Graduate Student Career Exploration & Development Course

ByKatie Mitzelfelt

The CTMR is proud to support the 2nd cohort of trainees in the Graduate (PhD) Student Career Development Series! The series is open to all UW biomedical graduate students and is co-facilitated by the CTMR Program Manager, Katie Mitzelfelt and the Associate Dean for Research, Education & Training in the UW School of Medicine, Bill Mahoney.

Please see the information and flyer below. Registration is open NOW and the course begins October 7, 2025.

Graduate Student (PhD) Career Development Series

WHAT and WHO? This 8-week career exploration and development series uses the Individual Development plan (IDP) process to guide PhD students toward discovering new career pathways matching their interests, skills, and values to align with potential careers. We suggest this course for 2nd-4th+ year PhD students and priority will be given to students who have completed their general exam. Others are welcome. Registration is on a first-come first-served basis. Course credit (PATH 600) is available.

HOW? Participants engage in a flipped session design: completing learning activities before each in-person meeting to prepare for sharing experiences with peers during the in-class discussions. IDP tools are supplemented with additional job exploration resources, informational interviews, and other activities for iterative career exploration across multiple sessions. The in-person sessions are facilitated by University of Washington faculty and staff who have been trained in this curriculum. Prep work and attendance for all 8 sessions is mandatory.

SCHEDULE:

  • October 7th: Session 1: Introduction to Individual Development Plans (IDPs) and IDP Assessments
  • October 14th: Session 2: Career Vision and Potential Career Matches
  • October 21st: Session 3: Career Exploration Through Networking and Informational Interviews
  • October 28th: Session 4: Time Management Reflection and Career Exploration with IDP Resources
  • November 4th: Session 5: Career Exploration Resources and Informational Interview Updates
  • November 18th: Session 6: Informational Interview Reflection and Evaluating Potential Careers
  • November 25th: Session 7: Choosing Top 2 Career Paths and 2nd Informational Interview Reflection
  • December 2nd: Session 8: S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goals and Series Reflection

The curriculum for this series is from pd|hub Flipped classroom Career Exploration Model. pd|hub Collection on Career Exploration: Series | Flipped Classroom (pdhub.org)

Series instructors, Drs Mitzelfelt and Mahoney, were formally trained in this curriculum by the pd|hub Collections Team.

This series is brought to you by the UW School of Medicine – Office of Research & Graduate Education, Molecular Medicine & Mechanisms of Disease (M3D) PhD Program, the Bioengineering Cardiovascular Training Grant Program (BCTP), and the Center for Translational Muscle Research (CTMR). 

Please contact Dr. Katie Mitzelfelt (kmitz@uw.edu) or Dr. Bill Mahoney (wmahoney@uw.edu) for more information.

Complete this form to express your interest in registering for the Autumn 2025 Graduate (PhD) Student Career Development Series. Limited spots are available. After completing the form, we will follow up with you to provide an add code for the course to confirm your registration.

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