The Delta Program is now part of the Graduate School, continuing to offer professional development programming designed for graduate students and postdocs
The Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning has transitioned to a new administrative home within the Graduate School. The move improves alignment of activities supporting professional development for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
“The excellent skill development that the Delta Program provides for this campus has been invaluable for our graduate students and postdocs,” said Graduate School Dean William Karpus. “We are thrilled that the Delta Program will now operate from within the Graduate School.”
While the move involves an administrative change for the Delta Program, the program’s mission and programming remains the same. Since 2003, the Delta Program has provided professional development to advance the skills of future faculty to become inclusive and effective teachers and research mentors. The Delta Program is a member of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), a network of 42 research universities, administered at UW–Madison. CIRTL aims to develop a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences.
In a typical academic year, Delta offers around 20 workshops and 15 courses that engage hundreds of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from across campus. Its workshops and courses, as well as the capstone Internship and Certificate programs, provide a wide variety of programming that can be leveraged to fit participants’ individual career goals.
“Our programming has proven formative for graduate students and postdocs as they prepare for and obtain jobs in their desired fields, whether in academia, industry, or beyond,” said Jessica Maher, Associate Director of the Delta Program. “We’re delighted to be situated within the Graduate School and hope that now even more participants will find and take advantage of our offerings.”
The Delta Program’s university-wide reach also creates opportunities for participants to interact with people from all over campus who share a commitment to teaching and research mentoring. Delta Associate Director Devin Wixon notes, “Participants from all disciplines offer a rich community of colleagues and conversations. In one of our workshops you might hear graduate students in sociology talking about how best to use a think-pair-share with a post-doc from engineering.”
Being housed in the Graduate School will deepen collaboration between Delta and the Graduate School’s Office of Professional Development and Communications (OPDC), which have worked together on events such as a workshop on creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP).
“Having Delta join the Graduate School is like having your cousins move to your hometown,” said Eileen Callahan, Director of Professional Development at the Graduate School. “We’ll have the opportunity to see each other more often and build on the collaborations that we already have. Together, we will better serve graduate students.”
Delta and OPDC will continue to collaborate with the Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring, WISCIENCE, the Teaching Academy, the Writing Center, and others on campus, to provide a rich and diverse collection of professional development opportunities. “Preparing graduate students and postdocs for success in a wide range of career pathways must remain one of the university’s top priorities,” states Dean Karpus, “and the array of opportunities at UW–Madison help graduate students build skills for their current roles and future careers.”
If you would like to learn more about Delta, visit Delta’s website or review Delta’s Digital Brochure. To stay informed about the program’s upcoming opportunities, join Delta’s biweekly newsletter.