Empowering Graduate Student Success: Scalable Strategies for Professional Development

In this interview, Dr. Leslie Ekpe, an assistant professor in the department of higher education and learning technologies at East Texas A&M University, discusses the lack of professional development opportunities often available to graduate students, how she has started to fill some of these gaps at her institution and beyond, and the advice she has for other institutions to support their graduate students.

Leah Jackson, HigherEdJobs: Dr. Ekpe, you’ve been putting on a graduate student symposium and other professional development events for the past four semesters at East Texas A&M University. First of all, tell us about the events, what drove their development, and what impact you intend to make.

Dr. Leslie Ekpe, East Texas A&M University: In the Fall of 2023, I began my tenure-track career as an assistant professor at East Texas A&M University. I brought with me the knowledge I gained during my tenure as a graduate student at Texas Christian University, and applying it to my teaching praxis, research approaches, and service, I created and implemented graduate student professional development opportunities to assist scholars with resources they can utilize within their coursework, theses, and dissertations. It quickly became a much larger concept as I wanted to address the holistic experience of the graduate student journey.

The first session that I hosted covered several topics such as: Crafting your research agenda, learning more about the dissertation process, understanding how to apply theory to practice, gaining more knowledge around publishing (in different venues, i.e., op-eds, journals, conference proceedings, etc.), and finding a balance within the graduate student tenure.

What started as an opportunity for graduate students at East Texas quickly expanded into a nationwide opportunity for graduate students at several colleges and universities, and even internationally, with students represented from Uganda. The professional development opportunities are open to all graduate students across the globe.

I developed the graduate student professional development opportunities, knowing that in addition to learning in the classroom, learning takes place outside the classroom as well. The sessions offered within the symposiums, writing retreats, and workshops involved structured topics that were closely aligned with the speakers’ research and practice. Most speakers were faculty members at various institutions. All of the speakers brought a breadth of knowledge to the sessions, leaving students with applicable resources to apply to their research, classwork, conference proposals and presentations, and future academic contributions.

The first Graduate Student Workshop was constructed around topics that I curated. After instituting a post-survey where graduate students suggested topics for future graduate student professional development opportunities, I began to incorporate topics around the suggestions provided by scholars.

Fast forward to Fall 2024, the November Writing Retreat had more than 350 graduate students registered to attend the virtual offering. I hope to continue offering these professional development opportunities in the future with the support of institutional funding and external grants.

Jackson: What topics do you try to cover and why?

Ekpe: Session topics have included “Publishing 101,” “What Should I Be Doing Each Year of My Program?,” “Writing a Literature Review,” “Activism in the Academy,” “The ‘WHY’ of Your Doctorate,” and more.

Each session involves a 40-45-minute presentation from faculty whose interests/research align with the topic, followed by a 15-20-minute structured Q&A. I reach out to all of the speakers who take part a semester in advance. Through each session, students can comment in the chat or drop questions throughout the presentations. This allows students to engage with one another on similar inquiries and engage with the speakers throughout the sessions. Additionally, graduate students can choose which sessions they wish to attend, which adds flexibility since most events are offered during the days of the work week.

Jackson: Why is a well-designed professional development program/event like this so important for graduate students?

Ekpe: Most importantly, these sessions were completely free of charge. Graduate student professional development opportunities often have a cost associated with participating, which creates barriers. It is important to me that these opportunities are free for graduate students, as I do not want graduate students to feel as though gaining the knowledge offered in professional development sessions would be a financial burden. Participation in experiential learning can greatly contribute to students’ overall success during their graduate tenure. From the surveys collected, graduate students had this to say after attending the sessions:

“Thank you for this! I’m a PhD student in an online program at a PWI, and sometimes I feel isolated and invisible, the only Black girl in my classes, my program. The imposter syndrome is very real. I needed this day to connect with people who look like me, sound like me, act like me, and don’t apologize for being Black or a person of color and for wanting to research our issues our ways. The energy from Dr. Ekpe, presenters, and participants was rejuvenating and liberating. Please keep offering this event.”

“This symposium was incredible. I look forward to this opportunity. This space allows EdD students access to renowned scholars who typically may be hard to reach. They are sharing resources for FREE and sharing nuggets of information that will help us beyond belief. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

The sessions offer graduate students a stress-free space to participate freely in multimodal instructions that some students are privy to, while others are gaining new knowledge. Because professional development opportunities offer graduate students a chance to expand their knowledge outside of classroom instruction and build professional networks with other graduate students and presenters, these opportunities ultimately contribute to scholars’ advancement during their tenure.

Jackson: Tell us a bit about the funding. You’ve clearly lined up some impressive guests from across the country — are they paid or volunteer?

Ekpe: In the first academic year (2023-2024), I applied for a Faculty Student-Led Grant within my university that supported the initiative. With this grant, I was able to provide speakers with an honorarium. It was important to me that I honor the speakers with a financial gift, as their time and efforts were greatly appreciated.

Jackson: What is your advice to other professionals or institutions in creating similar professional development programming for their graduate students? Where can they start?

Ekpe: Providing opportunities similar to the events I’ve put on does not have to be a separate endeavor. Faculty can provide similar opportunities in the classroom by instituting new ways of learning (whether that be through guest speakers, collaboration opportunities between students, providing information on similar sessions offered outside the classroom, and allowing students to control their learning through student-led instruction).