Stanford
Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education

2020 SGSI Course Overview

Explore. Experiment. Expand.

Adventures in Design Thinking: A d.school Experience

  • Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, PhD, adjunct professor and co-director, University Innovation Fellows program, d.school

  • Sam Seidel, PhD, adjunct professor and co-director, K-12 Lab program, d.school

  • Colleagues from the d.school and beyond

If you want to succeed in a rapidly changing world, you will need to work with others outside of your discipline and learn from everyone and from every situation. This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to develop abilities used by designers towards these goals.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline who are interested in design thinking as a methodology for interdisciplinary collaboration and have not previously taken a quarter-long d.school course. This is not a product or service design class.

Designing the Professional: Addressing the question, "Once I get my degree, how do I get a life?"

  • John Armstrong, MA, lecturer and fellow, Life Design Lab

  • Kathy Davies, MA, MS design and managing director, Life Design Lab

  • Chris Simamora, lecturer and fellow, Life Design Lab

  • Shanice Webb, MEd, lecturer and fellow, Life Design Lab

What do you want out of life after Stanford? Wondering how to weave together what fits, is doable, and will be truly meaningful? Join us for Designing the Professional. This course applies the innovation principles of design thinking to the "wicked problem" of designing your life and vocation in and beyond Stanford. We'll approach these lifelong questions with a structured framework set in a seminar where you can work out your ideas in conversation with your peers.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows. If oversubscribed, preference is given to doctoral students near completion of their degree.

Diversity and Inclusion in STEMM

  • Miriam B. Goodman, professor, Molecular and Cellular Physiology 

Creativity, persistence, and knowledge thrive in diverse and inclusive environments. These skills are not only valuable in the humanities, but are crucial to success in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM). Despite decades of change, female researchers and researchers of color are few and far between. Learn what factors limit diversity and inclusion in STEMM and work in teams to invent interventions to counteract these factors.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows.  Will be most beneficial for individuals unfamiliar with social science research related to diversity and inclusion.

Energy@Stanford & SLAC: Energy Research for the 21st Century

  • Sally Benson, PhD, co-director, Precourt Institute for Energy; professor, Energy Resources Engineering

  • Arun Majumdar, PhD, co-director, Precourt Institute for Energy; professor, Mechanical Engineering and Photon Science

  • Tom Devereaux, PhD, director, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES); professor, Photon Science, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Jumpstart your energy education at Stanford! Build your personal energy network and hear about current research from distinguished Stanford energy faculty and expert speakers. Develop a broad perspective on energy and meet Silicon Valley energy entrepreneurs. Compete in the En-ROADS team challenge. This four-day course will allow you to meet fellow incoming and current graduate and professional school students who share and interest in energy, and build an interdisciplinary cross-campus community.

Audience: An energy background is not required. Incoming and current graduate and professional school students in any discipline are encouraged to apply.

Ethics & the Academy

  • Anne Newman, research director, McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society

Who gets admitted to selective universities and why? Who should benefit from university resources? When controversies erupt, what values should guide their resolution? This course will address perennial ethical questions on campus. We will explore the values (e.g. justice, equality, diversity) underlying campus debates (e.g. about admissions, free speech, student integrity policies, and intellectual property.) Participants will gain insight into their role at the university, learn to recognize values inherent in campus policies, and reflect on norms that shape their training.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows.

Inclusive and Effective Teaching

  • Jennifer Randall Crosby, PhD, Psych One coordinator, Department of Psychology

Are you looking for tools and strategies to connect with all of your students, proactively plan and execute inclusive and effective approaches to student engagement and learning, and create space for productive discussions in your classes? This course will combine examining research and writing on identity and academic experiences with developing practical and intentional approaches to teaching and course design. Students in this course will gain an expanded toolkit of specific teaching strategies for student engagement and greater confidence addressing challenging issues in the classroom.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows.

Jumpstart Your Academic Job Search

  • Chris Golde, PhD, assistant director of Career Communities–PhDs & postdocs, BEAM, Stanford Career Education

  • Arne Bakker, PhD, manager of Scientific Meetings, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Are you about to enter the job market for a faculty position? Get a jumpstart on preparing yourself and your application materials. This course is practical and experiential, involving practicing and editing. We will work on both written and oral parts of your job search preparation, including CVs, cover letters, research and teaching statements, and the job talk. Experts from across Stanford will present. An interdisciplinary class of peers will support you.

Audience: Open to advanced doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars entering the faculty job market during 2020-21.

Leadership Laboratories

  • Evelyn Williams, MA, teaching professor, Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business; academic director, Masters in Management Program

When students graduate from Stanford, they face a world that expects them to demonstrate not only talent and knowledge, but effective communication and influence skills. Whether they have studied engineering, medicine, education, social sciences or other fields, Stanford alumni often find themselves in positions where their ability to navigate change and interpersonal dynamics is just as important as their subject matter expertise and analytical skills. 

The Leadership Laboratories are a series of experiential simulations and modules, designed to cultivate the skills critical to navigating complex, interdependent teams and organizations. We focus on skills that help you influence outcomes, motivate others, and build productive working relationships—skills that will have a positive multiplier effect on your impact in the workplace.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows.

Public Policy Negotiation: Multiparty Problem-solving and Conflict Resolution

  • Janet Martinez, PhD, senior lecturer, Law; director, Gould Negotiation & Mediation Program, Stanford Law School

  • Brenna Marea Powell, PhD, lecturer, Law, Stanford Law School

As a professional, you will probably negotiate more than you do anything else. You will negotiate with your boss, your colleagues, your assistant, as well as with other organizations, the public, perhaps the media, and so on. In doing so, you will communicate across institutional, cultural, linguistic, even national boundaries.

This course will help you develop an understanding of negotiation, as well as practical skills for collaborative problem-solving. The experience is highly interactive with simulations, small- and plenary group discussions, reflections, and feedback.

Audience: Open to all graduate students in any discipline interested in the public policy decision-making processes (particularly those who have not had a chance to explore these issues extensively through their coursework), as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows.

Stanford Ignite

Stanford Ignite is a four-week certificate program run by the Graduate School of Business that teaches innovators how to formulate, develop, and commercialize their ideas. You will learn core business skills and experience working on a team to develop a business plan around a new product or service for an existing organization or a new venture. It is designed for non-business students. The cost of participating in Stanford Ignite is heavily subsidized for Stanford graduate students and postdocs, but a fee to such participants is still charged, given the intensive nature of the program. Note: Stanford Ignite does NOT take place the same week as SGSI. See the Ignite web page below to learn more.

Learn more about Stanford Ignite

 

For any additional questions, please email vpgeapplications@stanford.edu.