Graduate Professional Development

The Office of Graduate Student Life offers a variety of info sessions, workshops, and open labs dedicated to providing graduate students with the skills they need to succeed during and after their graduate program.

Questions? Email gradworkshops@ucf.edu.

Types of Opportunities

The Full list of workshops and opportunities for the 2024-2025 academic year is forthcoming

All Graduate Student Life opportunities, including professional development are available on the UCF Events Calendar with full descriptions and links. Don’t forget to add these events to your personal calendar through the “Feeds” on the UCF Events Calendar.

Academic Integrity (Responsible Conduct in Research) Workshop Schedule

The Academic Integrity (Responsible Conduct in Research) workshops are required for all doctoral students. More information and the current workshop schedule is available at https://graduate.ucf.edu/academic-integrity-training

Career Exploration

Partnering with UCF Career Services and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, we offer workshops to prepare you for life after grad school. These workshops include career support, resume/CV assistance, and interviewing/networking advice. See our Career Preparation page for more information.

Graduate Research Support

Partnering with UCF CAPS, UCF Libraries, and other campus units, these workshops are designed to help graduate students successfully transition into graduate school while learning how to become a successful researcher. Learn how best manage your time, use tools to organize your research, and how to fund your research. Additionally, opportunities are available to prepare students to communicate their research to a wide range of audiences. See our Research and Scholarship page for more information. Typical workshops in this category include:

Finding & Using Academic Sources
Identifying and Applying for Graduate Funding Opportunities
Time Management: Strategies for Personal and Academic Success as a Graduate Student

Communicating Your Research
Optimizing Your Online Presence
Thesis and Dissertation 101: Your Final Semester
Thesis and Dissertation 101: Getting Started
Thesis and Dissertation 101: Digital Compliance
Writing an Abstract for a Conference
Three Minute Thesis Information Session

How to Attend

All workshops and events held through Graduate Student Life are free and open to all UCF graduate students. We offers a variety of modalities to connect graduate students with professional development opportunities in a way that meets their needs. These opportunities are either hosted in the Graduate Student Center located in Trevor Colbourn Hall, Suite 213 or virtually through Zoom.

Online Resources

Thesis and Dissertation Webcourse

All resources related to the thesis and dissertation process, including information on how to choose an adviser and committee, how to format your document, how to conduct the defense, and more, are located within the Thesis and Dissertation Webcourse.

This FREE, non-credit Webcourse is intended for students planning to complete a thesis or dissertation in the future and students already enrolled in thesis and dissertation hours.

Please see our Thesis and Dissertation page for a link to the Webcourse and other information.

Grant Development Series Webcourse

The Grant Development Series Webcourse is intended for those seeking possible future careers in academia, research, and other fields demanding knowledge of research grants. This free resource equips participants with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully obtain external research funding through five modules. Users who complete all five modules and corresponding quizzes will be able to download a printable completion certificate! Access this resource in Webcourses.

Graduate Teaching (GTA) Information

Most programs offer assistantships in which students serve as research or teaching associate or assistant. Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) may be appointed as classroom teachers (instructors of record), co-teachers or classroom assistants, graders, lab assistants, or other roles directly related to classroom instruction. Please see our Graduate Teaching (GTA) Information page for additional details.

GTA Training

GTA training information is available on our GTA Training Requirements page. This training mainly involves self-paced online modules and there is no cost to students. While it’s primarily intended to prepare graduate students to teach at UCF, it is beneficial to any graduate student who may teach in various contexts in their future positions.

Preparing Tomorrow’s Faculty Program

The Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning offers a Preparing Tomorrow’s Faculty Program every semester. This is a voluntary program on teaching in higher education, primarily intended for graduate teaching assistants but open to all UCF graduate students. The format for this program is mixed-mode. Participants will be expected to complete a series of online modules and attend six, two-hour meetings, which will be held on the Orlando campus. Participation is limited, so please enroll early. There is no cost associated with registration.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

Therapy Assisted Online (TAO) Self Help

Provided by UCF Counseling and Psychological Services, Therapy Assisted Online (TAO) Self Help is an interactive, web-based program that provides assistance to help overcome anxiety, depression, and other concerns. TAO is based on well researched and highly effective strategies.

You can choose to view short, but helpful videos, take part in brief exercises, use logs to track moods and progress, and have access to a Mindfulness Library. All UCF students are eligible for TAO Self-Help. You just need a Knights email address.

Kognito

Provided by UCF Counseling and Psychological Services, Kognito is a set of role-play, avatar modules to educate faculty, staff, and students about mental health and suicide prevention (which we know supports improved academic performance, student retention, and campus safety).

It is an aviator/simulation online tool that allows users to enter a virtual environment and engage in role-play conversations with emotionally-responsive virtual humans. Through practice and receiving personalized feedback, users learn and assess their competency to lead similar conversations in real life.

Avoiding Plagiarism

The UCF library offers free online modules on how to avoid plagiarism using APA Style or MLA Style

Avoiding Plagiarism Using APA Style (6th ed.)

Avoiding Plagiarism Using APA Style (7th ed.)

Avoiding Plagiarism Using MLA Style (8th ed.)

Please note you will need your NID and NID password to login to these on-demand modules.

ETDplus Virtual Workshops

The ETD+ Virtual Workshop Series is a set of free introductory training resources on crucial data curation and digital longevity techniques for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) and affiliated files.

Workshop topics include: Copyright, Data Organization, File Formats, Metadata, Storage. Version Control

Each module is approximately 15-20 minutes each and includes the supplemental material including slides, a guidance brief (booklet), and a printable handout summarizing key takeaways and learning objectives.