Finding Your People: Socializing and Scholarship in STEM

by | Dec 6, 2021 | graduate student advice, Graduate Student Association, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, guest post, STEM, wellness

Earning my undergraduate degree from Baylor and transitioning into graduate studies was a challenging experience. The friends and connections I made during my time at undergrad had left Waco and were flinging their green and gold afar, so to speak. For me, the first...

Finding Your People: The Grace of Community and Collaboration

by | Nov 29, 2021 | Faith and the Academy, graduate student advice, Graduate Student Association, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, guest post, wellness

Initially, navigating the ways of graduate school can feel like an independent quest, siloed off on a mission to hone and perfect our skills and research alone. For me, those feelings were short lived thanks to the collaborative nature of music, my church, and even...

Finding Your People: Friendship and the Logic of Vocation

by | Nov 15, 2021 | Faith and the Academy, graduate student advice, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, guest post, wellness

When I first began my studies at Baylor, I stumbled upon a ministry at a local church for graduate students. At the monthly gatherings, we “talked shop”: discussing anxiety over tough assignments and piles of reading, laughing over niche things we found in our...

How to Find Your People and (Possibly) Eat More Pie 

by | Nov 8, 2021 | Conference, graduate student advice, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, guest post, wellness

The first thing I knew about Baylor’s religion department was that the students were friendly. I was attending a conference in Atlanta and was introduced to PhD students from Baylor, who immediately invited me to join them for meals, encouraged me to be on panels with...

Finding Your People in Graduate School: A Series

by | Nov 2, 2021 | Covid-19, graduate student advice, Graduate Student Association, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, guest post, wellness

This month on BearTracks, we’re going to be hearing from a number of graduate students from different fields talk about the process of finding their people. Some of these stories will talk about finding your people in academia, like making friends in your...

5 Tips for Overcoming Shyness in Graduate Seminars

by | Oct 25, 2021 | graduate student advice, graduate student guest post, Graduate Student Mentoring, graduate student resources, Graduate Writing Center, guest post, pedagogy, wellness

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’m not a shy person. I tend to speak my mind, probably too often. While this can serve me well in graduate seminars by breaking the ice and getting the conversation going, I haven’t always been so quick to contribute...