think it’s the best next step for you to share this knowledge with people around you.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think that’s the beauty of it all. Every mentor was once a mentee, and the hope and goal is to continue that cycle.

Thank you both for sharing your perspectives today, Nour and Nicolas. Your experiences highlight how mentorship creates space for growth, confidence, and connection. Whether your mentee is going to med school or starting a graduate program. I love the beauty of, , finding commonalities and being able to support your mentees in whichever step of the process they are.

And for you mentees to openly receive that guidance and really take full advantage and be resourceful with this relationship. So thank you all for listening. National Mentorship Month is an opportunity to reflect on the people who have supported us along the way and to consider how we might support them in return.

Graduate education is not about the degrees we earn. That’s another reminder, but about the relationships we built throughout the way.

HAYA:  Happy New Year and welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight stories, experiences, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today’s episode is in honor of National Mentoring Month. A time to recognize the importance of guidance, support, and connection in higher education.

Mentorship plays a meaningful role in helping both graduate and undergraduate students navigate their academic and professional journeys. And today, we are highlighting just that!

We’re highlighting that impact through one mentoring relationship at VCU. I am joined by Nicolas Morales, an undergraduate student in biology on the pre-med track, and Nour Abosamak, a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Translational Sciences program under the Wright Center for the Clinical and Translational Research, which is housed under the Office of Research and Innovation.

Nour is also serving as Nicolas’ mentor. Fun fact, they are both international students. Nour is joining us from Egypt and Nicolas is joining us from Colombia.

Thank you both for being here and welcome to the grad pod!

NOUR: Thank you for inviting me.

NICHOLAS: Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation.

HAYA: Yeah, it is so nice to have you guys here. I think this is our first time having two guests on the grad pod, so this is exciting.

To begin, I’d like to start with some introductions. Can you guys share with us a little bit about your program and how long you’ve been at VCU and what you plan to do once you complete your program?

And we can start with you, Nour.

NOUR: So, my program concentrates on translational research, which is translating theoretical findings. From the bench to bedside. So, translating applications from one population to the other, testing different methods. My personal research that I’m doing under the program involves using AI as a tool to improve health literacy specifically around oral cancer.

NICHOLAS: So, for me, I am a biology major. I started a couple years ago. It’s been taking a bunch of biology classes, chemistry classes, getting used to the basic sciences behind medicine. I have also had the privilege of participating in an internship, which I did last summer with the Pauly Heart Center. I was able to attend classes about the heart anatomy, medicine, how it works, and I also got the chance to meet my current mentor, Dr. Anin. I’m with her. I’ve been learning more about cancer. I have to treat it. I’ve been helping, volunteering , helping them investigate new treatments for breast cancer. I am just learning more about her previous research. I’m currently still doing the volunteering, helping as much as I can in my free time.

I’ve also worked at VCU, I started as a front desk worker. I was at the CLC at the Campus Learning Center. I just attended phone calls and managed the tutoring, and I am now, I just became a tutor for organic chemistry and biology classes.

Thank you guys for sharing. You certainly stay busy, I wanna get a little bit more into your mentoring relationship.

HAYA: My first question for both of you is, how did your mentoring relationship begin and what motivated you to get involved in this experience? Maybe could you guys talk a little bit about the graduate school mentorship program and how that pairing came along?

NICOLAS: Last year or a year ago? I first started with my previous mentor.

Yeah, I was looking for some guidance, in the medical field because in my family, I’m the first one to attend college in America, and of course it is very different from what it’s like in Colombia. So I just wanted to have someone. That’s been in this position before, you could, you know, give me some advice, tell me what to do and what not to do, and just how to prepare for medical school.

So, first, and it was great, he was doing a master’s at the time. He is currently in med school at UVA and he will always be there to support me. He will explain to me step by step what the process of becoming a doctor is, you know, going to med school, residency, fellowship, all these steps. He will explain it in detail.

We will discuss possible specialties, what he wanted to do in specific. And it was a great, great way of just learning more about the medical field here in America. And now, this year, it was, was it, I had the privilege of meeting Nour, as my new mentor. So with him, I’ve also got the chance to discuss medical school.

He’s given me a lot of advice and it’s just also having someone with a different perspective also helps a lot, you know, someone who came from Egypt. Different perspectives, different advice. Just the more advice it can get, the better.

NOUR: The Graduate School Mentorship program is a program hosted by the graduate school where they find graduate students. And undergrads who are interested in joining a mentorship relationship and match them together based on their interests and what their goals are after graduating from college. For example, in Nick’s case, he wants to go to med school, so they matched him with someone who has experience in medicine. My other mentee, Naya , is interested in getting a master’s degree, so I’m helping her with a graduate school application and how to get recommendation letters and how to improve her CV to be competitive for that graduate program.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that.

Mentorship can look different for everyone. Nick, like you mentioned, you have had multiple mentors and Nour you’ve had multiple mentees. So how would you describe your mentoring relationship, the two of you, and what has it personally meant to the two of you?

NOUR: So everyone in the research or the medical field has had a mentor at some point in their life, and I wanted to be a part of this.

I wanted to find people who want a different perspective and a different point of view. And I wanted to share that, as much as I can from my experience, even if it’s not the most extensive, but I think actively trying to be a mentor for someone or give advice to someone who is asking for it, is just paying it back because all of us had have had mentors during our, professional career.

NICOLAS: [Nour], I just love the fact that in Egypt, you were a physician, right?

NOUR: Yes!

NICOLAS: Yeah. So because of that. I get advice from someone who’s been already through all the medical school and exams process. Someone who already knows, who’s already in the position, where I, where I want to be. That is just something that I really look up to.

And, it’s just great having someone in that position where I can ask any question who I can go for advice. Who’s there to support me. And also, of course, Nour is a great guy. He’s very fun to talk to. We, we often go to get some food and it’s just, it’s fun having someone who understands my position, all the stress and all the work and everything that comes with being a pre-medicine student.

So, it is just, it’s a fun way of learning the best way. To accomplish my goals, and it’s just, and it’s another friend of mine that supports me and just helps me get through all this hard, hard work.

NOUR: So, Nick already came with a lot of advice from his previous mentor, so my contribution to his current goal is minimal with just follow ups and, making sure that anything missing in his resume or CV is achieved before he finishes his undergrad, which is great because he has multiple perspectives, which is a privilege to be honest.

My other mentee, that’s her first time being in the program, so we are working closer and more extensively, I would say, because she wants to get into a graduate school program this year.

So for both of my mentees, Nick and Naya, we meet two times a month. We follow up on the goals that we put the previous, on the previous meeting, and we just talk about anything that we wanna talk about in order to reach the goal that they want.

HAYA: Thank you guys for sharing. I really enjoyed hearing from both of you about how you perceive this mentorship relationship and what you enjoy about each other.

In honor of National Mentoring Month, why do you believe that mentorship is important in higher education? I know, no, you talked a little bit about its importance in research, but what does this do to help you build your VCU community professional development and even beyond that?

NICOLAS: We come here to learn and to experience, , you know, new things in new careers, new fields of study. And when it comes to that, the classroom is not enough to learn so much about the real world. There are so many opportunities out there. There are so many things you could do to make sure you do well in your career.

So, mentoring is an essential part of education, in my opinion. That’s where you get to learn from people that have been in your position before and they can teach you what they did and what worked, what didn’t work, and they can make sure you have the right tools to get where you want to be.

NOUR: I agree with Nick!

And also I wanna say that mentorship is not a one way road. All of us learn from each other because everyone in VCU has a different experience and different perspectives are very important to be exposed to in order to know things that we are all biased toward our own opinion. So getting a different perspective from someone who has different experience is valuable for anyone.

And VCU has students and faculty and staff from. A lot of different disciplines and the goal of science is to bring those individuals with their experiences from those different disciplines together in order to help both ourselves and the community.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think you did a really good job of tying that together, Nour at the end finally.

What advice do you guys want to give to other students, whether undergrad or graduate, who are considering participating in a mentoring relationship or program, but maybe they’re unsure about taking that first step? What would you guys advise them to do for undergraduates?

NICOLAS: I will highly advise you find a mentor as soon as possible. Because it’s just a great way to. Know what you should do next or what not to do next. Mentors are just a great way. They give you kind of a heads up on your career. They know where, like, where to go, where to find opportunities. They can just help you so much get ahead in your career goals, and it’s just an incredible way of making relationships, making connections, and expanding your network.

So looking for mentoring will be, I will say, one of like the main things you should do in undergraduate school.

NOUR: I agree with Nick and also to undergraduate students, I think an advice would [be] like, a good advice would be starting or it doesn’t have a mentorship program and doesn’t have to be official.

It doesn’t have to be through an arranged program like the graduate school mentorship program, however. Any opportunity that you can get to find someone else who can give you their opinion, especially if they have experience relevant to what you’re asking is not gonna harm you. It is actually gonna give you a solution to possible problems that you might experience later in your path.

And, if you think you are doing everything perfectly, that is. In most cases not true, and you will not know that without getting someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t have to be someone older than you. It can be a colleague, it can be a parent, a family member. Just don’t be shy to ask questions. And, for graduate students, I would say mentorship is probably already a part of your career.

You got taught a lot of things through people that you met throughout your career, so I think it’s the best next step for you to share this knowledge with people around you.

HAYA: Absolutely. I think that’s the beauty of it all. Every mentor was once a mentee, and the hope and goal is to continue that cycle.

Thank you both for sharing your perspectives today, Nour and Nicolas. Your experiences highlight how mentorship creates space for growth, confidence, and connection. Whether your mentee is going to med school or starting a graduate program. I love the beauty of, , finding commonalities and being able to support your mentees in whichever step of the process they are.

And for you mentees to openly receive that guidance and really take full advantage and be resourceful with this relationship. So thank you all for listening. National Mentorship Month is an opportunity to reflect on the people who have supported us along the way and to consider how we might support them in return.

Graduate education is not about the degrees we earn. That’s another reminder, but about the relationships we built throughout the way.

CREDITS:

HAYA: Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA: Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA: Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA: There’s a growing conversation about the value of graduate education, especially in a world that’s ever changing and changing faster than ever with new technologies reshaping the workforce, artificial intelligence redefining how we think and work, and global and social shifts influencing every field.

It’s easy to wonder what role advanced education still plays. But if we look closer, we see that graduate education has always evolved alongside change from the introduction of email to the rise of digital learning. And now in the era of AI or artificial intelligence, each new wave of innovation has challenged us to adapt, not to abandon what we know, but to reimagine and how we apply it.

Think about when direct deposit first rolled out. Okay, I know many of us were not there, but I heard many resisted it, unsure about letting technology handle something as personal as their paycheck. Yet over time it became second nature, just like checking your email and, for some, using AI tools every day.

The same is true for graduate education. It continues to grow, to integrate, to prepare students for the complexities of tomorrow. Today on Grad Pod, we’re exploring what this evolution really means. How can we continue to find purpose and value in advanced education when automation and global change are shifting the very foundation of work and learning?

How do we prepare students and ourselves for a future that’s both uncertain and full of possibility? Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research, invoices shaping graduate education at Virginia Commonwealth University. I’m your host, Hey Hamed. Joining me today is Dr.

Jeffrey Wilson, associate dean of the VCU Graduate School and professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership. Dr. Wilson’s research focuses on diversity and leadership in higher education, and he currently serves as principal investigator for VCUs Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Scholars Program.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wilson has mentored countless graduate students who have gone on to senior level positions in higher education. He is also a recipient of multiple honors, including the 2022 Noner Award for Excellence in Scholarly Professional Publication and the 2019 VCU School of Education Distinguished Service Award, and he has served as a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford’s Harris Manchester College.

His work continues to center on how institutions can foster leadership, inclusion, and purpose within an ever changing educational landscape. Dr. Wilson, welcome to the grad pod.

DR. WILSON: Thank you, Haya. Good to be here.

HAYA: Thank you for joining us in an age of automation, Dr. Wilson, and rapid change at a time when graduate education is also becoming more expensive than ever.

How do you think graduate education continues to hold value, not just for careers but for society as a whole? And what would you say to someone who is debating the value of pursuing a graduate degree today?

DR. WILSON: Thank you. It’s good to be here. And I think as I look at that question, education continues to have a place, especially for those who are what we consider lifelong learners.

Lifelong learners, and a lifelong learner: someone who continually wants to be up to date on skills, maybe policy, maybe some of the latest theories and innovations in a particular area. And as we go into this technological age that’s going to incorporate AI, which is clearly the wave of the future, there’s gonna be a need for those who are pursuing graduate education to learn how to appropriately apply some of those skills.

I remember I went to a conference a couple of weeks ago with the presenter. It was my second time going and hearing this presenter, and he spoke about the use of AI, and last year when I heard him, I began to really think about: How am I going to use AI? What is it? What are some things I can maybe adapt from it? This year, he continued that discussion about the use of AI and how it is inevitable, and he likened it to now: those people who are going in and using AI are kind of like swinging blindly with a hammer.

You know, when you have a hammer in your hand, everything’s a nail, you want to swing at it. But what we really do need to produce are carpenters, skill carpenters who are able to take this technology and apply it to whatever skill or craft or whatever industry they’re working in or they aspire for. So I think that we need to look at how are we going to prepare our graduate students, particularly our undergrad students, for jobs of the future that’s gonna incorporate AI. That includes whether it’s rethinking how we’re teaching our graduate students. I know now there is a current committee on AI, and pretty much this committee is looking at the application of policy: How can we? Are we gonna permit students to use it, especially at the undergrad or graduate level? But I think that we need to go a step further.

And to have a task force to look at how can we, as instructors, incorporate into our assignments and making sure that we are preparing our students to incorporate AI technology in their actual work. So whether that’s industry and engineering, or the STEM discipline, or even some of the non STEM areas, I think that there’s always a need to continue to grow and get your education, to learn a new skill.

But I think AI is certainly gonna play a key part in people coming back to graduate school.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that, and I think you bring a lot of valuable experience as somebody who works in both the classroom setting and behind the scenes on the administrative part of graduate education. Like you said, it’s inevitable that we will have to not only coexist with AI but find ways to use it meaningfully, purposefully, and ethically.

Artificial intelligence is now not just limited to the classroom, but it is also available and evident in our job markets. They are reshaping our job markets. They are doing so by automating certain roles but also supposedly creating new opportunities. So how can graduate programs specifically prepare students to work alongside AI rather than fear being replaced by it, which is a valid and major concern for many?

That AI is going to replace, you know, it’s going to replace some jobs. I mean, it is going to do a lot of things that people normally would do, but it’s not gonna do everything. You’re going to need people who know how to enter or input information into the computer pretty much to work with, to teach AI to do some of the things that it can do.

So there’s always gonna be a need for people, and particularly those who are capable of working alongside AI. That’s why I think it’s critical that we in the academy think about: How are we going to teach this? How are we going to use this tool to inform ourselves as instructors but to also teach our students?

I’m a big believer now after hearing a couple talks and just kind of playing around with AI that we really do need to see how are we going to prepare our students for their future, which is the incorporation of AI. One way that we could probably look at it is the policy that we adopt; I mean, right now it’s kind of all over the place, to where: don’t use it; to where: it’s alright, you can use it marginally; or, you know, you can use it extensively.

One institution, Georgia Tech, they are requiring their incoming freshmen, their incoming students who apply to the institution, they have to use AI in their personal statements. Arizona State University, their president, Michael Crow, he’s an innovative president, he’s been there for a number of years, decades, and he talks about innovation, and one of that involves AI.

They are incorporating AI into their curriculum, even some of the graduate programs. So I think that we as instructors or faculty in general, it’s something to where just like we had to learn how to teach online, especially, I remember when 2008 hit the financial crisis and there was a sort of a dip in enrollment. It’s kinda like: How can we be innovative? And we’re like, well, we need to go online. And so that was really my first test of teaching online courses. And I was a little bit nervous, but as I learned it, I’m like, hey, wow, you know, it’s not so bad. And I think AI is kind of a similar track to where it’s one of those things that’s going to be a tool for faculty as opposed to a barrier.

And if it’s out there, then why are we not using it? You know, if the capabilities are pretty much expansive in that it can really add a benefit for the instructional purpose. I think that we really need to investigate this.

HAYA: Just as a disclaimer, we’re not saying that VCU needs to adopt any of these practices. We’re just scratching the surface. Really, this is the first time that we have discussed AI on Grad Pod at this extent. And like you mentioned, some universities like Georgia Tech and ASU have already begun integrating AI into the curriculum, into the program. But there’s also a growing emphasis on skill based learning over traditional degrees at this time.

You know, speaking globally, geopolitically, how can graduate education balance the need for specialized expertise with the demand for adaptable and transferable skills that align with world? In other words, how do we coexist with the evolving of AI but also the notion that graduate education is expensive and an overall shift or maybe emphasis on skill based learning?

DR. WILSON: I remember actually when I was applying for undergrad, being showed a chart. It kind of shows the payback, you know, the return on investment if you get your undergrad degree, if you get your master’s, if you get your doctorate, and you know, that kind of stuck with me. The return on investment, especially for those who pursue graduate education, is still high.

You know, it’s higher than that, what if you were to just have a bachelor’s degree. Also, you know, as you pursue graduate education, that means that you have maybe an interest in attaining additional information or additional knowledge for whatever reason. Maybe it’s because the industry mandated, you know, there are some fields where you have to have advanced training beyond a bachelor’s degree.

There are some fields to where an advanced degree, a graduate degree, will help you understand maybe theory, maybe understand better how to conduct research or how to maybe do research on your own. It’s whatever reason you’re pursuing graduate education or whatever skill. I think that that human component in terms of being able to apply what you’ve learned in your graduate educational training is still going to be there.

Even with the emerging technology of AI, I think that that human component and that human contact is still gonna be there. I’m not an AI expert, but you know, I’m one of those who’s still learning about this. But I do think that not in the near future, I think in my lifetime, probably in my life work, that I’ll still be in demand. I still will need to be. AI’s not gonna replace me.

HAYA: Absolutely. And you know, thank you for sharing that point about return on investment because I feel that a lot of times when we talk about the return on investment as it relates to graduate education, we think about delayed gratification. It takes a long time for all of those ideas to come into fruition and to apply it and good salary through the degree that you got via your master’s or doctoral.

But leading with that, when people are thinking about AI and how it relates to graduate education, leading with that as a pro for graduate education at this time is really important to think about. And as technology becomes more and more ingrained in many aspects of our life, what do you think are uniquely human qualities, and you kind of already touched on this, but what are some human qualities that graduate education specifically nurtures?

DR. WILSON: I think being able to work in a team. If you are in a program that has a cohort embedded in it, I think some of those really do. I actually teach in a program. Our EDD is cohort based. So students are in that cohort. They’re seeing the same people. They’re taking the same classes with folks who came in with them from start to graduation. I think that forces people to be able to work with someone who they otherwise hadn’t had prior contact with.

So they’re getting to learn that person. They’re being able to work on challenges and address issues, do common research. Another thing is that it teaches you to think, I mean teaching you how to think critically at a more advanced level in your discipline. Graduate school allows you to specialize. Undergrad is kind of like you have a general curriculum, even if you have a major. There’s specific content, especially in STEM.

But when you go to graduate school, that’s an opportunity to learn even more advanced curriculum but also to pursue an area of interest that leads to, if it’s a final product, a thesis or a dissertation at the PhD level. So I think that being able to really specialize and tailor individually what you have an interest in is kind of appealing.

It’s gonna still be that appeal for grad education to give you even a niche, as you enter the job market, especially if you want to teach, if you have a research line that you are particularly fluent in, and that’s something that’s gonna give you a leg up and you can continue. But I think that one of the benefits of graduate education is that it allows you flexibility if you’re looking for some flexibility, and it gives you options and it really distinguishes you from those who are coming out.

You know, because as you go up in terms of those who have a graduate degree, those who have a doctorate degree, that number tends to lessen. And so it really kind of makes you stand apart and kind of gives you some options and some flexibility when you’re looking at jobs.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. And everything that Dr. Wilson just highlighted are truly the transferable takeaways, the transferable skills that you take away from graduate education that are multi and interdisciplinary that a computer could never replace, like you said. So thank you for sharing that. Finally, Dr. Wilson, as we are approaching the end of 2025, a year filled with changes, not only as it relates to technology and AI, we’ve seen a lot of changes with AI, lots of news with AI, but overall, all in all, how would you describe this year in one word?

DR. WILSON: It’s really been, from the start, from January to where we are now. There has certainly been a lot of changes at the federal level, at the state level here in Virginia. I think it’s one of those to where you’re just continually monitoring what’s going on, what’s the conversation, how people are reacting to it.

At the same conference that I went to, that I heard the representative talk about AI, I heard a former leader at an institution. It’s at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. FEMA Robowski. He retired. He’s renowned for steering students into the STEM disciplines. They go off to get their doctorates and PhDs, MDs in the STEM discipline.

And so he gave some words of wisdom that I think a lot of college leaders and just in higher education really think about is that it’s one of those things to where higher ed, we’ve been in similar type situations. We do need to see who’s gonna stand out and who’s going to really advocate for what’s important.

And what’s important is the students. How are we impacting our students? So I think that just seeing what’s happening at the federal and state level is ongoing, especially with our latest election results in the governor’s race. You know, that means it’s gonna be change at the state level beginning next year.

So it’s one that is kind of ongoingly eye popping, but it’s one of those to where it’s happening. And you know, I guess the former governor, Doug Wilder, always says, stay tuned. And so I guess that for the next couple years, stay tuned.

HAYA: So what was your one word? Stay tuned.

DR. WILSON: Well, that is two words. That is two words.

HAYA: Yeah. We gotta do that. Yeah. So it will be like, very interesting. No, I would say interesting is my one word.

DR. WILSON: Yeah. That’s fitting. It sounds inclusive.

HAYA: Dr. Wilson, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing such an insightful perspective. Like I said earlier, we are just scratching the surface on having this conversation about the evolvement of generative AI and technology becoming more and more ingrained in every aspect of not only our lives but also graduate education. As we’ve heard today, the world of higher education is constantly evolving, but the essence of graduate education and learning remains the same.

It’s about cultivating human relations, curiosity, resilience, and purpose. The rise of AI and automation doesn’t diminish the value of advanced education. It challenges us to redefine it. Graduate education is not just about earning degrees or mastering content, it’s also about learning how to think critically, work with other people, communicate thoughtfully, and apply knowledge in ways that uplifts communities and drives innovation.

As we approach the holiday season, we here at the Graduate School wish you a restful and joyful time off. A chance to pause, recharge, and reflect on all that you’ve accomplished this year, personally, professionally, and academically. Whether you’re wrapping up your first semester, finalizing your last, or finalizing your research, or even preparing for new opportunities ahead, remember to celebrate how far you’ve come.

From all of us here at the VCU Graduate School, thank you for being a part of this community of scholars, creators, and change makers. We look forward to sharing more conversations, inspiration, and growth with you in the new year. Until next year, this has been Grad Pod. Happy holidays and take good care.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCUs Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode.

HAYA: There is a rare skill in being able to take years of research and translate it into 3 minutes. Not diluted, but distilled. The 3 minute thesis or 3MT is not just a competition. It is exercise and clarity. Creativity and courage. It challenges scholars to transform complexity into connection to make their work not only understood, but felt.

Every year, graduate students globally and across VCU rise to this challenge, sharing ideas that have the potential to change lives and advance discovery. It is an event that reminds us that research is not just about data, it is about storytelling purpose, and the impact behind the science. Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research and voices shaping graduate education at VCU.

I am your host, Haya Hamid, and today I am joined by Rasajna Madhusudhana, who just started her third year as a PhD candidate at the School of Pharmacy. And she is also this year’s first-place winner of VCU’s 3MT, or 3 minute thesis competition. Her research explores Nicotinamidase inhibitors as potential treatment for malaria, a project that bridges medicinal chemistry, global health, and innovative drug discovery.

Through her work, she exemplifies what 3MT is all about turning rigorous points, science and jargon into a story that inspires curiosity, compassion, and changes us. Now. Welcome to the Grad Pod.

RASAJNA: Thank you for having me here.

HAYA: First of all, congratulations for winning the 3MT competition. What an accomplishment. It is such a unique challenge, condensing what has already been 3 years of research and is still growing into a 3 minute powerful presentation. So what drew you to compete in this opportunity and how did you approach transforming your research, even though your dissertation is not yet complete, so I am sure there is much more to discover and work on. What prompted you to turn this into a 3 minute story?

RASAJNA: You said it is a very unique challenge and I just thought it will be a really cool experiment to try and condense my research work into a 3 minute story. Like there are two catches. One is obviously the time restriction of 3 minutes, and the second being you are speaking to a non-specialist audience.

So to make it more palatable and not really just like jargon that you do not understand and you zone out. So I just thought it was a really interesting thing to try and I have barely kind of been halfway through my research, so there is more. My idea was I will give it a shot, I will see how it is and maybe I can, you know, try again next year, see what everyone else is doing. But yeah, it was really cool. So with most other presentations we usually give as part of our coursework, it is more to a specialist audience so we can use our technical terms. For those presentations I am not someone who goes by a script usually, but for this one, because there is a time crunch and I am not good with short answers, I explain and explain and it is just like go on random tangents.

So I had to stick to a script. So I started with the script and my first script was somewhere around like five and a half, six minutes. And then I watched a lot of 3 minute thesis videos from YouTube and VCU’s website has finalist videos from previous few years. I saw them. I saw a bunch of TED Talks on related topics, although the format is really different, the TED Talks gave me ideas of how to kind of come up with good analogies and metaphors to explain my work.

So yeah, this is the kind of stuff I have watched a lot. And then I revised my script again and again. I shared my script and recordings of me trying the 3 minute thesis with a bunch of my friends who do not know what my research is. So like asking them, are you even understanding what I am trying to say?

So yeah, that is a lot of writing and revising and practicing.

HAYA: And I have to ask, were there any unconventional things that you did to revise your transcript? Is it something that you completely memorized or.

I really just want you to walk me through your thought process, because I am assuming that you probably selected a few thesis points that you thought were going to be the most important, or those maybe like defined by your friends or maybe your advisor. Like, no, like this is too specific. You need to narrow it down more. And then how did you, I guess, go about memorizing those points? And is it true that people who compete in 3MT, they are just so immersed in their work that they can talk about it anyway. Or again, I just, I wanna learn a little bit more about your thought process.

RASAJNA: Well, we do love talking about our work because that is practically like more than half of our life when we are doing a PhD. It is just like. We are thinking about a project a lot, most of the time. So we do love talking about it, but it is also like when we start talking, we go on for a really long time. It is more like a discussion and you, it is so, to keep it more condensed and short, I had to really filter out. Okay. What is the main point, the takeaway message that I want people to get from this?

Is it all the methods that I use? Is it the idea? Do I want to stress more on the significance of it? I had to. So, and then finally my script landed up somewhere where like the first close to one minute was me explaining the background. What is the problem, what is the significance? Why are we doing this at all?

And second, about like one and a half minute was me trying to explain how are we approaching this problem? I chose to not go too much in detail about my methods. Really, I focus more on the idea and selling that idea rather than the methods itself. Because once you start talking about your experiments, you did so many things, there is no way you can bring that all in 3 minutes. And then towards the end I talk a little bit about my result and my future plan and the impact that I am hoping I would be able to create through this project. So yeah, that is kind of how I divided it eventually, but when I started writing it, it was like. I tried to put in jokes and I was like, okay, I am trying too hard to be funny.

RASAJNA: It is not really going with what I am trying to say. Maybe I am just trying to, you know, sound cool or funny, but like, maybe that is not the point. Yes, like, like sometimes in a good speech, humor is a great tool to use. I personally like doing that as well. When I started doing this, it felt like, okay, at least right now, I am not able to find the kind of joke or the kind of line that goes well with the rest of the thing. It just feels like I am trying to insert it because I want to add that humor. So I started editing a lot of things. And then finally, I actually also used Chat GPT as kind of like a sounding board where like I did not ask Chat GPT to write me things, but I would write my script or record a 3 Minute Thesis presentation and then upload it and ask Chat GPT to critique what are the strengths and weaknesses of my presentation, or if I sent the script, Chat GPT would tell me, this is too many words. You will not be able to say it in 3 minutes. Or like, so, apart from my friends and my family, I also kind of, because this is more accessible, like I am in front of a laptop, I can just, like, whatever I am writing, I can get immediate feedback.

Obviously, you decide to keep some of those, you decide to discuss some of those, but it was like having someone to think with along with you. I would not give the full, I am not the person who would give a prompt and ask it to write, but I use AI a lot for like, as a sounding board to put what I write into it and see what it says about it, and then try to fix some of those things. And so, yeah, I used AI, I repeatedly recorded my presentations. I also tried doing it like in my room. I just put the projector, projected my slide, and like tried doing it exactly the way I would stand.

Where would I point at the screen and show what, like I do not wanna keep constantly looking at the screen. I have to have a couple things that I have to emphasize and go back to my slide because I want to maintain audience eye contact as well. So yeah, all of these things while I was practicing, every time I practiced, I tried to find one more thing that could be better.

And a lot of my friends really helped me honestly. They were very critical of me and like they were like, oh, this is not good. This is good. This is getting boring by the second half minute, or, you know. Yeah.

HAYA: Well, thank you so much for sharing and this is great news. For anybody who hates writing the methods section of the paper, you can just come here to 3MT and brush all over that and go from abstract to conclusions if you got there yet.

HAYA: But also, thank you for highlighting how much of really a performance it is to put together a 3 minute thesis presentation because you are not only, you know, hooking in the audience, which by the way, you did a great job of, maybe not, you did not use jokes specifically, but you made it personal. I think you had said something like, imagine if you had contracted malaria or if someone you loved or something like that, and I was like, oh no, not malaria.

HAYA: But you know, using that as a hook and then also being able to communicate your research, eye contact, body language. There are so many different elements to delivering a successful 3 minute thesis presentation and a lot goes into that. It is like becoming a theater kid all over again, which, you know, for someone in STEM, which a lot of our 3MT competitors are.

HAYA: From STEM backgrounds, it can be a little overwhelming to now have to also communicate that to a non-specialist crowd. But you did an amazing job and I also watched you at the preliminary and the final, and so there were definitely opportunities for improvement and to make it better. And you definitely took that advice in.

HAYA: So the point that we are both trying to make in this conversation is that there is a lot of preparation that goes into just a 3 minute presentation. I mean, weeks worth of practice, and rewriting scripts and sounding boards, and more so well deserved. Moving a little bit more into your research. Your research focuses on Nicotinamidase inhibitors and the potential they have in treating malaria.

HAYA: Could you share with us what inspired you to pursue that line of study and what makes that work stand out in, you know, research about fighting disease? Why this treatment? Why malaria? And what can we really take away from this?

RASAJNA: To be very honest, like when I joined my PhD program, it was not like I already knew that this is what I am gonna work on. This is gonna be my project. I liked a bunch of things. I was like, oh, if I get an opportunity to work on something brain related, it would be cool. It would, you know, like I had a bunch of interests. But I was mostly looking to kind of learn a lot of skills that in future I can apply to whatever kind of research that I wanna do, but I found an amazing team, an amazing PI, and our lab had already been working a lot on epigenes and NAD metabolism and.

Fairly recently, we also started working on malaria. Malaria probably is one of the more recent projects that our lab picked up. Even when I say recent, it is probably like at least five, six years. But compared to other older projects, this is newer and that is because my PI’s old project had something to do with malaria.

And we have someone in our lab who is from Ghana and has grown up personally seeing what malaria kind of a disease, but like a global crisis malaria can be and how it has affected their lives personally. Even me, I come from India. Right now, in India malaria is not such a big problem. But when I was a child, I still heard about a lot of malaria cases and malaria like sudden rise in incidences sometimes in certain parts of the country on the news. The scare is very real, even now in Africa and Southeast Asian countries, although in America, thankfully, it is not a problem. Let us hope it never becomes a problem here, but it is a huge problem in other parts of the world.

So they stumbled on this project, so we work on a couple adjacent projects on malaria. So I was given an option to pick what I want to work on amongst the two, three different things, more than actually several things that we work on in our lab. And this project, it is, it is a huge problem and there is a bigger purpose to it.

For me, research is like half of it is satisfying my intellectual curiosity and like learning new things and constantly exploring new things. And a big part of it is also me really wanting to contribute something to the society, to the world might be a big thing, but like to something, my little contributions.

So in both these aspects, the malaria project seemed very interesting to me. It offered me an opportunity to learn a lot of things and at the same time, we could be onto something and we could, like, this could be a legit contribution, obviously not now. Like when we talk about medicinal chemistry or drug discovery projects, it is a long process.

Like if we start working on something right now, we find one promising compound and then you optimize it and then like somebody else has to do some preclinical trials and then clinical trials. So like even when you land on something, it takes like, you know, 10, 15, 20 years for it to like actually become available in the market and be used as a medication.

So it is a long process, but still, one day when it happens, I will be able to think, oh yeah, I did some small thing in this bigger picture project. So, yeah. Both of these reasons, both the learning opportunity to accumulate so many skills because I was doing some chemistry, some biochemistry, some computation and all of that.

RASAJNA: And at the same time, the bigger purpose of the project. Both of it brought me to pick.

HAYA: Thank you so much for sharing, and I think that is what you did such an amazing job of at the competition, is not only conveying what it is that you are doing, but why we should care and why it is important and why it is meaningful.

I remember sitting there and thinking that, oh wow, treating malaria is very much on the horizon. And like you said, this might be a step along the way, but. Like you also said, it takes a very long time and we have to start somewhere, but you did an amazing job of conveying why we should care, why it is meaningful.

This might not be a problem in the US but for someone like me who also comes from East Africa, I grew up hearing about malaria and you bring a lot of optimistic energy and hopefully tangible solutions in the very near future. So thank you for sharing that aspect of your research too. So up next I wanna talk a little bit about communication.

It is such a vital part of science. It is important to be able to communicate the work that you do to the general public who will hopefully be the beneficiaries of all these amazing things that people like you in STEM are doing. So. What did you learn about yourself and your research through the process of preparing for 3MT?

RASAJNA: I have kind of worked as a teacher, like a high school teacher for a bit before I started my PhD. Kind of have like a natural talent to explaining things or at least. I take the task very seriously and if I do not know something and if I have to present it or explain it, I really dig deep and learn and study and make sure I understand it in a way that I can explain it easily and without making it complicated and like simple terms make it more easily understandable.

So I knew I can break down things and make it easily understandable and simple for people so that something was not a problem for me. But what I realized I am not good at is doing that in a condensed way. So like if I have to explain one thing, I will give you like three, four analogies and three, four explanations and repeat myself.

But I do not have the time for doing all of that. So I had to really perfect my choice of words. So there is like the clarity of what I am thinking and what the person who is listening is understanding it should be the same thing. And it is a little tricky because yes, all my schooling I have done in English and.

But it is still like my second language and the kind of English I have learned versus the kind of English that most people here speak. There is this, there is a little difference, although now that I have been here two years, now I can kind of communicate effectively with most people, but still that.

RASAJNA: That was maybe a little thing that I had to focus on and make sure I pronounce things the way people get it, if not the most common way, but at least like make it a more neutral pronunciation so people do not mistake what I am trying to say.

HAYA: Did you learn British English growing up and maybe the spellings were different? I was just curious.

RASAJNA: So I like to say we learned Indian English in terms of like spellings. Yes. It is like British English. We use U everywhere and S instead of Zs and all that, all that stuff. So writing, yes. The British spellings, but when it comes to speaking, our vocabulary is maybe a little more British than American these days, obviously because of pop culture and we watch all sorts of American shows.

It is more, it is getting more American. Sometimes when I say a word, it does not click immediately to the other person, what I am talking about, but yeah. Over the two years, it has gotten better. That is kind of something I had to, in some corner of my mind, keep it in my mind to pick the right words that are more understandable to most of the people in the audience.

RASAJNA: But everything was the biggest thing that I had to work on. Everything else kind of came easily. The performance part, again, I was also someone who did a lot of theater during my high school, so like I love being on stage and performing, so that part was easy. Explaining things was easy, but keeping it short as well.

RASAJNA: Like I had to really edit, edit, edit, and like I had when my final script basically had like three alternate endings, so I was like, I can see the timer and if I feel like I am going short, I can stop it at the last sentence or the one before that, or the one before that. And it should still seem like it is a proper conclusion.

RASAJNA: That was my biggest challenge and yeah, I do not think I am still good at it going by my answers right now.

HAYA: No worries at all. Well, you already won the competition so you can, you know, go back to yapping. I mean, I can only imagine how hard it is. Again, professional yapper. Come on. I have a podcast over here and I cannot imagine summarizing work that is so meaningful to me.

So many different parts of which I have invested so much time in understanding and developing into 3 minutes. But like you said, you have to think about what is really important to convey. I mean, do I really need to talk about the methods? Do I need to talk about something that, you know, the audience might not even be interested or.

HAYA: Even understand, no matter how many different analogies I provide because again, you do not even have time for those analogies. And so truly for just 3 minutes, so much work goes in so much preparation and it is very impressive. And so congratulations from the Graduate School and we are so excited to have you represent VCU.

At the nationwide competition for 3MT and, you know, one more opportunity to perfect it. But regardless, you have, you have done the thing. So congratulations. My final question for you is, for graduate students who might be hesitant to step into something like 3MT, like you said, being brave is the most important, you know, aspect of preparation. What advice would you give them about sharing their research, building confidence and communicating their ideas?

RASAJNA: I know it seems really like dumb to say it, but just give it a shot. Just go ahead and try it like, okay. First time. You might not be great at it. You get a chance to sit and watch what other people do and then try again.

RASAJNA: You know, practice, read, read work, like read stuff about science both like that is obviously if you are a PhD student, you will be reading a lot of publications and research, but also like kind of like science communication magazines and stuff, because sometimes they do a really good job of breaking down complicated science and explaining it to a common audience. So that kind of gives you ideas of how you can communicate your work better. And if you are someone who has stage fright or has jitters, I guess, like everyone has it to different degrees, but it is probably even good to have it a little bit.

So you should just go give it a shot. Like even this year when I was like, I do not know if I wanna do this because I do not really have a complete project yet. And my PI was like, yeah, just go give it a shot. And I was like, okay, let me just go give it a shot. And then I cleared, I went to the finals and then I was like, okay, let me try, give my best shot again here.

And then it was nice. It was a great experience. So just go ahead and try things. There are a lot of resources. There is a good sense of community here at VCU and like both on a Graduate School level and like even in my department, everyone is really helpful. If you have any doubts, usually people are ready to help you.

RASAJNA: People are ready to sit for discussions with you, so just reach out to people if you need any kind of advice or help.

HAYA: Yes, absolutely. And if you are listening to this and potentially considering participating in 3MT next year and are hesitant. Like Rasajna said, it is a difficult thing. It is not easy, but you have to put yourselves out there and you will not know until you try.

But you also have to know that most people in the room are also sharing the same sentiment. They are probably a little nervous to get up there and share their research and keep it under 3 minutes, but again. If there is room for practice, you do not go immediately into the finals. There are preliminaries where you will get feedback from the judges to improve your presentation.

You will also be able to see your peers get up there and share their research, and there are multiple days for the preliminary competition, so you will be able to literally see everyone go ahead and do their 3MT presentation, give feedback, take feedback. You are not alone in this. With that being said, Rasajna, thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing both your research and your perspective about 3MT.

Your story is a reminder that science becomes even more powerful when it is shared and understood, when it feels meaningful to the audience member, and when it truly sparks a connection that inspires an understanding between what your lab is doing and what someone like me who has absolutely no idea what your lab does.

But I now have a general idea and I know it is important and I am looking forward to continuing to share the sentiment with other people’s research as we continue to host 3MT and meet the participants. So to everyone listening, whether your work takes 3 minutes or 3 years to explain, remember that your research holds meaning.

Far beyond the lab or the classroom. It has the power to inform, move, and to make a difference. So thank you so much for joining us on Grad Pod today. Until the next time!

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, Assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA: There’s a quiet art to learning how to grow to become a professional person. It’s more than just being suited up, making eye contact and public speaking. It’s also about eloquent choices in communication, having a positive attitude, being open to problem-solving strategies, listening with intent, and delivering results accordingly and much more.

HAYA: Professional development is the process by which people get there through lived experiences. That’s not limited to the scope of their work, but also beyond that. It is a resource that is near and dear to the Graduate School, honestly a topic that we subtly cover in almost every episode as it relates to the graduate experience, so much so that the Graduate School has its own Professional Development Office that offers some of the most sought-out opportunities for our students.

HAYA: Our students are constantly evolving and redefining what professional development means to them in their respective fields, roles, jobs, and areas of interest and expertise. Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid.

HAYA: Today I’m joined by Hali Massey, the Professional Development Coordinator at the VCU Graduate School. Before stepping into this role, Hali worked in adult education where she worked with educators to provide them with professional development opportunities to support their students who were speakers of other languages.

HAYA: Through this role, she was able to work with so many people from different backgrounds to help them find confidence in their voices and purposes in learning. Now at the Graduate School, she applies that same philosophy, helping graduate students not just prepare for careers but connect deeply with their strengths, goals, and values.

HAYA: Her work centers on the belief that growth isn’t linear, it’s personal, reflective, and ever evolving. Hali joined her role not too long ago but has already been making professional strides and working closely with Dr. Erin Brown, the director of our Professional Development Office. Together they have co-hosted many events, workshops, and opportunities for both current graduate students and prospective students.

HAYA: All of this is to give Hali her flowers for the roles she has fulfilled and the experience she brings and continues to bring to the Graduate School. So, Hali, welcome to the Grad Pod.

HALI: Thank you. Very excited to be here.

HAYA: Thank you for being here. All right, so let’s get to it. First and foremost, Hali, professional development can mean so many different things for so many different people depending on the hats they wear and the roles they fulfill. People think of professional development in terms of résumés, job interviews, and public speaking, things that are perceived to be professional. But I want to hear from you personally about how you define professional development beyond those traditional lenses, and tell us a little bit more about your broader vision of how professional development can grow and evolve right here at VCU.

HALI: To start with the first part of the question, what professional development means beyond the scope of what we typically put into a career-services bucket, how can we expand beyond that? As humans, there’s a lot to us outside of our résumé and cover letter and how we interview. We take all of that with us to any experience we have, our prior knowledge, experiences, biases, and perceptions. We take all of that into our education and the workplace.

Professional development supports us as whole humans. It’s not just those specific career aspects but also what we need to be successful in the industries we’re entering. A lot of times we think about soft or transferable skills, communication, networking, things that might not be covered in academic content and aren’t necessarily career services either. Professional development helps us grow the things that are going to be most impactful as we take our next steps in our careers, whether we’re already working or still in academic programs.

HAYA: And just because you mentioned this, what is the difference between career and professional development as it relates to everything you just said?

HALI: Great question. We value our partnership with Career Services at VCU because those are vital resources. But there’s a lot outside résumé building and interview skills that goes into what we take to the workplace. Nowadays, communication, having one-on-one interactions, sending emails, or any form of connecting, isn’t something we always practice while in school because we’re focused on academics. Thinking about communication skills, new technology skills, and any skill not covered in academic curricula but expected in the workplace is where professional development comes in. That’s what differentiates it from Career Services.

HAYA: So they’re definitely not mutually exclusive, but it’s important to define that support and provide specialized help in all these different aspects as students become working adults and transition into the workforce. Hopefully that brings clarity to those of you who didn’t know, like me.

HAYA: That brings me to my next point, which is that our Professional Development Office here at the Graduate School has recently expanded. Even within Career Services, we’ve seen a lot of developments where career-service staff and support members are able to provide a specific group of people the kind of support they need. What kind of opportunities or experiences can graduate students look forward to?

HALI: Something we’re really excited about expanding within our office are different badging opportunities for graduate students. It’s important that our students are able to showcase all the work they’ve done while they’re here at VCU, even things outside their academic programs. When they invest time and energy into professional development, we want them to be able to showcase that to employers. Having a badging system helps communicate everything they’ve been working on while at VCU that isn’t within their degree.

We’re focusing on a few different pillars for professional development. One is Scholarship and Impact, which provides graduate students with additional support in the research process, writing research, but also disseminating it. Finding conferences to present at, opportunities at VCU to share their research in different formats.

We’ve traditionally had the Graduate Research Symposium, a poster-session presentation, and we’re expanding that next semester to include research talks, which give students from humanities and social sciences more opportunities to showcase their work. Often their research is more qualitative and story-based, so a research talk format allows them to better share their work.

We’re also focusing on Career Pathways, which includes the kinds of things that align with Career Services, tailored professional development for graduate experiences, including opportunities for those interested in entering the professoriate.

The third pillar is Wellbeing. Graduate students have full lives inside and outside their academic programs. Partnering with Recreation and Well-Being on mindfulness and self-care, time management, avoiding procrastination, tackling imposter syndrome, all these things affect wellbeing and, in turn, academic and professional life.

So we’re viewing professional development through a holistic lens, these three pillars, each with badges. Our vision going forward revolves around partnerships across VCU and leveraging what’s available for our students, while identifying gaps and bringing in subject-matter experts to fill them.

HAYA: Something that really caught my ear is how the Professional Development Office is working to enhance our Research Symposium and give flowers to our non-STEM, social-sciences, and humanities students whose research may not look like a poster but conveys just as much meaning and insight. I love that you’re finding ways to help students showcase their work in creative, non-traditional ways.

Because one of the strengths you all have been highlighting is interdisciplinarity, drawing from different disciplines and experts so we can solve complex problems through multiple lenses and by everyone having a seat at the table.

HALI: Something I’d add to that is my own vision of professional development. It shouldn’t be an extra thing you have to do, it should align with your academic or professional work, or support an initiative or goal you already have. My goal when developing opportunities isn’t to add to a student’s plate but to support what’s already there and what they need to feel supported with what they currently have going on.

HAYA: I love that. To me it sounds like professional development is almost to graduate students what counseling is to young professionals, taking care of yourself before things get too hard. It’s a form of self-care that helps you manage energy, maintain balance, and separate work from life. Thank you for sharing that.

My next question is more personal. You’ve worked closely with both adult learners and graduate students, including time teaching English to speakers of other languages. How has that experience informed the way you approach helping students develop professionally and personally?

HALI: A big component of teaching English as an additional language is figuring out how to leverage the experiences students bring to the classroom and to their learning journey. I’ve tried to translate that into my professional-development work, starting with what’s going well, what strengths people have, what they feel confident in, and using that as a building block for further growth.

This asset-based approach came directly from my work with learners. Starting from strengths keeps people motivated. Constantly thinking about what we lack can be demotivating. Everyone has strengths, everyone can learn from one another. Professional development also creates space for people to share stories, strategies, wins, and lessons learned.

As much as it’s an individual journey, it’s also community-building. It reinforces what we’re already doing well. Often, what you get from professional development isn’t brand new, it’s reassurance that what you’re doing works.

HAYA: I love the way you said that, because early in my own career I thought professional development was about checking boxes. But I’ve realized it’s also about learning the strengths you bring to a team and how you work best. Everyone’s contributions are different, and that’s valuable.

And before I forget, Rams Connect. You mentioned so many opportunities for students, Exploration Week, the Research Symposium, Three Minute Thesis, and much more. All our professional-development events are on Rams Connect and in the newsletter, so keep an eye out. There’s always something happening.

Last but not least, Hali, graduate students are often balancing research, teaching, work, and life all at once. What’s one small practical step they can take right now to start investing in their professional growth, even with a busy schedule?

HALI: I’m going to bring this back to community. Find a space that gives you not only resources but energy. Every Tuesday we host a virtual Lunch and Learn from 12 to 1 p.m. on various topics. It’s a consistent opportunity to learn something new, talk with other graduate students, and build community.

You might also have another space, maybe a podcast or group, that re-energizes you weekly. The key is to go somewhere consistently that pours back into you. In academia we often pour into others, so making sure you pour back into yourself is vital.

HAYA: Absolutely, 100 percent. And thank you to our Professional Development team for creating those opportunities, from Exploring Richmond to social events that help students find community.

Hali, thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing such thoughtful insights and experiences. Your perspective reminds us that professional development isn’t about fitting into a mold, it’s not one-size-fits-all but a personal story. It’s about recognizing your potential, communicating your story, and moving forward with intention.

To everyone listening, graduate school is not just about the degrees you earn. It’s about the person you’re shaping to become in the process. Keep growing, keep reflecting, and keep building toward your future self.

Thank you so much for joining us on Grad Pod today. Until next time.

CREDITS

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Alberton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitão, Assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email gradschool@vcu.edu and we may answer it on a future episode.

HAYA: Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we explore the stories, research and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today I’m joined by Nourchene, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at the VCU College of Engineering, all the way from Tunisia. Nourchene brings a global perspective to her work, and not just because she speaks four languages, but her research tackles real world problems in a field that’s constantly evolving.

And her journey is one marked by persistence, curiosity, and deep passion for learning. Nourchene, welcome to the grad pod.

NOURCHENE: Hi everyone.

HAYA: Thank you so much for joining me here today. Tell us about yourself, your journey to VCU and what inspired you to pursue this PhD in computer science and how did you find your research focus and tell us a little bit about yourself and what brings you here.

NOURCHENE: Okay. Well, hello everyone, thank you for the invitation. Thank you very much for having me here. My name is Nourchene. I’m from Tunisia, very beautiful country in North Africa. And I moved to the States three years ago. I applied back in 2021 to the Full Bright program. And, I was very happy to get selected, and then I moved to Richmond, Virginia, where I pursued a Master’s degree in computer science.

HAYA: So what is your current research focus, Nourchene? What problems are you trying to solve? Is your PhD in continuation from your master’s degree? You know, without getting into technical computer science terms, tell us a little bit about just what you’re doing on a broad level.

NOURCHENE: Well, you know, I never thought about doing a PhD, to be honest.

I thought I’m gonna move to the States and do a master’s degree and then get my degree and pursue a career in industry. So the PhD never really crossed my mind, and then it was probably close to graduation last year. When I started like looking for opportunities in industry, in academia, and then I just, I started asking myself, do I want to do a PhD?

If yes, then do I wanna do it now? Do I wanna do it later? And I would say it took me quite a bit, I would say three months of thinking, of talking to my mentors, to my professors, to faculty, to my lab mates, to my friends, my older friends who went through almost the same journey of going through a PhD and the finding a, a job afterwards.

So, it was a lot of conversations back and forth with people and with myself to actually come to terms with a decision to do a PhD.

So, I’m very happy. I feel like I made the right decision. So here I am. I am currently pursuing a PhD in computer science at VCU, and I would say.

Finding a research focus was not linear. I explored a lot from natural language processing to network systems. It was only through trial error and conversations with mentors that I discovered my passion. And that my passion lies in the intersection of AI and systems, especially using large language models to improve communication and security in complex networks.

So I love that it’s both technical and human at the same time.

HAYA: Thank you for shedding light on how much goes into making such a big decision, such a life-changing decision. Also, you know, highlighting the fact that it is valuable to reach out to people who have experience in graduate studies. I wanna take it a step back and ask you about, what made you pursue your master’s degree, you know, before your PhD.

Because I know in engineering, and you know, correct me if this is just a misconception, but. Students can essentially go into industry, begin their work right after their bachelor’s degree, and so a master’s degree is already going a little bit above and beyond. So what made you pursue the Master’s degree and how did it shape your experience in engineering?

Like is that what pushed you to get a PhD? And how did you feel professionally once you got that master’s degree?

NOURCHENE: Well, that’s a really good question. I would say, let’s go back to 2020, the pandemic. We were all in lockdown, and if I remember correctly, I was in my junior year of college and I was getting a degree in industrial engineering.

I felt like I was close to my senior year. I should be thinking about my career. About what options do I have, and honestly, I felt like I’m a little bit behind in terms of technical skills. I did not feel like I’m ready to go into the workforce, so I thought, why not get another degree, try to learn more about the things that I’m really excited about, and that’s how I started thinking about a master’s degree.

However, I never thought about the states. As where to do the master’s degree. So I thought about gaining an international experience because I wanted to grow professionally, but also grow as a person. So I thought an international experience, I could learn more about people in the field and get access to state of the art equipment and also discover new things about myself.

So I felt like pursuing a master’s degree abroad would be the full package for me.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that and you know, giving us a little bit of insight about how you came about your decision and shedding light on that readiness aspect, especially in engineering.

And how, from what I understand is that the master’s degree helped you boost your confidence in your capabilities and as an engineer and as a student in engineering. What has surprised you the most about the PhD experience so far, academically and personally?

Is it everything that you, um, expected from, you know, your conversations with friends and family about weighing your decision? Is it everything that they said it would be or is it totally different? I just want to hear about your reaction to now being in the PhD program.

NOURCHENE: Well, that’s a really good question actually.

I would say the most surprising thing for me is embracing the uncertainty. Because I would be working on a certain project, I would think that, I don’t know, I will go from point A to B. It’s like you started with a problem and then that problem will, will lead to more questions, and then you try to solve those questions and it would lead to more questions or more answers that you did not think of at first.

So it’s like, I would think at first that point A will take me to point B, but then I would find myself in point C. So it’s surprising, but at the same time, it’s exciting. It’s like I’m embracing the unknown and the uncertainty. It’s like I’m going down a path and I would expect certain results or a certain way to solve that problem.

But then I find myself in a completely different scope. So I would say that was the most surprising thing for me, but um, honestly, at the same time, it’s very exciting.

HAYA: Thank you for your answer. And it seems like you mastered the skill of resiliency pretty early on, and you recognize that PhD journey will never go completely as planned for the most part, but not completely.

So thank you for your answer. And speaking of resiliency, how do you stay motivated and manage the challenges, especially in a field like computer science and you studying a phenomenon like AI, it’s constantly ever changing, ever dynamic, always evolving. And so how do you stay sane and motivated throughout this whole process?

NOURCHENE: Well, this is a little bit of a complex question. I would say, and this is personal to me, the way I stay motivated in terms of my work, but also my life, it’s a little bit of a balance. If I wanna stay motivated about the project and the PhD, I feel like I need strategic networking. I need to be looking into other people’s work, talking with them, going into conferences, go into talks, visiting other labs, and listening to other professors and mentors, and what’s their perspective? What’s their opinion about the evolving of AI?

I would say it’s a commitment. It’s really a commitment to be always and constantly trying to stay up to date with everything.

So, I definitely need the insight of other people, of other researchers. So, that is for my career. As for staying motivated, overall, I think I need to have a life outside of the lab. Definitely you need to be going on trips, going to the gym, doing the things that make you most excited about life.

So, I think for me, going out with my friends, taking a trip from time to time, going to the gym, uh, reading a book, watching a movie. That is really important, even if it sounds like it’s cheesy or something. But I think it’s very important to have a life outside of the lab to be able to keep your sanity basically.

HAYA: Thank you for shedding light on that.I can’t tell you how many times I heard that just this week. Very, very important to take care of yourself in graduate spaces as a student, as a researcher, as anyone who is involved in graduate education because it can consume you, but you can’t really be your best self in your consume like that. So thank you for sharing that.

Last but not least, Nourchene. What advice do you have for students who are considering a PhD in STEM? And specifically for international students who are, you know, interested in this program or in the college of engineering. Is there anything that you’d like to share as it relates to tips for success, resources and support on and off campus?

NOURCHENE: Thank you for the question. I would say my number one advice is to take your time to actually decide if you want a PhD or not before we get into a PhD in what? In STEM or any other field, because if you’re not doing it for the right reason, if you’re not doing it because you want a PhD, the burnout would be quick.

So my first advice is to take all the time you need to actually decide if you want a PhD or not.

My second advice is the advisor, the person you’re gonna work with. Take your time to actually talk to professors, talk to different faculties, go in and attend some of the lab meetings if that’s allowed.

To be able to pick your advisor, because for me, 80% of the success of the PhD is the person you work with. Honestly, I cannot work with you if I can’t stand you, so I genuinely believe that your success is determined by the person you work with.

HAYA: Thank you so much for sharing that. You highlight a lot of important things that pertain to the real PhD experience coming from someone who’s currently doing it and in such a realistic way, and so thank you so much for sharing all of that.

Nourchene, thank you for your time today and for sharing your story with us. I am so honored to have captured your amazing journey here as a Fulbright Scholar from Tunisia to Germany to now VCU. So thank you so much for your time and for our listeners.

Whether it’s your first time decoding or you’re applying to a PhD Program, Please remember that the most powerful research begins with lived experiences. So do ask those questions. Find people in your network who are able to give you meaningful advice or at least point you to the right direction. Nourchene’s path is a proof that your background, your language, your worldview, they don’t just belong in STEM, they’re your superpowers.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  Entertainment, like mystery novels and crime shows might make it look easy, but real forensic science is a lot more complex, a lot more scientific, and a honestly way cooler. From trace evidence to DNA, forensic scientists are the ones working behind the scenes to solve real world mysteries. And in this episode of Grad Pod, we are meeting one of those scientists.

HAYA: At VCU, the Forensic Science Master’s program is a nationally recognized program for training scientists to be part of real investigations with real consequences. Students learn everything from DNA analysis to trace chemistry, crime scene reconstruction, and lab-based methods. There’s a lot going on there, but today we’re pulling back the curtain on what that journey really looks like.

HAYA: Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hammed, and today I’m joined by Kiersten Foltz, a Master’s’s student in the Department of Forensic Science, who is graduating with her Master’ss this December.

HAYA: Kiersten’s work is driven by a desire to make real world impact and to keep learning in that field and constantly evolving.

HAYA: Kiersten, welcome to the grad pod.

KIERSTEN: Thank you so much for having me, Haya.

HAYA: Thank you so much for being here. We’re so excited to have you. Let’s jump right into it. Kiersten. Inspired you to pursue a Master’s’s degree in forensic science, and tell us about how you found your way here.

KIERSTEN: So, going back to high school, my interests primarily were biology, science, chemistry. So I thought I might wanna do something in the medical field, but back then, and even now, I was a pretty introverted person.

I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go to medical school or something along those lines. So after some searching, I kind of landed on pharmacy and I thought I could do pharmacy school because it was limited patient interaction and I thought you just kind of dealt with pills all day.

KIERSTEN: So I kind of dove into that and. I went to a technician school to become a pharmacy technician. I entered healthcare competitions and I won a few, actually. I just did everything I possibly could in that field, and then eventually I got certified to be a pharmacy technician.

After a few internships, I then worked at, in a pharmacy, in a real retail pharmacy, and it was not like anything I ever done before.

It wasn’t like the internships, the competitions didn’t prepare me, and it was a lot more patient interaction than I thought. So. After a few years of that, I thought to myself, I don’t think I want to do this anymore.

KIERSTEN:I’ve put so much into this, but I’m not sure if this is the path I want to take. So I started searching again and after a little while of searching, I came across forensic science and I started thinking, I was like, Hmm, this check’s a lot of my boxes.

I think where it’s science related, but you don’t work with people. You can work in a lab. And yeah, so I did more research on forensics and I definitely decided quickly that I wanted to do that. It aligned with my personality and things I like, including true crime. So the next semester I changed my major and transferred to VCU, and the rest is basically history.

HAYA: Thank you for giving us a little bit more insight about what led you to this decision and sort of all the roads and pathways that led you here. Yeah, it’s very exciting that you’re now completing your Master’s’s in forensic science. Can you tell us a little bit more about a research project or a class that really challenged or excited you in grad school and even, you know, leading up to grad school and something that, you know, what really solidified you, uh, this decision for you?

KIERSTEN: Sure. So in order to complete a Master’s of science in forensic science, you have to conduct and perform your own directed research project. It’s kind of like a thesis project that you do individually. You write a paper on it, you defend your paper, and you have to do that in order to graduate and. At first, that part of the program really scared me because I was not really interested in research.

KIERSTEN: I just liked following protocols. I wasn’t sure if I was able to. Kind of conduct my own research and come up with my own ideas. I was, uh, a little bit intimidated and I actually was first introduced to my research project during a seminar class where professors and students can practice their speaking skills, share on research they’re doing, and share with students what careers they have as well.

Someone that was in the forensic science program doing their PhD, actually, uh, was presenting their entire five year research project. That, to me at the time, made absolutely no sense. It was a lot of coding on the computer and a lot of terms I wasn’t familiar with, and. That was the first time I was introduced to it.

I had no idea what it was, and I didn’t think that that was gonna be anything I would ever be involved with. Fast forward to when I actually joined a forensics research lab. Uh, because I decided I wanted to do the accelerated program in forensics and I wanted to get my Master’s’s here. So I thought joining a lab earlier would help me start my project.

KIERSTEN: And then once I was in the program, they told me that that was gonna be my project. And I was at first very intimidated and scared and I was like, oh my gosh, my fear is coming true. This research is gonna be the death of me. I’m not ready for this. But as always, you just have to ask questions. Everyone’s there to help you.

And fast forward now I understand so much more than I ever thought I could. I realize the importance of doing research and. How much it can change your idea and your mindset, and it’s definitely something that I wasn’t, uh, excited about, but now is something that I’m very grateful for.

HAYA: Wow. What a full circle moment. Right, what is something that you wish more people understood about forensic science or. The work that you are preparing to go do in the real world once you acquire this degree?

KIERSTEN: Yeah, so something different that I think most people aren’t aware of, there’s actually a term for it. The CSI effect, where there’s just so many paths you can take in forensics.

I know you said it earlier, there’s biology, chemistry, even psychology. And we actually have a new digital forensics program, now. I think, in TV shows and movies, the forensic side of like True crime, or I guess fake crime shows were that there’s one person that does everything and. They can do it immediately in, in one episode.

They have all the answers, and in reality, it’s just not like that. There’s people for every single step of the way. There’s a lot of communication involved, a lot of different types of testing, and it’s definitely not the reality that the shows think it is, but I think it’s just as interesting.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that and for defying some myths. It’s more than what we know from tv, from SVU, from how to Get Away with Murder and more. And so, you know, that’s a very important myth to defy, Kiersten. How do you stay balanced and motivated through the intensity of grad school as someone who is completing the accelerated program? You know, you’ve sort of been in school for a very long time, so what’s keeping you going?

HAYA: What are some tips and tricks that you can share with us? Keeping myself motivated is something I’ve definitely had to work on throughout the years.

KIERSTEN: When I was in undergrad, I actually really struggled with this, where I would almost punish myself, where I would, uh, restrict how much free time I had.

If I had a big test coming up, I wouldn’t let myself. Do anything like quote fun, uh, or hang out with anyone. And I ended up becoming burnt out very quickly in undergrad. And once I went into the accelerated Master’s’s program here, I really wanted to work on that and change since grad school is more, it’s more challenging and I didn’t wanna.

Become even more burnt out. So I was like, I really have to work on this and become more self-sufficient. You could say once I started, the program is picking at least one day out of the week where I do something for myself and. Just have a time of rest or a time of activity that’s not school related or hanging out with friends.

KIERSTEN: I think it’s very important and I think it has improved even my mental health as I go through the program. I started doing the Pilates class here once a week, last fall, and it was amazing and just letting yourself do that while. Outside of school is just very important. And that’s the main thing. I think that’s improved.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. And you know, you’re really just echoing the message that many graduate students share here, which is never forget to have time for yourself, do the things that you love, because without you, there wouldn’t be someone completing this graduate program. So, I just wanna echo everything that Kiersten just said, and.

Specifically with regards to getting those, developing those skills to prevent burnout because you have experience from undergrad. And I think, you know, one of the misconceptions, maybe this is just me, but there’s a lot of tough science classes that you have to take as an undergrad in forensic science from orgo to biochem and more.

And so I’m sure you learned all of that then. And, it’s paying off now. Kiersten, what advice do you have for someone considering grad school in a very specialized and sort of niche field, like a forensic science?

KIERSTEN: Sure. So it is niche, but I think if someone is interested in it, they should go for it.

There’s so many different things you can do with forensic science that people might not think of at first. Like we said, there’s so many fields you could go into and a lot of people that graduate from this field. Don’t even originally go into a forensics, uh, career. At first it, it could be, computer science related or lab related, but not forensics related.

KIERSTEN: So there’s definitely a lot of options there. And getting a Master’s’s degree in a field such as forensic science really opens up the career field for you.

HAYA: Kiersten, thank you for sharing your journey with us. Whether you’re drawn to the lab bench, the courtroom, or the field, forensic science really does offer a a space where your scientific skills can make a real difference in the real world.

HAYA: So thank you everyone for listening to Grad Pod. We’ll see you next time as we continue to spotlight the people shaping graduate education right here at VCU.

CREDITS:

Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

This kind of relationship is important in graduate studies for many reasons, and in this episode, we're celebrating mentorship and mentors who dedicate their time and energy to help students succeed.

HAYA: Welcome back to the Grad pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research, and voices shaping graduate education at VCU.

I'm your host, Haya Hamid, and today we're honoring a faculty member whose approach to mentorship has been impactful and deeply rooted in purpose. Dr. Lindsey Evans is a researcher, teacher, and mentor whose work lives at the intersection of social equity and public service.

Whether she's analyzing policies, evaluating nonprofit programs, or guiding a graduate student through a dissertation, she's always asking the big questions.  About fairness, access, and how to build systems that serve people more justly. Dr. Evans is an assistant professor at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

Dr. Evans is one of this year's recipients of the VCU Graduate Faculty Mentorship Award. In the early career category, her students say: “She challenges them to think bigger, push harder, and grow beyond what they thought was possible while supporting them in every step of the way”.

 In addition to teaching courses in leadership equity and research methods., Dr. Evans serves on national boards, contributes to public administration journals, and build space for students to lead in fields that need bold, thoughtful change makers. 

One of her mentees described her impact this way, and I quote “without Dr. Evans, my research journey might have been simpler. But it wouldn't have been nearly as transformative.”

Another shared: how she goes far beyond the classroom offering recommendations, encouragement, and honest feedback that helps them see more clearly. 

So, today we are talking about what it means to build a career grounded in purpose, not just in your own work, but in how you show up for others. 

So Dr. Evans, welcome to the Grad Pod.

DR. EVANS: Thank you very much for having me today. Haya. 

HAYA:Dr. Evans, tell us about what it means to build a career that is driven by purpose, not just in your own work, but how you also show up for others. 

DR. EVANS: Well, that's a great question. So, I'm a public administration and public policy scholar and faculty member. And, so all of my students are in public service, which is really, really important to me.

You know, it's central to all the work that we do. So, when we say public service, we mean, people who are working in government agencies. This can be state, federal, local government. It's also individuals who work in nonprofit organizations, which carry out a lot of work of government, it's teachers, it's police officers, it's, you know, the folks that you interact with, the DMV.

And, so all these people are public servants and public service is something that is a mission for people, and I find that all of our students and this program are driven by that mission. They want to make the world a better place. They want to contribute in the field that they're in or get into a new space.

So, you know, get into nonprofit work or get into government service work and, their passion for the work that they do and, their vision to make the world a better place is the most motivating thing. And, It makes coming to work, and the work that I do just so easy because I just see it as supporting them in their, their vision and, and the drive that they have, which is the best part of my job.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that Dr. Evans. 

I was wondering if there was a moment in your journey as a student mentor or public servant, or even a faculty member that truly highlighted the importance of and impact of mentorship for you, and how has that, you know, academic or professional experience shaped your understanding of value?

DR. EVANS:Thank you for the question. I benefited from some wonderful mentors along the way. Being from a rural community,, higher education was essential, to be able to do something different from what my family had done. And in undergrad, I had a wonderful mentor who opened up the world to, of other opportunities for me that I never would've known, existed, and encouraged me to look a little further to expand my horizons in terms of opportunities of where I could go to grad school that I didn't know grad school existed.

And, they believed in me and I had really wonderful mentors in graduate school who are still mentors today that I can still call if I need anything.

And, their belief in me is the most powerful thing. I am just an average person, there's nothing special. I'm not a brilliant human being, but that doesn't mean that I don't have the capacity to do some good things and to do good work. And I think that's true for everybody. I think that everybody's growth looks different.

And so what's important for us is to show up for our students and to show up for each other, because peer mentoring is also something that I think is incredibly important and just support each other and support our students, 

And, how they need to be supported and to challenge them. To kinda look beyond, to dig a little deeper, to push a little further.

Because our students can do some really amazing things and there's some really wicked problems that are out there that need to be answered. 

And you know, I don't think that we can do that without someone believing in us that we have the capacity to make some really good change. There can't be growth without change, and you know, there's a lot of challenges that come through that every student's different, every person's different. 

And, I, my goal is that I can be a good sounding board and to help support that student in that moment., and also being really clear with them that I'm no guru. That there is no guru, there is no one magical mentor that's going to help solve all of your problems.

I think that our job as teachers is to help connect our students to different people or organizations that can help them in specific areas. And so, that really comes down to communicating with my students, to finding out what they need. What challenges they're facing and us figuring out together what their next steps should be and who they should reach out to.

I don't, I, I think it's unfair to think that there's any one person who can answer all those questions, but I hope that my, students that, and my colleagues know that I'm someone that will do my best to connect them with the right person. You know, I'm really not the right person, but let's find who the right person is.

And I think that that's really essential because again, none of us have all the answers. Right. But amongst all of us are the answers. 

HAYA: Yeah, absolutely. And I think maybe, you know, I've always heard this, but a good mentor is someone who, you know, sort of guides you in making the best decisions so that you can adopt those skills later on, as opposed to someone who's gonna tell you what to do you know, or whatnot. So thank you for highlighting that as well. 

DR. EVANS: Um, teaching someone to fish, right? And rather than giving them the fish. I don't know what the the saying is, but it's, yeah. 

HAYA (unseriously): I think it was something like, you can, uh, only help someone who wants to be helped, but. Something like you can kill yourself trying to do it. Maybe let's not say that. Let's not do that. Let's not do that same energy. Yeah.

EVANS:  But you mentioned earlier, another part of that question was how do you support students through challenging times? And I think one of the first pieces of that is for the students to know that you're there and to make yourself available.

I think students oftentimes think, oftentimes think, oh, they're so busy. They have so much on their plate. Yeah. I mean, of course we do, right? But working with my students is my favorite part of my job. Right. 

I mean, I want them to reach out to me when they need something. And, you know, just trying to be encouraging because we oftentimes in our, especially students when they're working on dissertations, can be a very isolating experience.

And, so encouraging them to create community around that with, with their colleagues, but also with their professors. And so when they're challenged by something, Hey, let's have a conversation. Let's have coffee, you know, drop by my office. Let's get together in the zoom room, you know, and reminding students that you have to eat the elephant one bite at a time.

No one can eat it overnight. And a dissertation is definitely an elephant, right? And so, you know, working at it little by little continually, you know, the steady, consistent work builds pages and the pages build chapters and the chapters build dissertations and. Then you're excited about the next project.

Right and so just trying to encourage the, the consistent persistence through those challenges. Right. 

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. And you know, this is definitely a reminder for all students across all disciplines working on their dissertation and a reminder that you can't eat the elephant all in one day to take it one day at a time. So, thank you for sharing that. 

HAYA: Speaking of good advice, what advice do you give to faculty or peers who want to become more intentional, effective mentors to graduate students, especially in fields that can be high pressure, isolating, and maybe speaking to people in the Preparing Future Faculty Program or those who are simply considering.

Working more closely with students. What advice do you have for them as it relates to mentorship?

DR. EVANS: I think honesty is really important. I don't think that it's fair, to paint a picture of the work that we do that's, you know, clouded by roses. There's some really, really wonderful parts of my job and I love 95% of my job, the 5% that I don't like is grading it.

In case you're wondering, grading is the worst, right? Nobody likes grading, but being really. Honest about, you know, what our work looks like and, you know, sharing the joys, but also the struggles. I think that that's incredibly important.

I think every profession is not for everybody, and so I think that it's communicating with people about. Learning what their interests are and how they want to contribute and where they see themselves fitting within our society in these spaces. You know, public service isn't for everybody. 

Education isn't for everybody, Public health and dentistry isn't for everybody. 

Right. We, uh, I think it's important for us to help our students follow their passion and support them, and how they need to be or want to be supported in that path forward. 

I think that, professional development opportunities for students that are interested in a certain space internships, externships fellowships, can be really essential, for students who are considering pursuing a professional career in a certain area so that they can try it out.

Right, and see if that really is for them. I think that can be a really helpful experience. I think that the same is true for people who are interested in the, in, in being future faculty. 

You know, see if there's a faculty that's willing for you to co-teach with them, to see if you wanna be in the classroom, look for opportunities to guest lecture, a specific class, in a space where the professor is there to support you, you know, should you.

Encounter anything during that guest lecture. Right? I think that seeking out those opportunities is important for students. But I also think, and so I think that the ask needs to be made by students, but also think that the offer needs to be made by professors. So I think that it's a dual-sided piece where, students should ask for experiences and professors should offer experiences.

So that would be the advice. Yeah.

HAYA:  And thank you so much for shedding light on that, because I think, um, maybe it's a stereotype or a general misconception that, you know, to join faculty, you maybe need to be invited or it's, it's not, or it's rather exclusive, but that's not the case. It seems like this, just like any other opportunity, putting yourself out there, making your, self familiar with the environment, with the people and vice versa is going to pay off.

But thank you for, clarifying that because I certainly was not aware of that. 

DR. EVANS:I think that it's, when I'm, you know, in panels about, you know, what can I do during my PhD program? What is the one piece of advice that you could share?The thing that I typically say is say yes when someone asks for a volunteer to do something.

Say yes. If there's a new research project that people are looking for volunteers to work five hours a week, say yes. You know, this is the time of your growth and development to explore different opportunities and see what you really enjoy. Um, and to, to strengthen your skills, to build your toolbox.

Cause it's just gonna help make you more well-rounded and understanding what opportunities are there, and then, you know, what might be beyond that degree. 

HAYA: We are in our “yes era” and exploring new horizons and yeah. I love the way you said that. Thank you so much for, for sharing that and wording it that way.

All right. And finally, we have come to the end of our interview. What does it feel like Dr. Evans, to be recognized with the Graduate Faculty mentoring award, especially in the early career category, and what continues to inspire you to make mentorship such a priority in your career?

DR. EVANS: I feel incredibly humbled and grateful for all of my students.

You know, I know they've had as much impact on me, if not more, than I've had on them. And I'm so excited to see the changes that they're gonna make in the world. And I'm so incredibly grateful for their, their passion, and their commitment to public service because it just. You know, it just makes every day a new hopeful day for me, in the work that I do.

And so I'm just, very grateful that I have the opportunity to work with them and to hear their ideas and, you know, to help them pursue these, these, interests and proposals, right? Program or policy proposals, um, that may be really impactful in terms of people's lives. So I'm very, really, really, humbled by the really kind words that they've said.

HAYA: Thank you, Dr. Evans, and very much well deserved. 

As we heard today, when mentors like Dr. Evans lead with intention, purpose, and compassion, they don't just shape research or academic progress. They shape people. Whether you're a student seeking guidance or a faculty member. Wondering how to have a deeper impact, let this episode be a reminder that showing up for others matters. 

Thank you, Dr. Evans, for your powerful example in sharing your story with us today. And also thank you to all the mentors who help graduate students thrive every day here and everywhere. 

Thank you for listening, and we'll see you the next time.

CREDITS: 

Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

 I'm your host, Haya Hamid, and today's episode is all about helping you feel a little less overwhelmed and a little bit more prepared as you enter your graduate school journey. 

Whether you're fresh out of undergrad or returning to school after a few years, or juggling work, research, and family, orientation is your launchpad! And, we know that it can come with a lot of questions. 

So, today we're walking you through some of the most frequently asked questions from incoming graduate students, everything from logistics to community, and even the stuff you might be afraid to ask about. 

So let's jump right to it!

First question, when is orientation, and do I have to attend? New graduate student orientation usually takes place mid to late August. You'll get very specific details in your email once you accept your admission offer to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. 

If you're a brand new graduate student, we highly encourage you to attend orientation.

It is designed to set you up for success, answer your questions, and help you meet your fellow students, faculty, and staff. But please note that attendance is not required.

Question two, what happens if I can't attend orientation in person? Well, no worries at all! We understand that life happens. If you're unable to attend due to travel or scheduling conflicts, we will livestream the event, as well as record it, and upload it to our website. You can find both the livestream as well as the recording on our website under the newly admitted student tab.

That is graduate.vcu.edu. Please note that the recording will be uploaded to our website a few days after the event has concluded. This is because it takes a little bit of time to process a lengthy video. 

If you are not able to attend your department orientation, please make sure to communicate that with your program coordinator, just so they know you're staying on track.

What should I bring with me to orientation? You don't need much! A water bottle to stay hydrated during a hot summer day is ideal, and maybe a small bag to carry some of the swag you'll receive. But other than that, not much is required. We encourage you to dress comfortably, but other than that, really be ready to meet people from all over the world in all kinds of programs, disciplines, walks of life, and it's gonna be an exciting day.

One question I have here is, will I meet people from my program? Yes. While orientation brings together people from across disciplines, many departments also host their own program-specific orientations. And, where you'll dive deeper into your curriculum, meet your faculty, and connect with classmates that you'll probably be seeing a lot over the next few years.

So, please note that these department orientation dates are also posted under the newly admitted student tab. So check that out if you have not already.

How do I get my VCU card? You can receive your VCU card from Campus Card Services, which is located at 701 West Broad Street. They're open throughout the week from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

What will the orientation schedule look like? Orientation will feature a morning and afternoon portion of the day.

The first portion, the morning portion, will feature presentations from campus partners who will be sharing their services or the services that their office provides for students.

 So it'll be a very informative and resourceful morning, followed by Grad Fest, which is our resource festival.

Depending on the ticket that you receive at registration, you will either go to lunch at 1:00 PM and following that grad fest at 2:00 PM or lunch at 2:00 PM and Grad Fest at 1:00 PM The other way around. Of course, this is just. 

*NOTE: Lunch is at noon and 1 pm, not 1 pm and 2 pm. We apologize for any inconvenience! 

The gist of what's happening in the day, but we have so much more planned, from fun events to raffles and prizes, to sharing meaningful words and our purposes for being here.

So we really look forward to meeting you, and it'll be a great day. Orientation usually is!

How do I get connected socially? We got you! 

The graduate school hosts many events throughout the year from graduate student appreciation week to research symposiums, to graduate education week and more, plus student orgs, cultural events, host by the Global Education Office and Professional Development workshops, we are really looking forward to connecting you with all the avenues by which you can stay connected with us and in touch to find out more about these social opportunities and more.

Starting grad school is a big step, and we're so glad you're here. Orientation is just the beginning of your journey here at VCU and beyond. We're here to support you in every step of the way. If you still have questions, check your email for your orientation invite, visit graduate.vcu.edu, or reach out to us directly at the graduate school that is at grad school@vcu.edu.

Until the next time, welcome to the Ramily and remember that every journey is unique, but we are the uncommon!

CREDITS: 

Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

Whether you're traveling, working on your research, or just taking a well-deserved breather, we hope this time brings you a bit of calm and clarity.

We will be back in August with fresh topics and conversations to kick off the new academic year. From Graduate Student Orientation to spotlights on faculty members, student stories, and helpful tips to navigate your graduate journey, we’re excited to bring you a new season and are looking forward to welcoming you back!

If you have a question for us, please use this form to give us your recommendations for a topic to cover or a question to answer on the Grad Pod. All responses are anonymous!

Thank you for listening, sharing, and being a part of the Grad Pod community. Be sure to follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you don’t miss our return this August!

HAYA:  There was once a time in our lives as graduate students when we knew exactly what we wanted to do with our degrees and had an idea of what was to come after graduation. Maybe you didn't have all the answers, but you had a vision, and I want to start today's episode with validating that and being there.

There's a lot to consider when thinking about next steps post-grad. As spring goes, the closer we get to graduation, it is a time of celebration and accomplishments for many. Yet for many, it is also a moment that marks uncertainty, leaving behind a familiar chapter and entering a new one filled with possibilities, but also unknowns.

HAYA:  Today on the grad pod, we're diving into what this transition looks like. How to embrace the end of this chapter while preparing for the next. On today's episode, I'm joined by Dr. Erin Brown, director of the Professional Development Office at the VCU Graduate School. This is Dr. Brown's second time on the grad pod, so bonus points for that. Dr. Brown, welcome to the Grad Pod! 

DR. BROWN: Thank you for having me. 

HAYA: So, to get started, Dr. Brown, I wanted to ask you about all the opportunities that the Graduate School is currently offering for students who are graduating each semester. 

DR. BROWN: Well, we offer lots of opportunities for our students through the Office of Professional Development. The opportunities that we offer most frequently are our workshop on Wednesdays, and these are our virtual workshops. 

Sessions that we have every Wednesday from 12 to 1, where we offer topics that are interdisciplinary in nature, that are of interest to our graduate students from any of our disciplines. And what I like to do with these sessions is have topics that I know will appeal to almost any graduate student. 

Sometimes these are topics that I will do sessions on.  For instance, we just had a session on impostor syndrome, which is something I know we'll get into a little later, but often doubts may creep up for students, and so I give them strategies on how to deal with that. 

But, I often use our workshop Wednesdays as an opportunity to bring in some of our key campus partners. Sometimes graduate students feel like our resources at VCU are for undergraduates because they make up most of our students, and I will use these opportunities for them to get connected to those resources, like the writing center to help them think about, you know, maybe I have writer's block, maybe I have a long paper coming up.

The dissertation might be four years out, but now I'm writing 20 page papers. The writing center is also for graduate students. I'll bring in career services. To talk about CVs, interviewing, networking, and salary negotiation. I love to partner with those campus resources so that it opens up a window, so that later our graduate students know that they can book a consultation with any of those campus partners in the future.

HAYA: Awesome. Thank you for mentioning all those resources.  It actually brings me to my next point, although you mentioned all these resources that are currently available to students at VCU to sort of help them enhance this process of preparing for life after graduation. For many students, there's still a bit of a gap between the academic world and the workforce.

So, how can students prepare? Or better prepare themselves for that transition while still in school. And do you think graduate students sometimes struggle with impostor, syndrome while they're looking for jobs? And how can they overcome those feelings? 

DR. BROWN: Absolutely.  some other things that we provide in our office are a couple of elective course and these are one credit courses that really provide students with an opportunity to do a deeper dive into career readiness. So one is our grad six 10 course, which is actually taught by one of our career counselors. 

And so we offer this career professional development, planning a course specifically for graduate students, which allows them to really reflect and think about how are they going to use their graduate degree in the future.

 It’s an opportunity because it is a course for them to set aside time for several weeks, a whole semester to really dig into. Thinking about what is it that I wanna do with my future? We also have an oral presentations course GRAD612. For some of our students who may be great at writing, you know, graduate school is, is writing-intensive regardless of your major.

And so some of our students really excel academically and writing, but maybe have a little anxiety feel like they wanna. Beef up their public speaking. So that course really helps them with that. Again, one credit. We also know that we have this model here at VCU that every RAM is a researcher, and so many of our graduate programs are research-intensive and we want our Rams to go out and represent us at conferences that are external, but that can be very intimidating at first.

And so we have opportunities through our Graduate School, like the three-minute thesis in the fall,  which is sponsored by the Graduate School. That provides an opportunity for students to practice right here at VCU in a space that I feel is nurturing and inviting to get that opportunity to practice your research, to give that.

Pitch in an environment that I feel is inviting, friendly, warm,  but also a little competitive. Right? And then in the spring, we have a similar environment with our Graduate Research Symposium that is coming up, where we want all of our students from different disciplines to just share their research with the larger VCU community.

There's judging our faculty get involved. There are prizes, but that really is an opportunity for our students to just show off what they have been doing all year long,  and, and really practice what it is that we hope they're going to share out in the world at other conferences as well. Absolutely.

HAYA: And I love that you mentioned 3MT and the symposium because essentially, the students are really in a room with people who are their future colleagues. And this brings me to my next point, which is all about networking. We've all heard about the importance of networking, but for introverted students or maybe those who are struggling with this, generally speaking, what strategies could they use to start developing professional relationship during graduate school that will specifically help them in getting a job or with their post-graduation plans and, you know, really helping them kind of fulfill their, their own professional goals. 

DR. BROWN: I always use the phrase, start where you are and use what you have. So your first network as a graduate student really is your cohort that you have other graduate students, as you said when you are a part of a graduate program, you are with other professionals who are going to become the folks that are the experts in the field. 

And, so, I always talk to students about developing those relationships with your peers, but also with your professors. I do several networks at, several workshops every year on LinkedIn, which is now that professional social networking tool that we all are able to use to become acquainted with people across the world, who are the experts in the various disciplines that we are researching. 

And so I talk to students about how we can leverage LinkedIn as a tool when you go to conferences and you're connecting with people.

When you are reading articles and you are seeing,  people who are experts in something that is interesting to you, you can go online and you know, you can find that person and you can actually ask them a question and they'll respond, which I think is so unique now, whereas when I was studying years ago, you weren't able to connect so easily with people in your field. And so now, really the world is your oyster for our graduate students. 

So, it's so exciting that they can connect so easily and build out a network. It's really at their fingertips. So I always tell students it really is about taking that first step and reaching out,  and just making yourself accessible.

And sometimes it can be intimidating if you are a little bit more introverted,  but pushing yourself a little bit beyond your limits to take that first step and be open and willing to put yourself out there. 

HAYA: Absolutely. And as we near graduation at the time of recording this podcast, we're less than a hundred days away from graduation.

What advice do you have for students to make the most of their semester in both in terms of, preparing for their future, but also soaking in the final moments of graduate school and the graduate school experience? 

DR. BROWN: would advise our students to take advantage of all of the opportunities that they have in their program.

Of course, take advantage of our office. We have at VCU. So many resources. Again, I would say career services has great resources, our library, In our office of Professional Development, we have digital badges that students can earn. Again, skills that you can now leverage and talk about on your resume or LinkedIn,  that you can earn and show,  that you have learned these. different things. 

And so I would just tell students to continue, to develop and build on your resume. And now as you go into the workforce, or maybe you are looking for that promotion, if you are already in a job, you are now, you know, talking to your professors, you are talking to people in the field, doing informational interviews with people who have the roles that you are looking to go into.

As you think about that next step and that next level.

HAYA:  Thank you, Dr. Brown. As we wrap up today's episode, remember that the transition from graduate school to the next chapter of your life isn't always a straight line. 

It's a journey filled with both excitement and uncertainty, and that's okay. The resources and support available to you at the Graduate School are there to help guide you and support you through this transition.

But ultimately, it's up to you to take the next steps with confidence even when you don't have all the answers. Whether you're diving into your career, continuing your education, or taking time to figure it all out, trust that the skills, experiences, and connections you've built will serve you all well.

Graduation is not the end. It's a new beginning. So take a deep breath, embrace the possibilities ahead, and know that you are not alone in this journey. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Grad Pod. We wish you all the best as you take your next steps, and we are here cheering you on every step along the way.

CREDITS: 

Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  There's a moment in every graduate student's journey when they realize their work doesn't just belong in the lab, or in the classroom. It belongs out in the world. Maybe it's that time that you explained your research to someone outside your field and aw their eyes light up, or maybe you've felt it in those moments when the work you're doing feels like it could shift something in your community, in policy, or in how we imagine the future to be.

HAYA: Welcome to the Grad Pod and happy Tuesday, everyone! Today we're spotlighting one of the most exciting opportunities available to VCU graduate students, the COVES Fellowship, a program that brings science and policy together in a way that's tangible, relevant, and deeply impactful. The COVES Fellowship or Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science Fellowship is a 12 week experience offered through the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, or VASEM. 

It's designed for graduate students and postdocs who want to see how their academic training can translate into real-world problem solving and legislative offices, and executive agencies, nonprofits, and companies right here in Virginia!

Fellows work alongside policy makers, conduct research that directly informs decision making, and learn how to translate complex ideas into accessible and actionable information. They also get paired with a mentor from VASEM, someone who's been in their shoes and now helps guide the next generation of science policy leaders.

Annie Hinson is a fifth-year candidate for PhD in Microbiology and Immunology, and she is one of the 2025 Cubs fellows. Annie will be spending the summer working on the front lines of science policy. She was placed in the Virginia Health Catalyst organization. This Fellowship offers an opportunity for people like Annie to expand their impact beyond just our campus here at VCU, beyond their disciplines, and into the heart of where decisions are being made.

So let's get into it. Today we are sitting down with Annie Hinson to talk about the road that led her here and what excites her about the CS Fellowship and how she's hoping to grow through this experience. 

HAYA: Welcome to the grad Pod, Annie!

ANNIE: Hi. Thanks for having me. 

HAYA: Yeah, so let's get into it. Can you tell us a little bit about your academic background to begin with, and what brought you here to VCU?

ANNIE: Yeah, so actually for me, since like early in childhood, school has always been my safe place. Like somewhere where I felt grounded and in control, and that early connection to learning gave me a sense of purpose. And, then after that, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a kid and from that, I started asking a lot of questions about health and the science behind it.

That curiosity never really left me. Um, it's what eventually pulled me into biomedical research, and as someone who's the first in their family to take this path, I'm a first-gen student. I've had to learn how to be resourceful, resilient, and how to define success on my own terms. In undergrad that I started doing research, and that's when I really fell in love with research. 

And then I was like, well, I guess I'm gonna go to grad school. And, I started looking around and I did a tour of VCU and I met with one of the, directors of our program, the microbiology and immunology program. And I just fell in love. I felt like they could be a good mentor, and this could be a good place to, you know, conduct research for my graduate studies.

And so I applied and coming to VCU for my PhD felt like the right move because it's been a place where I can grow as a scientist and explore how research connects to real-world impact. And, I've been able to dig deep into not only the research, but also like branching out into professional development, community engagement, mentorship, and now obviously science policy.

And that's something that kind of brings everything that I care about together. 

HAYA: Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. And so, speaking of the COVES Fellowship, which you know, does combine a lot of community engagement, scientific values, and pretty much everything that you came here to pursue at VCU, how did you come about this experience specifically?

Or this fellowship specifically, and how did you go about getting matched into the placement? And then maybe tell us a little bit about, you know, what you're gonna be doing once you start the fellowship officially this summer? 

ANNIE: Yeah, absolutely. So I realized, by like my third year, I wanted to find something outside of academia.

And so I was, you know, looking up different careers, and I came across like science, communication, science policy, and it never really occurred to me that was a possibility. And I just, so, I just kept doing some research, and then I came across the COVES Fellowship. It's only been happening. I think for the last six years, maybe.

But after like looking through it and doing some research on it, I also reached out to either other people that have done it or just other people that have experience with science policy, whether they are actually like in a career of science policy or if they're just a, you know, postdoc or graduate student that dabbles in science policy. So, that’s kind of how I came about it. 

And with the fellowship, they, so you apply and if you know, if you get it, then you go through this interview process. So with the, uh, variety of host offices that are participating for the year, You pick at least eight of them. You can obviously pick more, but at least eight you do interviews with them and they'll give you project descriptions of things you could be working on that summer. 

So, for instance, one project that I could have worked on is gambling prevention in Virginia, with the department of behavioral health, which was pretty cool. Another project was with the State Council of Higher Education, basically creating a website that's geared towards college and career readiness for students and, so, yeah, you do the the eight interviews and you, out of all the interviews you do, you rank which office you basically would prefer to work with the most. And then the host offices also rank the interviewees, so all of the fellows that they interviewed with. 

And for instance, if the host office picks a fellow to be their top choice and that fellow picks that office to be their top choice, it becomes an automatic match, which is how I got matched with my host office. The Virginia Health Catalyst, they're a nonprofit organization. That's their mission is to improve access to comprehensive healthcare, including oral health. And in my graduate studies, I study oral microbiology, which, so I study the bacteria involved in disease, and along this journey.

I've grown a strong appreciation for oral health and advocating for good oral health and dental public health. And so I, I was already aware with of Virginia Health Catalyst and what they do because of my interest in oral health. And, before the fellowship I was reaching out, trying to basically build a network.

So going from academia to science policy, you don't necessarily have a set network. You have to figure that out. So I just started cold emailing anybody and whoever would respond. Um, that's, that I got in touch with them, but one of them was Dr. Brickhouse and she, she's, the advisor for the dental intro to dental public health class, and you have to be a dental student to actually take that class.

Well, after meeting with her, she, allowed me to sit in on that class this semester. And through that I had a few lectures from Virginia Health Catalyst, for instance. One of them was about water fluoridation, and the guest lecturer was Sarah Holland. She's the currently the CEO of Virginia Health Catalyst.

That lecture just stuck with me. She, you know, she started her. Her lectures with why are we in this, in this field? You know, the, the public health, you have to have a reason. You have to have a purpose. You're not here for the money, obviously. You have to, you know, have a reason. And she put up a picture of a little boy, and that little boy died from a tooth infection.

That's a completely preventable infection. The system failed him, and she was like, thiis why I do this, because we can prevent this. This is very much a preventable disease. That's just something that. It sticks with me and it motivates me to, to get involved in this type of field. 

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that, Annie.

When you first started talking about, you know, connecting with people who have completed this program, previously or have completed this fellowship previously. I was thinking about the importance of networking, which is something that came up a lot in our conversation with the National Scholarship Office, and you have done a great job of going above and beyond with that and even taking it to new levels where you've connected with the professor of intro to dental public health and how that has allowed you to not only deepen your understanding of the importance of oral health as it relates to microbiology and immunology, but also strengthen your “why”. And so you've done an amazing job of, you know, exemplifying the importance of network. And I, I wanna give you your flowers for that.

Up next, I wanna talk a little bit about your mentorship and growth. Obviously, you've just been doing an amazing job of building that community for yourself and being very resourceful, you yourself, and then building a resourceful community, and that's amazing to hear. You're gonna continue, you know. to grow this community as someone who will be working in public health.

And so I wanna ask you about being paired with your future VASEM mentor through your fellowship and what you're hoping to learn from that relationship. 

ANNIE: Yeah, so actually my COVES mentor will be from Virginia Health Catalyst. So I approach mentor-mentee relationships with real intention. I'm not just seeking advice.

It's a chance to learn from their path, their pivots, and the purpose that drives their work. So I'm hoping to, you know, gain that perspective on long, long-term career planning and how to balance technical expertise with that broader impact. 

HAYA:  You talked a little bit about your why for pursuing this fellowship and your experience, your personal experience with scientific policy and what caused you to start questioning things and wanting to get involved. But for someone who might not have a stronger “why” or a personal story, tell us about why you think it's important for scientists to be involved in policy making, and how does that impact decision making?

ANNIE: Yeah. So, scientists offer a data-driven analytical approach, and that's essential for making informed, effective policy decisions. But science alone isn't enough. Policy needs to reflect both evidence and the lived realities of the people it affects. So. That's why it's so important for scientists to be at the table.

We can help bridge that gap. For instance, I can speak both languages between the data and lived experiences, and I've seen what happens when policy doesn't work for the people who need it most, and I wanna help change that. 

HAYA: Awesome. And I'm, I'm sure you will through these experiences and beyond, but how do you think it'll shape your specific career path as someone who has pivoted now into dental public health, and your strong “why”, you know, tell us a little bit about how it's gonna shape your future. 

ANNIE: Yeah, so the this fellowship is giving me permission to reimagine what a scientist can be, not just someone in a lab coat, but someone writing legislation or shaping systems and building bridges between research and real-world impact.

It's also reaffirming my commitment to mentorship. And expanding access in STEM and public health spaces. I see my future not just in generating knowledge, but in helping ensure that knowledge reaches the communities who need it and creating pathways for others to do the same.

HAYA: And then last but not least, what are you most excited about for this fellowship?And is there anything that you're particularly stressed about, or you know, something that you're maybe a little hesitant about? You know, we wanna cover the good, the bad, and the ugly.

ANNIE:  I'm super excited to just really get in there. I've spent the last five years in the lab, and while I've enjoyed most of it, I'm just ready to try something different and get my foot in the door.

And I, obviously, I've done an interview with Virginia Health Catalyst, so, and I've emailed them a few times and the team seemed. Super great to work with, so that makes it even more exciting On top of the topic itself, like, you know, obviously I would've been excited with any host office, but in particular, like this topic sits.It's close to my heart, so that makes it even better. 

Challenges, I think, again, just the fact that I haven't had experience in it and for the last five years I've been in this lab and just so just, you know, stepping outta my comfort zone, trying something new can always be a little nerve wracking, but nothing that I don't think I can handle.

To me, science policy is about turning knowledge into action, making sure discoveries don't just stop at the bench, but they reach the people who need them. I'm excited to help build that bridge and advocate for policies that reflect both evidence and empathy. I hope more scientists realize the incredible impact they can have beyond the lab.

So step up and step into the conversation because change starts with showing up. 

HAYA: Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And you're gonna be such a great asset to the Virginia Health Catalyst. I can't wait to hear about it once you're done, and you know, we'll cover that in a new story as well. So, stay tuned to hear about Annie's experience.

Annie, thank you so much for your time here today, and we wish you the best of luck with your COVES Fellowship.

CREDITS: 

Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!

HAYA:  There's a moment in every graduate student's journey, maybe more than just a moment when things feel uncertain. You're trying to juggle research deadlines, maybe even teaching, and somehow still plan for what's next. In the middle of all of that, having someone in your corner, someone who sees your potential, even when you are struggling to, can make all the difference.

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another episode of Grad Pod! Today on the pod, we're talking about mentorship, not just as guidance or advice, but as a relationship that can shape the course of your graduate experience and beyond. We've mentioned the importance of networking many times on this podcast, but what do you do once you find that person that you want to be your mentor, that you feel and believe can help you throughout your journey, and be that person that you can lean on when things are not going right and someone to celebrate the great moments with mentorship doesn't always come in big or dramatic moments. 

Sometimes it's quiet, like an encouraging email after a failed experiment. Other times it can be transformative like a mentor who helps you land your first fellowship or understands your worth in a competitive field. It's these moments that we want to celebrate today!

VCU is presenting its inaugural graduate faculty mentoring award to two faculty members, one early career, and one seasoned who exemplify what it means to truly invest in their students. It's more than just advising or checking in on milestones. It's about relationship building, advocacy, and walking alongside students as they grow, fall and get back up again.

HAYA: This year, we're incredibly proud to honor Dr. Hamid Akbarali, and Harvey and Gladys Haag Professor,in the Department of Pharmacology and toxicology and program director of the VCU Initiative for maximizing student development, or IMSD. 

Dr. Akbarali is someone who doesn't just guide his students, he champions them. Through his leadership in IMSD, he has helped open doors for students from underrepresented backgrounds in biomedical research. 

He's helped students find their voice in the lab, build confidence in their ideas, and pursue opportunities that they might not otherwise believe were within reach. His mentees describe him as generous with his time, honest with his feedback, and consistent in his support, even when it's inconvenient.

They speak of his warmth, patience, and how he never stops believing in their potential. Dr. Akbarali, welcome to the Grad Pod!

DR. AKBARALI: Thank you, Haya. Thank you so much for inviting me and I'm so glad to be here. 

HAYA: Awesome. So my first question for you is, what does mentorship mean to you personally and how has it shaped your journey as a faculty member?

DR. AKBARALI: Right, Haya, so one of the things. I think mentoring really is, it's about recognizing that you're always learning, as a mentor or even as a mentee, you're always learning. And, I think this has been my journey. I'm still learning and I'm always learning and I'm learning from people. I'm learning from my mentees, and I hope that that really has been.

What I think hopefully is my success as a mentor is being able to recognize how my mentees move forward. And that really is the, the most important thing for me, I think, is being able to recognize that, you know, one of the things that I always say is that mentees are, you know, I, as I'm getting older and older, .

I'm learning, I'm learning from very young people. You know been a such a humbling and a, and a privilege for me to have mentored undergraduates, high school students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty. And, it's this process, of recognizing all these people from different backgrounds and different ideas, that actually make up the mentoring and experience for me.

HAYA: Thank you for sharing that with us and I love that we're starting on the note of us being lifelong learners in this ever changing and dynamic world. And so that is a wonderful place to start in, start with, I was wondering if there was a particular moment or experience that reaffirmed the importance of mentoring in your academic? Career and professional career, or maybe it was a particular student's experience that from the importance of this mentorship relationship that you have with your students in the classroom and beyond. 

DR. AKBARALI: Probably not any one person, but it's a collection and it's a collection of having gone through many, many different students coming from different backgrounds and having, and of different ages really, and that has really been the key I think for me in as an experience and so. Perhaps one of the, one of the finest moments, if I could say that, is when I see students who were with me many, you know, 20 years ago and are now very successful, and I sometimes see some of my mentees going up.

And you know, one of, one of the greatest moments is when you actually see one of your mentees stand up in a keynote address and you are sitting in the audience and you are watching this. And, that is really the key for me. And, I've seen that journey and I've seen that journey for students who have actually gone through academic progress, both as researchers.

Many of my students have actually gone on to professional schools who are now physicians and some of them are dentists and so just watching them. That is really the key. And I've, I've seen several of these and, think I've just been privileged to be able to have done that. 

HAYA: Yeah, I it's definitely a full circle moment when you can see your students, become your peers.

Right., I was at an event yesterday where, , I saw a, , one of our associate deans at the graduate school, he was being honored, for an award along with his former student who , whom he advised through the PhD process. And it was just such a full circle moment, you know, taking a picture of both of them together and remembering when I was lining them up for graduation to get hooded at the commencement ceremony.

So thank you for sharing that. 

In your role as program director for IMSD, how do you approach mentorship in a way that's inclusive and empowering for students from diverse backgrounds and sort of, you know, meeting them where they're at? How do you do that? 

DR. AKBARALI: Right. So, you know, one of my colleagues once once said to me that, and, and this is a very well known, you know, the questions of this world need to be answered by people who look like this world.

And I think that is such a profound statement. And there are examples out there in the community where, you know, once you've trained somebody from different backgrounds can actually go back and understand their community and they can take that question to that community and be able to heal that community.

And that's what we are in the business of. We are in the business of healing communities. We are in the business of doing research. That's my passion. And one of the things that I like to do is get my students to have that fire in their belly. And that is my goal. My goal is when I see a student come in or can I get that fire in their belly going and that may take weeks. 

Sometimes it's immediate sometimes it takes months, but you know, that is the goal and that is what we are always striving for. And once you see that, that's when you realize that, you know, you've reached that moment. 

HAYA: So obviously you have a great experience with connecting with students, building rapport, and you really are, someone that students look up to and have a lifelong mentorship connection with.

And so this award is very well deserved. What advice do you have to other faculty or peers who want to become more effective mentors to their graduate students and sort of, you know, fulfill the same path that you are on? 

DR. AKBARALI: Like I said earlier, you know, it's about learning. You have to recognize that you are always learning.

So that's the first thing you do. 

Secondly, I think you have to be open to listening. Listening, listening to, in many ways, sometimes it's listening by words. Sometimes it's by action. But, being able to recognize that, I think that is really the key. And I think that is where I hope. You know, that's, that's really what I would, give as advice.

We are not just here, as a mentor, you don't just do advice, you give advice. Sure, you can do that advice in the form of a research paper or in, when you're in the lab, you are doing, you're giving advice in terms of how the experiments go. But it's beyond that, right? I mean, it's also about personal connections and, you know, there may be issues that are beyond the lab.

We have a population where we need to recognize that people are different, very different people, neuro divergences and is, you know, people have different, come from different backgrounds, have different ideas. And so being able to listen and being able to recognize that, I think is is important.

HAYA: Awesome. Thank you for sharing. And, finally, let's talk a little bit about you personally. What does it feel like to be recognized as the recipient of the Faculty Mentoring Award and what continues to inspire you and motivate you to invest in this mentorship year after year? And, I know you touched a little bit on lifelong learning, which is a great answer, but what's more personal to you?

DR. AKBARALI: This is so humbling for me. You know, I'm honored and I'm really humbled because this is an inaugural award that this Graduate School has had, you know, and, and being the recipient of an inaugural award is really, very humbling for me. We have such great mentors in this school and with such outstanding students.

So, I think, you know, being recognized for this is just a humbling process. And I, you know, I know my, my colleagues, all of them are really, really well deserving of this. So, you know, it's just been a privilege for me and it's been a lifelong privilege to watch my students do well. That is, that is the key the importance of this award, I think.

HAYA:  Thank you for sharing that. And lastly, any words of encouragement to your mentees and, you know, your future students?

DR. AKBARALI: Keep doing what you're doing, keep doing. I know sometimes times are troubling. Sometimes you come across a lot of challenges in life, both professionally as well as, you knoe the challenges are personal too, but, just keep doing what you're doing. Keep an open mind, and I think you'll always be successful. 

HAYA: Thank you, Dr. Akbarali! 

DR. AKBARALI: Thank you Haya. Thank you very much, and it's been a pleasure to be here. 

HAYA: We are so grateful to Dr. Hamid Akbarali for joining us today and for sharing with us what it means to lead with empathy, integrity, and vision.

His story reminds us that mentorship isn't a one size fits all model. It's practice rooted in care, connection, and the belief that every student belongs. 

If you're a grad student looking for mentorship, don't be afraid to reach out. And if you're in a position to offer guidance, remember that even the smallest gestures can have a lasting impact.

HAYA: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on the grad pod.

CREDITS: 

Grad Pod is produced by VCU's Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albritton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.

Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!