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Dear Postdoctoral Community,
I am looking forward to our Spring Postdoctoral Awards Ceremony on May 23. We will recognize the amazing accomplishments of our postdoctoral community through awards such as postdoc of the year, postdoc mentor of the year, and the postdoc service award.
We also recognize one outstanding faculty member for faculty mentor of the year. I hope you will consider nominating a fellow postdoc or faculty advisor for one of these awards.
As our Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association starts to plan our 17th Annual Postdoc Symposium, I encourage you to get involved. The symposium planning committee helps shape the activities of the day and is open to all postdocs.
Listed below are wonderful opportunities to get involved in our Vanderbilt community through career and professional development, volunteer opportunities, and other learning and educational opportunities. I encourage you to attend programs and meet new colleagues across campus. Please engage with us, and do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance.
Best,
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C. André Christie-Mizell
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
Dean of the Graduate School
Centennial Professor of Sociology
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| Annual Postdoc Awards Nominations are Open through February 27
Nominations for our annual postdocs awards are now open. The awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday, May 23.
Awards to be presented include:
Postdoc of the Year
Postdoc Mentor of the Year
Postdoc Service Award
Faculty Mentor of the Year
For more information on the award criteria, to submit a nomination, or to view past winners, visit the OPA website.
To RSVP to the ceremony on May 23 at 3:00 p.m., click here.
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SAVE THE DATE! VPA 2023 Symposium
Mark it in your calendars! This year, the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association's Symposium will be held in the Student Life Center on Friday, November 17.
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Symposium Planning Committee: Calling All Postdocs!
The Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association (VPA) is looking for postdocs to join this year’s VPA 2023 Symposium Planning Committee. As a planning committee member, you will have the opportunity to work with other postdocs from VU and VUMC to assist with the planning of the VPA’s largest event. Requirements include attending a 1-hour virtual and some in-person monthly (February to September) and bi-monthly (October-November) meetings to assist with the planning/preparation of the 2023 Symposium, attending the full-day symposium event on Friday, November 17, 2023, and willingness to work in groups to support the Symposium event. This is a 10-month commitment.
For more information on past symposia, please visit the VPA website.
If you are interested in learning more or would like to join the committee, please fill out the RedCap survey using the button below.
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| The VPA Hosts: A Single-Blind Experiment with Pizza
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| English Language Center Postdoc Workshop Series
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These three sessions are intended to provide the resources and space for international postdocs to discuss, practice, and ask questions about the postdoc experience in the US. Attendees will have opportunities to meet and interact virtually with other international postdocs, submit materials for individualized feedback, and receive supplementary materials online.
Click Here for more information and the workshop schedule.
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| Inclusive Leadership: A 3-Part Leadership Skills Workshop Series
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How can leaders create a culture where everyone feels they are valued, fostering an environment where everyone can and will meaningfully contribute? Students will explore these themes during this three-part Inclusive Leadership Series hosted in partnership with the Graduate and Postdoc Academic Success (GPAS) Program. Participants will have the opportunity to take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which will include an individual debrief session with our certified IDI administrators at the Student Center for Social Justice and Identity. Although students can register for individual sessions, we strongly encourage participants to attend all sessions in the series for the full benefit.
Session I: Intercultural Competence
Tuesday, February 21 | 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Alumni Hall 206Register Here
Session II: Combatting Microaggressions & Stereotype Threat
Tuesday, March 7 | 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Alumni Hall 206Register Here
Session III: Tools for Inclusive Leadership
Tuesday, March 21 | 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Alumni Hall 206
These workshops are open to all graduate school students (PhD, MA, MFS, MLAS & MS) and postdocs.
Spaces are limited and registration is required.
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RESCHEDULED: Career Center Fellowship TalkAs part of the Humanities Grant Writing Workshop Series held over the course of December and January, the final installment of this series will be held on February 28 at 2:00 PM, rescheduled from its original date of January 31. The workshop will be presented by Elizabeth Lambert, Ph.D. & Whitney Taylor, Ph.D. in Alumni Hall 206. Please RSVP to attend.
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| Virtual Career Expo hosted by the Graduate Career Consortium
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On March 8, Vanderbilt University is participating in the Virtual Career Expo hosted by the Graduate Career Consortium. This free online event is an opportunity for PhD students, MS students, postdocs, and alumni of these programs to meet employers who specifically recruit candidates with advanced degrees. View participating employers and register at CareerEco.com/events/GCC. Facilitated by the Vanderbilt Career Center and the BRET Career Development ASPIRE Program.
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BRET Office of Career Development ASPIRE Program
The BRET Office Career Development ASPIRE Program provides career and professional development services and enrichment activities for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences at VU and VUMC.
Upcoming Events Hosted by the BRET Office of Career Development:
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Graduate and Postdoc Academic SuccessThe Graduate & Postdoc Academic Success (GPAS) are here to support graduate students and postdocs with anything that keeps them from doing their best academic work. They provide strategies to address concerns around progress and productivity, as well as, navigating academic relationships. They address your needs through 1-on-1 consultations and success planning sessions. Additionally, both of their staff members are Gallup-Certified Strength Coaches and able to give you access to the CliftonStrengths Assessment to help you accomplish your best work utilizing an authentic approach to who you are and how you show up. If you are interested in meeting with one of the staff members, you can schedule an appointment here. If you ever feel like you are “stuck” in your writing and/or research, we hope that you will reach out and connect with them.
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This workshop series is designed to promote expert performance by exploring common issues impacting graduate and professional students and postdocs. During each session, we will briefly cover theory and research on the topic and provide a space for attendees to discuss their related experiences and to gain support and consultation.
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Lunch is provided, but space is limited.
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| The Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center is an on-campus office and resource to help celebrate and empower women in both their professional and personal aspirations, helping to boast their overall lives as they navigate through their time at Vanderbilt University. You can read more about the Women's Center on their website and by attending some of their upcoming events below! Please note RSVP's are required.
Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center Annual Awards
Please consider nominating a colleague, student, instructor, or administrator for one of the awards given by the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center each spring. Please find more information about the three awards below.
The Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center Leadership Award
Annually presented to an undergraduate or graduate student who demonstrates leadership in activities that contribute to the achievements, interests, and goals of women, or promote gender equity.
The Mentoring Award
Annually presented to an individual who has supported women at Vanderbilt through professional and intellectual development.
The Mary Jane Werthan Award
Annually presented to an individual who has contributed significantly to the advancement of women at Vanderbilt University on a systemic level in honor of Mary Jane Werthan. The award honors three qualities characteristic of the first recipient for whom it is named: vision, persistence, and extraordinary skill in interpersonal and institutional relations. It recognizes the debt that women at Vanderbilt University owe to those individuals who have had the vision to see how things ought to be, the courage to persist in their hopes over time, and the skills necessary to bring new attitudes and practices into being. The Mary Jane Werthan Award offers tribute to the humor, intelligence, and graceful determination of those individuals whose work has enhanced the community.
The deadline for all three awards is Tuesday, February 28, 2023. To nominate an individual, please fill out this form.
If you have any questions, please contact Rory Dicker, Director of the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at rory.dicker@vanderbilt.edu.
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Libraries' Digital Scholarship and Communicatiosn Office (DiSC)
The Libraries’ Digital Scholarship and Communications (DiSC) Office will present a variety of workshops and lesson series this spring to help you build your technical skills. New offerings this spring include an introductory workshop on the popular Python and Colab code notebooks platforms, a lesson series on R using RStudio for data wrangling, statistical analysis and data visualization. Other lesson series that will be offered include an Introduction to Network Analysis, as well as GIS workshops covering the basics of ArcGIS and QGIS. Many of these lessons are available remotely, with some events also offered in-person. For more detailed information and registration links, visit their website here.
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Postdoc Spotlight: Rev. Aaron Stauffer, Ph.D.
Aaron Stauffer is a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in the Divinity School. Read about his work and the importance of creating a more just and sustainable world in our February postdoc feature here.
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The Career Center is proud to present their free, self-service photo booth. Just step inside, pose, and share!
Located in the Student Life Center, this resource is free and available to the entire Vanderbilt community. The photo booth is available for use anytime the Student Life Center is open. Check out this flyer for more details!
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Call for Applications! DAAD Networking Tour
The DAAD AInet Fellowship is awarded bi-annually to a group of international early career researchers in the field of artificial intelligence. Awardees will be invited to join the Postdoctoral Networking Tour in Artificial Intelligence (Postdoc-NeT-AI), a two-step networking program are are included in the DAAD AInet Fellows & Alumni Network, which offers long-term access to German AI research, and brings together researchers from all around the world. For information and to apply, please visit their website here.
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Employee Affinity Groups
Employee Affinity Groups (EAGs) are open to all Vanderbilt employees, regardless of identity. Staff, faculty, and postdoctoral scholars who identify as part of or have a close affinity to these groups are encouraged to attend. You can learn more about which group you identify most with from our options below:
Association of Vanderbilt Black Faculty and Staff (AVBFS)
Women & Working Moms
To learn more about Employee Affinity Groups or to join, visit the EAG website.
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National Postdoc Association
NPA SmartSkills: Industry
Join the NPA and two industry leaders as they discuss the pathway to Industry jobs following your postdoc. Register here for the February 28 virtual course.
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Nature Masterclass
Nature Masterclasses are developed by Nature Research and provide professional development training for researchers by drawing on the expertise of Nature Research journal editors and experts. Faculty, staff, postdocs, and students of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are free to sign up at https://masterclasses.nature.com/.
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