2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper describes efforts to build and refine a professional development program for engineering graduate students at Michigan State University (MSU). Cohorts of Engineering Graduate Leadership Fellows are selected annually to participate in a leadership development program that includes both individual and small group mentoring by faculty and administrators, as well as peer-mentoring by past program participants. Each Fellow develops an individual project that contributes to the success and well-being of our graduate student community. Recent examples range from coordinating a series of “Lunch & Learn” seminars and assisting with the annual Graduate Research Symposium to organizing social activities and developing newsletter content.

In its first five years, the MSU Engineering Graduate Leadership Fellows program has evolved substantially and adapted to challenges like the global pandemic and shifts in graduate students’ priorities and needs. Initially, the program had a “top down” structure, with project areas defined by the College of Engineering and Fellows selected to work on specific tasks. Over the years, we have evolved to a more student-directed approach, where current Fellows help to recruit and train new cohorts and students propose and develop their own projects with support from their mentors and peers. We offer lessons learned, feedback from past and current Fellows, and practical suggestions for other graduate programs interested in adapting this type of professional development experience for their own campuses.