Submit a Narrative for the Student Voices Project

Date: 
June 28, 2024

Call to Graduate Division Students:
Submit a Narrative for the Student Voices Project

Deadline to Participate: April 30, 2024

Deadline extended to June 28th!

 submit your narrative

Overview

In honor of UCSF’s Graduate Student Appreciation Week, the Office of Career and Professional Development’s Researcher Careers Team invites all Graduate Division students to participate in our “Student Voices” project, directed by OCPD intern Trase Aguigam (Tetrad PhD candidate). Trase describes the project as follows:

"As graduate students, our interests, experiences, and personal lives beyond the lab drive our professional success, and inform our career trajectory. This means that our personal accomplishments and hobbies also promote scientific discovery, knowledge, and scholarship and contribute to the culture of excellence at UCSF. But these other aspects of our lives can sometimes be less visible and less celebrated than our scientific work. 

Therefore, our goal with this project is to collect and share narratives that center and amplify UCSF students’ diverse interests, backgrounds, and experiences. Additionally, this project will serve to highlight how UCSF graduate students enrich their personal lives outside of the lab."

Students who would like to participate can submit their narratives in the form of a short answer to questions about educational/personal growth, accomplishments, and interests. 

From the submissions, members of the Career and Professional Development Leadership Program will select up to ten narratives to be featured on our website, in a campus news article, and at a future in-person event. All who submit will be eligible for a drawing to receive a $25 Amazon gift card, and the winning submissions will each receive a $25 gift card. 

How to participate

Write your narrative in the form of a short (4-5 sentences) response to one or more of the following questions:

  • What academic accomplishment are you most proud of, and why?
  • Can you discuss a challenge you faced and overcame, and how it has contributed to your personal development? What have you learned from setbacks or difficulties, and how did you overcome them?
  • How do you express your creativity? What does it mean to you?
  • What is a personal goal you set for yourself that you've achieved or are working towards? How do you stay motivated, and what does it mean to you? 
  • If you could go back in time, what is one piece of advice you would tell a younger version of you?

Click on the button above to submit your narrative along with a photo of yourself.

FAQs

Q: Is this open to postdoctoral scholars?

A: Not at this time – the current call for stories is specifically for graduate students, in honor of Graduate Student Appreciation Week. If you’d like to see a similar project for postdocs, please contact us ([email protected]) to let us know! 

Q: Am I guaranteed to be featured? 

A: We are not able to guarantee that every response will be featured. Responses will be picked to best represent graduate students at all training levels, identities, and backgrounds. 


A note about our virtual events: We would like to welcome you, as and where you are, to our virtual events. If there are times you just don’t want to be on camera, feel free to attend this event with your camera and mic off. If you prefer to switch on your camera and participate that’s great too. And if this event just won’t work for you please remember you can always make an appointment with us at any time. 


UCSF is committed to making its facilities, activities and events accessible. To request accommodations for this event, please contact Trish McGrath ([email protected]) at the Office of Career and Professional Development at least one week before the event.