External Resources

Here is a list of UMass campus resources we think are of interest to our members, but are not affiliated with GWIS.


The Graduate School’s Office of Professional Development: 


The UMass institutional partnership with AWIS (the Association for Women in Science) 

What’s in it for you:

A one-year FREE membership in AWIS for all interested students, which includes:

  • Online professional development and leadership webinars like ‘The Saavy of Successful Leaders’ and ‘The Dual Career Challenge’ 
  • Funding and travel opportunities
  • Access to the award-winning AWIS magazine, focused on women in science
  • Other e-publications like the Washington Wire and AWIS in action!
  • Networking opportunities at the Boston chapter or national events
  • Access to AWIS’s career center that can help you to:
    • Land your first job
    • Discover the types of positions available
    • Find new employers
    • Change paths

All you need to do is sign up using your university email! Go to http://www.awis.org/umassamherst to join the AWIS community.


The UMass Graduate Women’s Network (GWN) 

Sponsors workshops, social events, and support groups for graduate students. Promotes the success of women in graduate school.

Blog: http://websites.umass.edu/gssgwn/


Graduate School and Mental Health – Why we care about the whole you

Mental health issues and competitive graduate programs seem to go hand in hand.  Many of the grad students I’ve met have suffered from anxiety, depression, or Imposter’s Syndrome at one point or another throughout their careers.  But don’t just take my word for it – although this is not a particularly well-studied topic, we at GQM were able to find several peer reviewed articles on the subject, listed below:

Bayram & Bilgel 2007

Wyatt & Oswalt 2013

We also discovered dozens of blogs and informal articles like these:

Carrie Arnold in Science

Ted Scheinman in Pacific Standard

Denia Djokic and Sebastien Lounis in Berkeley Science Review

One helpful blogger, Dr. Karen Kelsky, even compiled a list of resources of her own about this subject.

We further wanted to provide you with some resources closer to home, in case they may be of use to you.  It’s always okay to ask for help when it comes to your health, mental health included.  These are some places you can find that help:

UHS Counseling Services offer free short-term counseling for students, and will give referrals for longer-term care.

Finally, we want to direct you to PhD comics – because finding humor in these situations can make us feel less alone, and laughter is always the best medicine.