written by: Yolande Graham
Graduate students and graduate education are an essential part of higher education. While there is a great deal of research on undergraduate students, the scholarship focused on graduate students is lacking although we continue to see graduate student populations shift and grow on college campuses. In order to better support graduate students, it is important that we as higher education scholars and practitioners appropriately situate them within literature. This will allow us to make critical and informed changes to the support structures that exist on our campuses. Nguyen and Yao’s A Handbook for Supporting Today’s Graduate Students offers a collection of studies, presented in three parts, that share insights, programs and interventions to help graduate school administrators, student affairs practitioners and faculty to better support the needs of graduate students within the realm of their academic engagement and beyond.
Part I: Navigating Contexts and Identities
Part one provides a foundation for readers about the history of graduate education and how the characteristics and identities of graduate students have shifted over time. This section includes factors including economic and global events that have drawn more students into graduate education. In Chapter one, Nguyen discusses the shift from students coming into graduate programs after gaining work experience to students coming directly from undergraduate institutions. The author shares how the onus of professional development was moved to graduate programs in a way that had been less of a priority in the past. This section also walks readers through some of the unique needs of under-represented and less considered student groups including online graduate students, domestic and international graduate students of color, Indigenous graduate students and first-generation graduate students.
Part one concludes with a chapter focused on drawing the reader’s attention to the hidden curriculum in graduate education. The authors of the chapter define the hidden curriculum as “a set of implied and hidden messages, assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes situated within academia” (Lyles et al., 2022, p. 89) They highlight some of the ways that graduate students have encountered the hidden curriculum and offer recommendations to key stakeholders at all levels of higher education about the role they can play in illuminating hidden curriculum at their institutions and providing the necessary resources for graduate students as they navigate it.
This first part contains the most chapters in the book and does a good job of laying a foundation for readers’ understanding of some of the entry characteristics and needs of graduate students before delving specifically into how these characteristics affect the academic, professional and social experiences of graduate students.
Part II: Addressing Academic and Professional Skill Development
The chapters in part two focus on the ways that graduate programs can more holistically attend to the professional development needs of graduate students. Hill (2022) highlights that research continues to point to the “incongruencies between graduate students’ goals, the training provided and the careers they envision (p. 103). The author introduces the Teaching Professional Development Framework (TPD), which offers guidance for key stakeholders on providing opportunities for graduate students to develop skills in teaching. Though primarily focused on teaching, this framework offers an interesting way for student affairs practitioners to consider our approaches to training graduate students both within academic spaces and in the assistantships to help them develop the skills needed to enter the workforce. Other chapters in this section offer insight about what graduate students may experience and the important role that community among peers can play as they go through the process of finding their academic voice, the value of involvement in field-specific professional organizations and the benefits of taking advantage of study abroad opportunities.
This section provides helpful examples for administrators, student affairs practitioners, and faculty to create a more holistic and interconnected experience for graduate students. The section also offers helpful tips and resources for graduate students as they navigate the hidden curriculum and forces of socialization that will shape their academic and professional experience while in graduate school.
Part III: Supporting Graduate Students Beyond the Classroom
In this final section of the book the theme of holistic development continues from the perspective of the out of class experience of graduate students. Chapters in this section focus on topics such as graduate students’ mental health, career development, financial acumen, social involvement, and needs related to work-life balance. Chapter 11 highlights the mental health crisis affecting graduate education and discusses some of the causes of mental health concerns for graduate students. The chapter also presents a study involving participants with mental health concerns discussing the resources that have been useful or would have been useful as they throughout graduate school. This study, which included 11 Ph.D./Ed.D. students and three master’s students, highlighted the importance for graduate students of developing relationships with peers, having awareness of available resources, gaining self-awareness of their limitations, and prioritizing their well-being.
Nguyen and Yao conclude their volume by reminding readers of the complex factors and identities that are woven together and affect the experiences of graduate students as they pursue their education. They also highlight some of the factors mentioned throughout the previous chapters that affect graduate students’ time to completion and attrition from programs. They call on institutions to consider if they are appropriately positioned to support the unique needs of their graduate student population and offer implications for research and practice that aim to continue to expand our understanding of the unique experiences of graduate students.
As I read through this volume with a group of colleagues, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my own experience within my master’s program in Higher Education and Student Affairs and now as a doctoral student. Many of the chapters identified experiences that I had before and ones I am navigating now. I found myself examining the resources offered and finding ways to apply them to my experience. I also read this book from the perspective of a practitioner responsible for the training and preparation of master’s graduate students in student affairs. The recommendations, tools and interventions discussed presented an opportunity for me to think about what I can do to improve how we train and prepare graduate students for the workforce. For anyone considering reading this book, I encourage you to read through it chronologically as the authors did a great job of laying out and seamlessly connecting the themes around graduate student needs to help readers get a full picture of the interconnectedness of the various factors and experiences affecting graduate students’ ability to succeed.
Applications to Student Affairs Learning and Practice
Below are a few questions I invite anyone who works with and supports graduate students to reflect on after reading this review and if you read through this book.
- What is the hidden curriculum at your institution or in your department? How can you help to illuminate this for new graduate students through onboarding and supervision practices?
- What can you do within your supervision practice to better support the professional development of graduate students you work with?
- What graduate student specific resources, if any, are available at your institution? How are you sharing this information with graduate students you work with?
References
Hill, L. B. (2022). Teaching professional development for graduate students. In D. J. Nguyen & W. Yao (Eds.) A handbook for supporting today’s graduate students, 103-119. Stylus.
Lyles, C. H. Huggins, N., & Robbins, C. K. (2022). Unveiling the hidden curriculum within graduate education. In D. J. Nguyen & C. W. Yao (Eds.) A handbook for supporting today’s graduate students, 86-102. Stylus.
About the Author
Yolande Graham (she/her) is a college educator with a passion for improving the people and processes she interacts with in her work. She currently serves as an Associate Director for Residential Living at Clemson University, where she is also a doctoral student. She earned her BA from the University of Maryland and her MSEd in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Baylor University.