Resources

Implicit or unconscious bias is a major source of error and poor decision-making. So how does one combat it? In this video, Stanford Professor and VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab director Shelley Correll gives an engaging overview of how gender bias informs evaluations of women in the workplace that often result in more limited opportunities for promotion and recognition. She details the latest research on gender stereotypes as a cognitive shortcut which disadvantages women relative to men. Therefore, solutions that counteract the effects of bias are needed in order to create a more level playing field. All videos from this Voice & Influence series on the VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab website include a downloadable discussion guide that includes personal inventory and skill-building work, as well as links to further resources.

Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, the d.school, offers a wide variety of classes for graduate students. Class options include their quarter-long credit-earning "core classes" as well as shorter "boost classes" and other workshops. In all of the d.school experiences, you will learn how to think like an innovator, take new perspectives, and design solutions to the messy, complex problems of the real world.

If you are interested in design or any aspect of design thinking, take a look at this list of resources from the d.school, illustrating the many different ways you can integrate design into your life at Stanford. From courses and workshops to maker spaces, there is something for everyone interested in the wide world of design.

Throughout the year, the d.school holds a number of design and design thinking centered events on campus. From creativity workshops to pop up classes on how to design your life, there's something for everyone at the d.school. Keep an eye on their events calendar throughout the school year.

Looking to teach (and learn) the basics of design thinking? This virtual crash course lets you experience one of the d.school's most popular learning tools. Download the Google slide deck to expose yourself (and potentially your students) to a medley of design abilities, methods, and mindsets.

For graduate students, one of the easiest but most important steps you can take to ensure your research goes smoothly is creating a data backup and storage plan. With such a plan, horror stories of losing an entire dissertation can be a thing of the past. Check out these numerous options from Stanford University IT to see which one is the right plan for you--and never worry about data loss again!

Quantitative and qualitative researchers alike can benefit from a strong system for storing and preserving their data. The DMP (Data Management Plan) Tool is an online tool that includes data management plan templates for many of the large funding agencies that require such plans. It includes general guidance, links to helpful documentation, issues to consider, and specific questions to think about as you prepare your data management plan. Access provided through Stanford libraries.

SUL's data management services provide a range of resources to help you securely and conveniently store, access, curate, and preserve your research data. See their website to learn about available options or to schedule a consultation. Open to all graduate students. 

Want to design products and services that change the lives of the world's poorest citizens? Design for Extreme Affordability is a two-quarter, multidisciplinary, project-based course where student teams work directly with partners to devise effective yet very low-cost solutions to problems. Open to students from all Stanford schools. Officially listed as ME206a-b/OIT333-33.Enrollment is capped at 40 and is by application only. Co-sponsored by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, the Graduate School of Business and the School of Mechanical Engineering.

If you have questions about design or design thinking, this is the site for you. The d.school's Design Questions Library covers subjects from teamwork to empathy and creativity, to design speed, and can direct you towards further resources in any areas that pique your interest. 

This is an immersive introduction to design thinking for all graduate, postdoctoral and professional degree students. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to apply design thinking principles to a range of real world problems. Guest lecturers and coaches enhance the experience with training in team dynamics, storytelling, and project leadership. A full-quarter course that meets three days a week, there is limited enrollment and admission is by application only.

The d.school's Design Thinking Bootleg is a compendium of tools and method used by design thinkers, formulated into a convenient (pdf) deck of cards for you to keep around. Available in English, Spanish, and German, the deck covers the five different "modes" that are the components of design thinking: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Anyone interested in design thinking can use it for inspiration or to generate new ideas for potential ways of doing things.

Backward design is a course planning practice that encourages you to work backwards from your learning goals to create an effective and coherent syllabus. This strategy will help clarify your priorities as an instructor and make your course more valuable to students. This Teaching Commons resource can help get you started. 

What is it you really want out of the life that your Stanford education is making available to you? Have more questions than answers? Have too many ideas for your career - or not enough? Wondering how to weave together what really fits you, is doable, and will be satisfying and meaningful? Then join us for Designing the Professional. All graduate students are invited - from both technical and non-technical disciplines.

We apply the point of view and innovation principles of design thinking to the "wicked problem" of designing your life and vocation. Design thinking, innovated at Stanford over the last 50 years, is an excellent tool to use in this context.

The course will include brief readings, writing and reflections, and in-class exercises. The weeklong, half-day format gives participants an intensive experience to thoroughly grasp the concepts while having plenty of time to reflect and talk with others on how to apply it. The course is led by Dave Evans (BSME & MSME '76), a 30 year Silicon Valley entrepreneur, manager of the original Apple mouse project, and a co-founder of Electronic Arts. Dave has been teaching in this application of design thinking in the Design Program since 2007. Dave will be assisted by various class mentor visitors from academia, the marketplace, and the design program.

Note: This course was derived from the Spring quarter long course, E311B, co-created by Dave Evans and Sheri Sheppard. E311B is offered every Spring, typically Thurs 4:15-6:05, and is open all schools and departments. Instructor Dave Evans, Lecturer, Stanford Design Program, Co-Director D.Life Lab

Course Objectives

By participating in this course you will receive:

• A framework for orienting your plans and philosophy regarding career and professional life, and for locating career within life overall
• An approach to plotting a pathway to meaning-making and success as a professional
• Ideas for evaluating different career paths and multiple careers
• Practical skills and exercises for investigating alternatives and career "prototypes"
• A basic introduction to design thinking which you can apply in other areas
• A community of your peers in which to share your ideas and hear how others are thinking about these important issues and questions
• A draft plan for the first season of your professional life following Stanford

Guest Speakers

To be announced

Intended Audience

Open to all graduate students. If oversubscribed, preference given to PhD students near completion of their degree.

Whether you are instructing a foreign language course or looking to improve your own language skills, the Digital Language Lab can provide you with many valuable resources. As an instructor, you will find access to technology-enhanced teaching activities, ideas, and classroom space. As a language learner, you will find access to hundreds of resources to further your language development. 

Hume's Digital Media Consultants provide all graduate students with individual consulting to build stronger arguments in digital media. Digital Media Consultants consult on slideware (Powerpoint, Keynote, Prezi), video projects, websites and blogs, audio essays/podcasts, digital photography and research posters/flyers. They can help with concept planning and working collaboratively, analyzing and incorporating multimedia, and give you ways to enhance the persuasiveness of your digital argument.

Consultations are by appointment only, and you can sign up for a slot on via the Hume Center website.

Stanford University Libraries provides high-quality digitization services for Stanford affiliates. Whether you need something from the Stanford Library or something from another institution digitized, the Digitization Services team will help you get the job done well.

Hume's Dissertation Boot Camp will accelerate your progress on a dissertation, master's thesis, or other graduate writing assignment.  It is designed to be a space that provides minimal distraction, a writing regimen/routine, peer motivation, and access to writing consultants. It equips you with writing productivity strategies and techniques that are of use beyond grad school. Boot camps are offered in 3-4 hour writing sessions on weekdays every quarter, including the summer.

Stanford offers several programs and funding sources that support the university in achieving a diverse and successful graduate student body. As part of these diversity initiatives, the VPGE funds student-led projects that promote diversity, through the Student Projects for Intellectual Community Enhancement (SPICE), Diversity and Inclusion Innovation Funds (DIF), and Diversity Dissertation Research Opportunity (DDRO) programs. Additionally, the VPGE also offers competitive fellowships for students from diverse backgrounds. 

Stanford offers many diversity-related initiatives and a wide range of resources to support an inclusive community. The Resource Directory within the Diversity Works website allows you to easily search Stanford's many diversity-related resources.