GRADUCon

GRADUCon is the university’s annual spring career conference for graduate students, postdocs, and recent graduate/postdoc alumni. The event features a full day of distinguished guest speakers, panel discussions, and informal networking sessions.

GRADUCon 2020 was held on Friday, April 3rd, 2020.

Information for GRADUCon 2021 coming soon!

GRADUCon has several central objectives:

Empower graduate students and postdocs in their career search by helping to identify the transferable skills that they are developing in the course of their academic work
Provide concrete takeaways from the event, giving graduate students and postdocs specific next steps in their job search and a clearer vision of their career trajectory
Foster cross-disciplinary and cross-program conversations about various job markets and career skills
Connect graduate students and postdocs with advanced-degree alumni

Please see below for more information regarding upcoming and past GRADUCon schedules and panel details.

Graducon 2019 at I-House Panel discussion: Careers in Consulting Moderator Pam Schilling, left to right, Anna Chen, Karen Wasserman, Andrew Kirkley, Brittany Hayden. (photo by Anne Ryan)

GRADUCon

GRADUCon 2020 - April 3rd, 2020

9:00 – 10:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

10:30AM – 11:50AM: Panel Discussions, Session II

12:00 – 12:50PM: Keynote

1:00 – 2:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

2:30 – 3:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

GRADUCon 2019

The 10th annual GRADUCon took place on April 5th, 2019. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

8:30AM: Registration Opens

9:00 – 10:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

10:30AM – 11:50AM: Panel Discussions, Session II

12:00 – 12:50PM: Lunch & Keynote

1:00 – 2:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

2:30 – 3:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

4:00 – 5:00PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2018

The 9th annual GRADUCon took place on April 6th, 2018. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

9:00AM: Registration Opens

10:00 – 11:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

11:30AM – 12:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

1:00 – 1:50PM: Lunch & Keynote

2:00 – 3:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

3:30 – 4:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

5:00 – 6:30PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2017

The 8th annual GRADUCon took place on April 7th, 2017. Please find details for the panels and schedule below.

9:00AM: Registration Opens

10:00 – 11:20AM: Panel Discussions, Session I

11:30AM – 12:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

12:50 – 1:50PM: Lunch

2:00 – 3:20PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

3:30 – 4:50PM: Panel Discussions, Session IV

5:00 – 6:30PM: Reception

GRADUCon 2016

UChicagoGRAD’s 7th Annual GRADUCon took place on Friday April 8th, 2016, and saw 360 student/postdoctoral attendees from just about every graduate school and division on campus.

By the numbers:

360 Student and Postdoc Attendees

85 Alumni, Staff, and Faculty speakers and interviewers

225 one-on-one conversations between alumni and current trainees

Panel Topics included:

Careers in Data Science

Industry Research Careers for Scientists

Opportunities in Healthcare

Academic Careers: First Year As Faculty

Academic Careers: Teaching at Liberal Arts Colleges

Careers in Communications

Careers in Libraries

Careers in Nonprofits

Careers in Tech

Careers in User Experience Research

Careers in the Federal Government

Careers in the Financial Services Industry

Consulting Careers

Smarter Cities: Leveraging Graduate Student Skills

GRADUCon 2015

UChicagoGRAD’s 6th Annual GRADUCon took place on Friday April 9th, 2015.

Schedule for the day:

9:30 AM: Registration

10:00AM – Workshops

Resume Workshop

The Academic Job Market Cover Letter

Mock Interviews

NOON – 1:00PM – Lunch

1:00 – 2:15PM: Panel Discussions, Session I

Secondary Education

Skills for Nonprofits

Careers in Data Science

Women in STEM Careers

Academic Hybrid Careers

2:30 – 3:45PM: Panel Discussions, Session II

Government Research Careers for Scientists

Careers in Finance

Social Enterprise

Careers in International Relations

Digital Pedagogies

4:00 – 5:15PM: Panel Discussions, Session III

Year One as Faculty

Careers in Consulting

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