Stanchina, Karla

Graduate students and community members gathered recently for the 2019 Summer Graduate Writing Retreat sponsored by the Center for Graduate Life (CGL) at the UNC Center City campus in Charlotte.

Facilitated by Dr. Jill Huerta, CGL Director, and Dr. Aura Young, Doctoral Services Specialist & Postdoctoral Support, the group worked on writing projects throughout the July 26-28 weekend.

“I got an incredible amount of work done, more than I had expected,” said Pam Turner, Senior Library Assistant, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  Pam focused the weekend’s work on sorting and editing a collection of poems into a manuscript.

Rosalba Scott, Ph.D., Educational Leadership, said her goal was to make progress on her dissertation.  “I reviewed and improved the entire draft,” she said.  “My expectations for what I could accomplish were met.”

The Graduate Writing Retreat provides a multi-day opportunity for graduate students, faculty, staff, and members of the community who want to make progress on a large writing project. The writing retreat offers a quiet space to work, structured writing time, and writing-related resources and support because all participants are actively engaged in their writing.

Continuing writing support is available through the CGL’s Write Time & Place series.  Learn more by visiting the CGL’s Communications Skills website.

The Center for Graduate Life is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Lisa Russell-Pinson as their first full-time faculty member.  In her capacity as Assistant Teaching Professor, she’ll create and and teach academic writing courses which will be designed for the matriculating graduate student.  In addition, she’ll continue to support writing programming aimed at the graduate-level such as writing retreats, dissertation bootcamps, academic workshops and resource development.

“Dr. Russell-Pinson has taught writing and provided writing support for several years in the CGL on a part-time basis,” says Dr. Jill Huerta, Director of the Center for Graduate Life.  “We are delighted to have her expertise and look forward to her contribution as a full-time member of the CGL team.”

Russell-Pinson earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Linguistics from Georgetown University and her B.A. cum laude in English from the University of South Carolina at Columbia. For more visit her profile page on the Center for Graduate Life website.

When your career is on the line, getting your point across can be everything.

Graduate students at UNC Charlotte are learning how to boil down extensive and complex research or scholarship into a brief, compelling presentation that anyone can understand – especially the boss. In November each year, students take what they’ve learned to the stage in the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition.

The professional development courses – and the competition – come from the Graduate School’s Center for Graduate Life (CGL) in Cone University Center 268.  The CGL exists to provide a comfortable place, a sense of community, and the developmental support to help graduate students navigate their time here and find success when they graduate.

The CGL programming fits what appears to be a growing need.  According to an article in Fast Company, American employers say nearly half of graduates arrive on the job lacking the interpersonal skills to succeed.

“Polishing communication and other soft skills like critical thinking and decision making, has long been a focus for our Center for Graduate Life,” said Tom Reynolds, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School.  “We assess what employers are looking for, beyond the educational discipline, and develop the supplemental programming to meet those needs.”

Students hone their skills in CGL courses and workshops that include such titles as Workplace Communications, Elements of Business Writing and Strategies for Communicating Your Research.  Then, they can put those skills to the test through the 3MT® competition.

Through 3MT®, a program that originated at the University of Queensland, Australia, participants compete based on how clear and engaging they can be with their research presentation.  The presentations are limited to three minutes and the contestants may use only one static slide.

Finalists in this year’s UNC Charlotte competition will present to an audience in the Halton Reading Room of Atkins Library on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m.  Winners will take away cash prizes and a chance to travel to this year’s Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual meeting in Knoxville.

A reception and celebration of the winners will follow the competition.

The first 3MT® competition was held in 2008 with 160 University of Queensland research students competing. Since then, the competition has spread to 350 universities across 18 countries.

Visit the Center for Graduate Life for more information on the Graduate School’s professional development opportunities.