Tuesday Talks with Alumni: New virtual speaker series connects graduate students and alumni

by Sarah Colwell
May 11, 2021

This spring quarter, Graduate Studies launched a new speaker series that is gaining tremendous traction and helping better connect UC Davis graduate alumni with current graduate students, professional students and postdoctoral scholars.

Aptly named Tuesday Talks with Alumni Speaker Series, these virtual events take place every Tuesday and cover topics ranging from professional development and tips for online teaching to networking and achieving work-life balance. Alumni speakers bring expertise not just from academia, but also industry, government and the nonprofit sector. They also represent advanced UC Davis degrees ranging from music and cultural studies to bioengineering, atmospheric sciences and geology.

The founder of the Tuesday Talks with Alumni Gillian Moise, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology and Graduate Student Advisor to the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Chancellor, said the program is designed to provide graduate students with an opportunity to informally connect with advanced-degree alumni who have successfully navigated graduate school at UC Davis and who come from diverse academic fields and professional backgrounds.

“Graduate students have been really interested in this and have been signing up on average of 30 to 40 students at each event. Those that have been signing up have been really engaged,” Moise said. “They really want to see this series continue because they enjoy the opportunity to hear from folks who have been successful at navigating graduate school at UC Davis and entering the professional world.”

The student testimonies from post-presentation surveys affirm Moise’s sentiments:

“Lots of super practical tips and action items.”

“I love having alumni speak at seminars because I feel more empowered to connect with them afterwards and strengthen my professional network!”

“Seeing the path that the speaker took from academia to her current position and also sharing others’ career paths too…is very helpful.”

“The person who gave the talk was extremely personable and supportive and gave a lot of higher level tangible suggestions for how to prepare for the job market.”

Although the pandemic forced the Tuesday Talks speaker series to be conducted completely online rather than in-person, Moise said the virtual platform opened a greater opportunity for alumni from all over the country and world to get involved. Speakers have included alumni from Colorado, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York and Turkey.

“If an alum really wants to give back to a fellow Aggie who is going through the graduate student experience just like they did, but they knew they couldn’t commit to a more comprehensive mentoring program, the Tuesday Talk series is a great option they could participate in,” Moise said.

Graduate Studies seeks to continue and possibly expand this pilot program in the coming academic year and host Tuesday Talks events throughout the year starting in September. To do so, they are looking for more graduate alumni guest speakers who can share their experiences and personal perspectives on a professional development topic of their choosing. To learn more about how you can get involved, contact Graduate Studies alumni and external relations office at graddevelopment@ucdavis.edu.