We're Here for You!

We in the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs are committed to providing holistic support to all graduate students and postdocs. Our goal is to partner with colleagues across campus who are dedicated to supporting and enhancing the postdoc experience.

This is the first issue of our brand-new newsletter The Postdoc Post, and we hope it will be one of many ways we build connection with the postdoc community! We want to share what's most important and timely for you, so please let us know what news, events, or topics you'd like to see covered here.

Please reach out to us to say hello, ask questions, or share concerns by emailing graded@andrew.cmu.edu. We're here for you!

Dr. Maggie Sikora, Director (she/her)

Margo Littell, Program & Operations Coordinator (she/her)

Lunchtime community-building with Jenga

The afternoon included engaging presentations

Introductory remarks and welcome from Dr. Shelley Anna, Vice Provost for Faculty

Kirk Arnold (fourth from left) with Carnegie Mellon postdocs in Warner Hall

A Postdoc Roundtable with Kirk Arnold

On October 10, a group of five postdocs from Tepper School of Business, the School of Computer Science, and the College of Engineering had the extraordinary opportunity to meet with Kirk Arnold for an informal roundtable discussion and breakfast. Arnold, who teaches in the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a renowned executive, entrepreneur, and board member. Each year, she visits Carnegie Mellon as a guest of CMU President Emeritus Jared Cohon, speaking in both graduate and undergraduate classes. Thanks to this roundtable, postdocs were able to engage with her as well, offering their questions and receiving Arnold’s insights gleaned from 40+ years of experience in the technology industry.

Arnold’s impressive professional journey has taken many compelling turns, with new jobs and new directions pursued for both personal and professional reasons. She advised the postdocs–and over-achieving CMU postdocs in general!–to resist the pressure to plan out an entire career. Life happens, she counseled, and setting goals and intentions in two- or three-year increments allows for the unexpected. She said she believes that the right opportunities will surface at the right time–and that job-seekers shouldn’t put too much stock in companies’ reputations, since these can often be manufactured. An organization’s culture is sometimes a better factor to consider when making career decisions, Arnold suggested. 

As for leadership, Arnold said that humility and empathy are critical to establishing trust and respect from individuals and teams. Being liked is not always the same as being respected, she said, which is an important distinction for women leaders in particular to keep in mind. 

Connecting with mentors and colleagues is essential in building a career, and Arnold encouraged the use of LinkedIn as a networking tool. For those seeking in-depth business management expertise, she recommended Good to Great by Jim Collins as one of the best business books ever written.

As her frequent visits to CMU attest, Arnold is passionate about mentoring, inspiring, and connecting with students and early-career professionals, with a particular interest in business planning, complex enterprise sales, and supporting women in business, STEM, and those pursuing entrepreneurship. We’re grateful to Arnold for taking the time to share her stories and advice with CMU postdocs! It was an inspiring and enlightening conversation.

Postdoc Slack Channel

Join your fellow postdocs using this informal, instant messaging and communication platform to share information, events, ideas, and more! The official name of the channel is "CMU Junior Faculty." You can join via this link or by clicking below:

NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development)

NCFDD is a leading provider of professional development in higher education. CMU has an institutional membership, so be sure to take advantage of this resource if you haven't already! To do so, go here and select Carnegie Mellon University from the list of members. Then, select “Activate My Membership” and complete the registration form using your CMU email address. Finally, a confirmation email will include an “Activate Account” link. Please note that the myriad resources available through this organization are not limited to professional development opportunities for faculty or future faculty. This resource is available to all postdocs, not just faculty or future faculty.

Two offerings to explore:

The Core Curriculum: This series offers 10 key skills and provides the opportunity to complete them at your own pace. The skills include “Every Semester Needs a Plan” and “The Art of Saying ‘No.’”

The NCFDD Mentor Map: Skill #7 of The Core Curriculum, “Cultivating Your Network of Mentors & Sponsors,” offers a webinar that fully introduces this tool. You can access a visual representation of the Mentor May here.

Are you passionate about strengthening the postdoc community and enriching the postdoc experience at CMU? The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs is in the preliminary stages of creating a Postdoc Advisory Council that will partner with us to share ideas, plan events, and bring postdocs together. Interested in being part of the council? Please fill out this interest form, and we'll be in touch!