Syracuse University Gradcast

Mary-Jo (MJ) Robinson is an experienced nonprofit leader and consultant and is a proud graduate of the Maxwell School, having earned her MPA there. Listen in to learn how she applied her skills as a graduate student to work in a variety of nonprofit settings, including spending two years conducting rewarding work in Kenya! Now a project manager with the Engaged Humanities Network at SU, MJ is a leader in facilitating experiential opportunities for graduate students. 

In this episode, we sit down with Tracy Balduzzi, Ed.D. — Associate Director of Graduate Student Engagement and Success — to strategize how graduate students can make the most of their participation at conferences. Listen in to hear about what you should do to prepare for a conference, how to network with colleagues, and how to ensure that your new conference connections are sustained long after the conference concludes. 

Sahar El Abbadi, PhD (she/her), is a newly-minted Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa, and I've been a fan of Sahar's for a while! Her postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), a government lab in California, offers an important glimpse into the life of a postdoc in that kind of environment.

I also got to see up close her job search as she transitioned from that role to her new faculty position at Iowa, and I wanted to chat with her to learn more about that process.

Sahar completed a bachelor of science in environmental engineering science from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a master of science and PhD at Stanford University. Prof. El Abbadi conducted postdoctoral research in energy science and engineering at Stanford University before moving to the Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

"We need people who have the capacity to analyze as deeply as you do, and your writing is the way to get it out there," says Collie Fulford, Ph.D., Writing Center Director and Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at SU. Through a fascinating conversation about writing and the amazing work of the Writing Center, I gained a newfound appreciation for the centrality of writing in the life of grad students. I hope you give it a listen!

A great deal has happened in the past year in the world of fellowships and funding in general, and since the dust has settled a little bit, I wanted to get an update on where we are. So I reached out to Melissa Welshans, Ph.D., Assistant Director of CFSA (Center for Fellowships and Scholarships Advising) here at Syracuse University to help us understand what's changed, what has stayed the same, and what applicants can do if they want to be funded through these types of awards.

Great news! Our grad assistant, Ava Breitbeck (doctoral candidate in Science Teaching) is our newest podcaster, and this is her very first episode! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Hannah Payne, a Masters student in Art History and 2026 Palitz Scholar, joins GradCast to share her passion for art history and the importance of effectively engaging the public in scholarly endeavors as a graduate student. Listen in on Hannah's inspiring academic journey to learn more about publicly-engaged work and to receive some great travel recommendations in the process!

"The world is moving so fast, we all need to be thinking big picture" says Shawn VanDerziel, President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the foremost source of information on the transition from college to career. No one is better suited to provide this big picture, and I was delighted to get his take on where the jobs economy is now, where it might be headed and, of course, what to do to get a job in the age of AI.

Meg Healy, a PhD candidate in English at Syracuse, joins GradCast to discuss videographic criticism, in which audiovisual media are used to interpret texts and make scholarly arguments in ways very different from traditional print-based academic essays. Find out how Meg uses videographic tools to enhance her research into sci-fi films.

Listen in on a conversation with Dr. Ramon Goings, a faculty member and doctoral program director in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and founder of The Done Dissertation, a consultancy helping doctoral candidates and dissertation advisors develop habits that promote productive writing and efficient degree completion. Learn about the "80% Rule" and other tips from Dr. Goings' book, 14 Secrets to a Done Dissertation!

Now here's an unexpected way to do career exploration: ask a subject area librarian! And that's exactly what I did. I reached out to Steph McReynolds, Librarian for Business, Management and Entrepreneurship, a curator of an excellent research guide on careers, who walked me through her research's fascinating resources. What followed were some ways of learning about companies and opportunities that I didn't know about!