RiDE Implementation: Advance the Ph.D.

Actions by individual doctoral programs to articulate their missions and align their program elements with their priorities

Data Analysis

For years, The Graduate School has been a national leader in data collection and dissemination. The school’s statistics webpage offers extensive information about: the demographics of applicant pools, admitted students, and current student cohorts; time to degree and attrition rates; and career outcomes. The Graduate School also has compiled extensive survey data of Ph.D. students at their time of degree completion, as well as alumni. In 2021, the school and the Provost’s Office are cosponsoring a Data+ team that will greatly expand analysis of trends in these two rich sources of survey data, which will be shared across Duke’s Ph.D. programs.

bar chart with admissions data

Peer Mentorship

Recognizing the potential for peer mentoring in small interdisciplinary coaching groups, the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with Trinity College, will pilot a peer mentoring fellows program in Spring and Fall 2021. The inaugural cohort of Trinity College peer mentoring fellows will include up to a dozen Ph.D. students across multiple disciplines, who have committed to working together as a cohort to explore best practices in peer mentoring. In Fall 2021, each fellow will lead their own peer mentoring group for early-stage Ph.D. students.

In Spring 2021, Provost’s Fellow and environmental science Ph.D. student Edgar Virguez developed guidance for graduate programs or communities that wish to create a structure to support peer-to-peer mentoring for doctoral students. Mentoring involves a broad range of issues around career goals, intellectual style, personal wellness, work-life balance, and interpersonal relationships, whereas advising involves intellectual matters that are core to disciplinary training.

gloved hands making heart shape around Duke chapel

Individual Development Plans

The Nicholas School of the Environment launched a new Individual Development Plan (IDP) in Fall 2020 to help its Ph.D. students ensure they are on track to succeed, both in terms of graduating on time and acquiring the advanced skills and training needed to achieve their career goals.

Nicholas School building seen through archway

RiDE Fellowships

A growing number of Duke Ph.D. programs are working with a Ph.D. student fellow around aspects of improving doctoral training. Projects vary, but include surveys of current students and alumni about curricular needs and priorities, investigations of curricular innovations at peer institutions, and research into effective strategies for developing more inclusive communities in particular disciplines.

screenshot of the interactive guide’s mentor problems page

Humanities Labs

Through Duke’s Humanities Unbounded initiative, funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, Humanities Labs run by A&S departments provide Ph.D. students with opportunities for sustained interdisciplinary engagement during the academic year, alongside the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students. Labs to date include Representing Migration (English), MicroWorlds (History), Games + Culture (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies), BrainCultures (Literature), Ethnography Workshop (Cultural Anthropology), Visualizing Cities (Art, Art History & Visual Studies), and Revaluing Care (Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies).

students sitting in row facing wall with computers