The Graduate School at Marquette University has introduced three new mandatory “career skill” prerequisites for Ph.D. candidates to ensure that each graduate can contemplate their desired career path and acquire additional career-related competencies essential for their chosen vocation.
Commencing from the fall semester of 2024, all students admitted to a Marquette Ph.D. program will be subject to these three career skills requirements: career discernment, communication, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Doug Woods, the dean of Marquette Graduate School, emphasized the significance of this new mandate in bridging the perceived gap between students’ readiness and the competitive job market landscape post-graduation. He highlighted the misconception that Ph.D. holders are solely destined for professorial roles, acknowledging the evolving job market trends where such positions are increasingly scarce. Dr. Woods underscored Marquette’s commitment to empowering doctoral candidates to align their career trajectory with their values and to equip them comprehensively for diverse professional pathways.
Under the new directive, Ph.D. scholars are mandated to fulfill one or more approved courses, workshops, or practical experiences within each of the specified categories. The primary objectives of these skills encompass the following aspects:
- Career discernment: Encouraging students to introspect, define their identity, experiences, and competencies, and align their career aspirations with their core values.
- Communication: Developing students’ ability to engage in effective and ethical communication with non-academic audiences.
- Understanding diversity, equity, and inclusion: Equipping students with universal design principles and fostering the capability to collaborate and communicate proficiently with individuals from diverse backgrounds, encompassing varied values, perspectives, and ideologies.
Dr. Woods highlighted that only 45% of current students enter Marquette’s Ph.D. programs with the intention of pursuing tenure-track academic positions post-graduation. This statistic underscores the imperative for doctoral education, grounded in the Jesuit Apostolic Preference, to not only prepare graduates for the demanding academic job market but also for diverse career pathways that resonate with their sense of purpose and worth.