Reframing the Individual Development Plan
Jaye Sablan and Bill Mahoney
January 3, 2022
Jaye Sablan and Bill Mahoney describe how it can be an important tool for equity in graduate student career development
One key factor that contributes to the successful professional development of underserved graduate student populations—first generation, BIPOC, women, international, as well as individuals whose identities lie at the intersections of these and more—is equitable access to holistic mentoring from a team of faculty mentors and advisers. Holistic mentoring has the capacity to offer underserved graduate students the social capital they need to explore diverse career paths, especially at predominantly white institutions. Social capital includes informational resources about job exploration, referrals to professional networks in and beyond academe, advance notice about employment opportunities, and informal career coaching.
While funding opportunities, such as need-based fellowships, are vital for the retention of underserved graduate students, social resources are just as important. In other words, faculty—along with university leadership and senior staff who oversee a range of graduate student services—can leverage their various forms of privilege based on race, gender, ability or class status by connecting students with the social capital they need to thrive. This shifts graduate recruitment practices based solely on representational diversity to retention strategies grounded in equity and social justice.
