Graduate School On-demand Workshops
The Graduate School offers a range of workshops by request to the faculty, staff, and students in the Virginia Tech community. You'll find the workshops listed below. Many of the workshops can be offered either in-person or synchronously online. Each listing also includes contact information, should you have questions about it.
If you are interested in scheduling one of the workshops below, please contact us using this form.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 45-60 minutes
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: Listening is the number one way to find resolutions to the conflicts we experience. This workshop provides an understanding of what it means to be a good listener, recognizes some of the barriers that may impact our ability to listen, and some strategies to increase our capacity to actively listen.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 1-1½ hours
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: This workshop looks at the constructs of interpersonal trust and psychological safety within work teams. We discuss how these elements within our teams can lead to higher levels of engagement and productivity. The conversation then shifts to barriers that limit these attributes of a healthy team. Specifically, we look at identity-based barriers such as microagressions, implicit bias and stereotype threat. Finally, we discuss non-defensive strategies to work through these barriers.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: This workshop focuses on the importance of establishing expectations for the collaborative working relationships experienced in graduate education. There is an emphasis on reflecting on your needs in the relationship and bringing them forward in an intentional conversation. We also focus on challenges that may interfere with the maintenance of these relationships.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 1-1½ hours
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: The goal of this workshop is to normalize the conversations around experiences with hostility and aggressive behaviors within academic settings. We will develop a shared language for understanding these experiences, look at the impact these experiences have on our community, and learn strategies to support those impacted by these experiences.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: graduate students
Instructor: Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress team
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: On Zoom
Description: The workshops cover suggested techniques for structuring/organizing an ETD, ensuring copyright permissions and credit to other sources and co-authors are secured and documented, and how to pass a Graduate School ETD formatting review.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Jenn Million at jennjw@vt.edu.
In development.
For: Faculty and graduate students interested in becoming GHS panelists
Instructors: Monika Gibson, GHS chair or associate chair
Workshop Length: 45-60 minutes
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: This workshop covers the purpose, functions, and operation of the GHS, including panelist role and responsibilities.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Monika Gibson at gibsonm@vt.edu
For: Graduate Program Directors, Graduate Program Coordinators, Department Heads, Graduate Students, Program Staff
Instructors: Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress team
Workshop Length: 1½-2 hours
Format: In person
Description: Candid, in-person conversations between Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress (GAAP) advisor(s) and graduate program personnel, sometimes taking the form of "shadowing," designed to clear up confusion surrounding Graduate School policy/program requirements and get a better sense of GPC expectations.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Monika Gibson at gibsonm@vt.edu.
For: Potential new graduate students
Instructor: Dean Aimée Surprenant
Workshop Length: 30 minutes
Format: Hybrid
Description: This workshop focuses on what graduate school is all about.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dean Surprenant at gsdean@vt.edu.
For: Undergraduates
Instructors: Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress team
Workshop Length: 45-60 minutes
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: An overview of what to research when applying to Graduate School, the application process, funding options, resources available through the Graduate School/at the GLC, and the Accelerated programs.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Jenn Million at jennjw@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech (offered through Professional Development Network)
Instructor: Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress (Jennifer Million)
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: This training session focuses on how to use iThenticate to review the originality of documents, ensure accurate attribution to other authors, and eliminate occurrences of potential plagiarism.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Jenn Million at jennjw@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Cotrupi
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: Attendees will explore their own identities (ascribed and acquired) through a series of activities and personal reflection. Considerations of how intersectionality, power, and privilege show up in interpersonal interactions as well as social systems and structures, as well as how our individual positionality creates and sustains them.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Cotrupi at cotrupi@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students
Instructor: Dean Aimée Surprenant
Workshop Length: 1-1½ hours
Format: Hybrid
Description: In this presentation, I discuss what Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are, why it is a useful exercise, and how to make the best use of them. I also share some tools that can be used to create them.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dean Surprenant at gsdean@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 1-1½ hours
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: This is a general introduction to conflict dynamics and the skills we need to employ to constructively manage the conflicts that impact our lives.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 30 minutes
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: This short workshop covers the purpose, standards of practice, and the functions of the Ombuds office as it relates to the Graduate School community.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Cotrupi
Workshop Length: 1-1½ hours
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: An introduction to the concept of Whiteness and Tema Okun's (2004) Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, followed by an activity involving the screening of an episode of a PBS Masterpiece Theatre series.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Cotrupi at cotrupi@vt.edu.
For: Potential IPhD applicants, at their request
Instructor: Dr. Bill Huckle
Workshop Length: 30-60 minutes
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: The basics of what the IPhD program is, who is best positioned to take advantage of it, and how to prepare a successful proposal.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Huckle at wrhuckle@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, Faculty, Departments, Colleges, New professors, Postdocs
Instructors: Drs. Kevin Edgar and Bill Huckle
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: In person
Description: Strong mentorship is essential for successful leadership, at Virginia Tech and beyond, yet many VT faculty members and graduate students have never had any formal mentorship training. The Graduate School seeks to improve VT mentorship, and one tool for doing so is the Mentorship “Road Show,” a one-hour session led by associate deans of the Graduate School, graduate students, and others. The Road Show is primarily scenario- and discussion-based. Attendees are presented with problematic mentorship scenarios based on occurrences at VT; they consider and discuss these scenarios, and learn by discussing how such situations could be handled in more positive fashion. Departments, colleges, and groups of new faculty members, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows have all proved to be appropriate and successful participants in the Road Show.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Edgar at kjedgar@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Cotrupi
Workshop Length: 1-2 hours
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: Learn about verbal and nonverbal microaggressions, the differences between micro-assaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations (Sue, 2010), their impact on individuals and the learning environment, and the micro-interventions you can employ to disrupt them. This session will be part lecture and part interactive engagement.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Cotrupi at cotrupi@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: Feedback is a challenging process for both givers and receivers. This workshop looks at some of the triggers experienced when receiving feedback that may lead to defensiveness and resistance to feedback. We discuss strategies to overcome the triggers and learn from the experience.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructors: Monika Gibson and Lauren Surface
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: How to prepare for a negotiation and how/why to negotiate for a salary; understanding personal priorities/needs, job market, own qualifications, and an employer's ability and willingness to pay.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Monika Gibson at gibsonm@vt.edu
For: Graduate students, faculty, anyone
Instructor: Dr. Bryan Hanson
Workshop Length: 45-60 minutes
Format: in-person or on Zoom
Description: We all have default approaches to the conflicts we experience on a regular basis. This workshop walks us through these approaches and provides the opportunity to do a personal assessment of our own approaches and patterns that we exhibit.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu.
For: Anyone affiliated with Virginia Tech
Instructor: Dr. Catherine Cotrupi
Workshop Length: 2 hours
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: A session designed for participants interested in learning more about the history of Land Grant institutions from a critical perspective generally, and then specifically about the history of Virginia Tech's efforts towards inclusivity and accessibility.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dr. Cotrupi at cotrupi@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students
Instructor: Dean Aimée Surprenant
Workshop Length: 45 minutes
Format: Hybrid
Description: This workshop explores the often-overlooked "hidden curriculum" in graduate education—the unspoken rules, expectations, and norms that shape academic success. Participants will learn how to identify and navigate these implicit challenges, such as building professional networks, understanding academic hierarchies, and mastering the subtleties of scholarly communication. Through interactive discussions and practical strategies, this session aims to empower graduate students to thrive both academically and professionally.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dean Surprenant at gsdean@vt.edu.
For: Graduate students
Instructor: Dean Aimée Surprenant
Workshop Length: 45 minutes
Format: Hybrid
Description: This workshop discusses what science tells us about how to live life fully.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dean Surprenant at gsdean@vt.edu.
For: New graduate students and students new to assistantships
Instructor: Monika Gibson
Workshop Length: 1 hour
Format: In person or on Zoom
Description: Understand the assistantship compensation package and benefits; eligibility requirements; how to manage expectations and conversations with assistantship supervisor and potential team mates
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Monika Gibson at gibsonm@vt.edu
For: Graduate students, postdocs
Instructors: Dean Aimée Surprenant, Dr. Kevin Edgar, others
Workshop Length: 3 hours
Format: In person
Description: In this workshop you will learn the basics of applying for grants including general instruction on proposal writing and available resources before breaking out into groups on three disciplinary lines: NSF, NIH, Humanities. Finally, we will regroup for questions, wrap up, and conclusions.
Contact: If you have questions, please contact Dean Surprenant at gsdean@vt.edu.