Meet GradEd Champion Beth Levin, Professor and Graduate Studies Advisor in Linguistics!
Why has Professor Beth Levin been the Graduate Studies Advisor (comparable to other programs’ Director of Graduate Studies) in Linguistics for over ten years? She sat down with VPGE over Spring break to tell us about her hopes for her students and to share ideas of how their experience in grad school might be improved.
Welcoming Students
As Graduate Studies Advisor, Prof. Levin mentors incoming doctoral students, and enjoys watching each of them mature as researchers and individuals. Her GradEd Champion nomination, which was submitted anonymously, noted that Prof. Levin “makes sure to be “around” in the department – often getting tea from the lounge, and always attending the weekly happy hour – so that she knows how all of her graduate students are doing and can connect them to opportunities or reach out to them if they struggle.” She builds a relationship with each first-year student, helping them navigate the department and university requirements as seamlessly as possible so students can focus on developing their research agenda and building relationships with their faculty advisors.
When asked what’s satisfying about serving as Graduate Studies Advisor, Prof. Levin responded, “Seeing students move through, from beginning to end, and getting to know each one, is very satisfying. They really have to make their own path, given their interests and the breadth of our department.” As noted in her nomination, Prof. Levin is also a “prolific and insightful researcher with a spot-on “BS” detector”, making her an “excellent intellectual role model” for Linguistics students.
Inspiring Students
Prof. Levin is also recognized as a creative and inspiring teacher. She “designs assignments that get people to synthesize the material and provides a lot of insightful “signposting” in seminars that helps give a structured understanding of the material.” She also leads the department’s Graduate Studies Committee, which includes students, staff, and faculty, to ensure that the courses and other degree requirements align with the students’ needs – with respect to language requirements, methods training, and other skills students need to succeed in their doctoral studies and in the dynamic job market they face after graduation.
In fact, Prof. Levin has noticed that students now feel more stress about their job prospects, and the expectations for faculty jobs seem to grow continuously. Students tend to spend more than one year on the faculty job market, and some are doing postdocs on the way to a faculty or other position. As noted in her nomination, Prof. Levin has “worked hard to create positive, inclusive rhetoric around non-academic career paths, greatly reducing “stigma” that sometimes accompanies decisions to leave academia”, as her nominated noted. She “suggests people to reach out to when we are interested in learning about different career paths” and alerts students to papers, conferences and other opportunities that may be of interest – referrals she can make because she knows each student well.
Looking Ahead
She is pleased to see more discussion about the needs of and support for students with families, and also mentioned a need for more financial support for students to attend conferences or to study and conduct research away from campus, all experiences that will also help them compete on the tough job market. Following a suggestion from the graduate students, Linguistics is experimenting with a peer mentoring program for first year students, pairing each of these students with a more senior student. Ultimately, she wants her students in Linguistics to have fulfilling careers and lives, and she works hard to ensure their Stanford experience supports their aspirations.
Please join all of us in VPGE in thanking Prof. Beth Levin – a GradEd Champion for her commitment to graduate students and graduate education at Stanford!
Do you know a Stanford community member - student, staff, or faculty member - who stands out for their passion and commitment to making a difference in graduate education and in graduate students’ experiences at Stanford? If so, please nominate them as a GradEd Champion.