Graduate Student Resources
CLA supports PhD graduates seeking non-academic careers
The leadership of the College of Liberal Arts is committed to supporting the professional success of its graduate students. Our graduate programs foster an environment of excellence in research and teaching commensurate with our students professional ambitions and Purdue's reputation as an innovative public university.
CLA programs train students for academic jobs at peer institutions, especially those that are members of the American Association of Universities. We also support our graduate students interested in non-academic jobs at leading commercial, non-profit, or governmental organizations.
External Fellowships
An important avenue for professional success is applying and winning external fellowships, such as the NSF graduate fellowship program, detailed below. You can find information about all available fellowships here.
NSF Fellowship Training and Workshops
The National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship program is one of the most prestigious and formative extramural programs. The program maintains its own training and support program, which offers a constant stream of training opportunities. Check out the events program regularly!
The National Science Foundation also maintains multiple Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Research Grants, each associated with a specific program. The most visible and relevant are those associated with social sciences such as:
The links to these programs might fall behind a cycle. Please use the NSF search engine to identify the current program.
CLA provided faculty-driven workshops in the past, focused on the process of applying to NSF, GRFP, & DDRIG fellowships and grants, tailored specifically to graduate students in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The PowerPoint presentations accessible at the links provided below may serve as guides for those who intend to apply for the NSF (National Science Foundation) GRFP (Graduate Research Fellowship Program) or DDRIG (Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant). The presentations detail the ‘how’s’ of applying, from grant-writing to the review process.
Non-Academic Ph.D. Resources
ImaginePhD: www.imaginephd.com/ This is a free, public access resource developed by the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) gradcareerconsortium.org/ to help students from the Humanities and Social Sciences with their career development. As an aside: the MLA and the AHA send professional staff to the annual GCC meetings!
Versatile PhD: versatilephd.com/ This is a subscription-only resource, and the oldest such resource for all PhD-seeking students.