Career & Tools
Check out this new UCSB series on grad student and postdoc professional development experiences funded by the Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program. This week's featured video is by Rammy Salem, a graduate student in Psychological and Brain Sciences, who attended a national summit on Arab American community organizing. Read on to watch the video and learn more about the IPS program!
Have you ever wished you had support to take advantage of a professional or career development opportunity that lies outside the scope of your academic research? The UCSB Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars fill in the funding gaps for pursuing opportunities that support your professional development in a variety of career trajectories.
IPS Insights: We are excited to launch a brand-new series "IPS Insights," where previous awardees share about their IPS-funded experiences in short informational videos. This week's featured video is by Rammy Salem, a graduate student in the Psychological and Brain Sciences.
Rammy attended the MOVE Summit: a national gathering that brings together Arab Americans of all ages and from across the professional and political spectrum to discuss the most pressing issues facing the community. Watch his video to learn more about his experience!
IPS Grant Program Research Presentations: Rammy Salem (Psychological & Brain Sciences) from UCSBGradDiv on Vimeo.
In Rammy's Words: What I Learned
"The MOVE (Mobilize, Organize, Vocalize, and Empower) 2019 Summit was an excellent experience, and I would highly recommend this biennial summit to anyone interested in Arab American community organizations or learning more about issues concerning Arab Americans. I attended breakout sessions on philanthropic giving, Palestinian advocacy, civic engagement, activism for immigrants and refugees, and race relations. I also heard talks on female empowerment and community organizing from speakers such as Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, and Dr. Rami Nashashibi. Among the people with whom I had the opportunity to connect was a filmmaker and journalist that I intend to find a way of inviting to speak at UCSB. She directed an award-winning documentary investigating surveillance of Muslims by the FBI. I would recommend for anyone interested in this particular summit or a similar community organizing conference to really immerse yourself in the activities and experiences that the event has to offer. I am very thankful for the Individualized Professional Skills Program for enabling me to connect with individuals from diverse professional backgrounds that I otherwise probably would not have been able to meet during the course of my graduate studies at UCSB."
IPS Program Overview
Awards up to $1000 are granted to eligible UCSB graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from any discipline who wish to individually tailor their career paths with outside professional development opportunities. The purpose of the IPS program is to help grad students and postdocs take greater agency in their own career path by funding exploration of a range of professional development opportunities across a variety of career and skill interests.
The IPS Program is a collaboration between the Professional Development Series at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships; the Graduate Division; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; UCSB Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative and CNSI Technology Incubator; Career Services; UCSB's divisional deans; and external donors. Learn more about the program here!