Professional Development Resources
At Tufts, we strive for the holistic development of our graduate students. The GSAS Dean's Office aims to offer opportunities for students’ professional development as well as provide space to engage with peers and faculty outside of their discipline and cohort.
Are you a grad student interested in talking about professional development? Please contact me to schedule a meeting!
Nate Ward
Faculty Director for Professional Development
Associate Professor, Psychology
Upcoming Workshops
Reading with Purpose: Strategies for Effective Learning
Wednesday, January 21, 12 – 1 pm | In-Person | Register
Presented by the Tufts StAAR Center
Learn how to manage a heavy reading load, for both assignments connected to coursework and reading lists developed for your own research projects. During this interactive workshop, participants will learn techniques to increase comprehension, read more efficiently, and take effective notes, as well as organize these materials.
Where Do I Begin? Planning and Starting Your Graduate Thesis
Monday, January 26, 12 – 1:15pm | In-Person | Register
Presented by the Tufts StAAR Center
This workshop is intended as an overview for graduate students who have not yet begun their thesis or who are in the beginning stages of the process. We will discuss the purpose of a thesis, exploring and refining a topic, working with an advisor, balancing ambition with practicality, and integrating writing into your research process.
Manage Your Research with Zotero
Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 12:00 – 12:55 PM| Hybrid (In-Person and Zoom) | Register
Presented by the Tisch Library
Zotero is a tool to help you organize your research, especially your literature review materials. In this workshop you will learn how to use Zotero to collect and organize resources and to automatically format citations for your project. This is a hybrid workshop - join us in person in Tisch Library, or on Zoom. Please make sure you have Zotero installed and running on your laptop before the workshop.
Notetaking Strategies for Lectures and Seminars
Monday, February 2, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00 PM | In-Person | Register
Presented by the Tufts StAAR Center
Learn new strategies for taking notes during lectures or when reading and studying. Develop and practice strategies during this interactive workshop that will help you make the most of your notetaking.
Visit the Graduate Student Events calendar for a listing of additional workshops! Questions? Email gsas@tufts.edu.
Graduate Workshop Series
The GSAS Dean’s Office works closely with our campus partners to offer a broad range of professional development workshops to support you. These workshops are designed to help students acquire transferable skills which focus within six domains including inclusive excellence; scholarly expertise, leadership & collaboration; communications skills; career preparation; and personal development.
Some of the workshops planned include cultivating your mentorship network, resume and cover letter and networking skills, creating your professional website, time management, presentation skills, reading and note-taking skills, and so many more.
GSAS Programs
Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT)
The Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT) prepares Tufts doctoral students for an academic career in teaching at the university level.
Graduate Research Excellence at Tufts (GREAT)
The Graduate Research Excellence at Tufts (GREAT) program is a summer program that spans two and a half weeks and aims to cultivate outstanding graduate researchers at Tufts.
AS&E Resources
Career Center
AS&E and SMFA graduate students have access to career development opportunities and resources that will help establish career readiness and prepare students for career success.
Research Competition
The Graduate Student Research Competition (GSRC) supports the research of graduate students by providing funding for certain expenses.
TA and RA Resources
Teaching Assistantships
Teaching assistants (TAs) are resident students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or School of Engineering who are paid a stipend to teach part-time at the university as part of their training.
Research Assistantships
Serving as a research assistant (RA) is an important part of the professional development and training that Tufts offers graduate students. Research assistants are graduate students who receive a stipend as part of their training.