Attending graduate school is a popular next step for those who want to further their education or their career. UIS has found that it is important to share graduate school opportunities with its’ students so they may know their options and take advantage of the many graduate programs UIS has to offer.
The UIS Graduate School Fair has a history that dates to January of 2018. It was organized by Myra Kaufman, Assistant Director of the Office of Graduate Intern Programs, and the GPSI Program staff. Myra believed that this opportunity was important and states, “The previous institution where I received my Bachelors and Masters degrees and subsequently worked for, placed a lot of emphasis on their students learning about what graduate programs they could enroll in while they’re there. I felt that UIS’ graduate programs deserved a platform to be showcased.” With knowledge and mindset, Myra and the rest of the GPSI team set out to create the first UIS Graduate School Fair, inviting all UIS Graduate Programs to put their programs on display. Myra also states, “I don’t want a single UIS undergraduate student leaving this campus without knowing what graduate opportunities exist here.” GPSI Director, Sherrie Elzinga, says that this has been her goal ever since joining UIS in 2017. The first fair was a template for the success of this event moving forward.
As the graduate fairs evolved, it has now become a combined effort, including the Office of Graduate Education, the Office of Admissions, and UIS Marketing. The next fairs were held in-person again in 2019 (pictured left) and 2020 (pictured right), but this soon changed when COVID-19 arrived. The pandemic offered a unique opportunity to continue the efforts to showcase UIS’ graduate programs and internship opportunities. Adapting to this circumstance, accommodations were made, creating the virtual graduate school week that was held twice in 2021 and now this Spring of 2022. Since then, attendance numbers have grown to the hundreds and UIS online students are able to be serviced and informed as well. These events are open to all, not just those in the UIS community. Anecdotally, during my senior year at Indiana State University, I attended one of the webinars last spring, which helped when making my decision to attend UIS. Imagine if it were hosted in-person, I would not have been able to attend, due to my studies and obligations at Indiana State. Being there, in a virtual setting, allowed me to visit both my interested graduate program and the Office of Graduate Intern Programs.
As this relates to the GPSI Program, this sort of event is important because GPSI placements depend on healthy applicant pools from a wide array of majors. Therefore, being involved in the Graduate School Week allows GPSI to share how UIS Graduate degree programs fit perfectly in our internships thus exposing more students to public service careers. Myra states, “We want students to know that there are more career opportunities to explore aside from the usual career paths and private sector.”
This Spring semester, UIS’ Graduate School Week, will occur February 7-11, 2022. So far, the webinars include:
- Monday, February 7 at 10:00 AM - School of Public Management and Policy
- Monday, February 7 at 12:00 PM - Political Science
- Tuesday, February 8 at 10:00 AM - Legal Studies
- Tuesday, February 8 at 12:00 PM - Public Affairs Reporting
- Tuesday, February 8 at 02:00 PM - Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Tuesday, February 8 at 05:30 PM - Educational Leadership
- Wednesday, February 9 at 10:00 AM - Finance
- Wednesday, February 9 at 01:00 PM - School of Public Management and Policy
- Wednesday, February 9 at 01:30 PM - Human Resource Management
- Wednesday, February 9 at 06:00 PM - Environmental Studies
- Thursday, February 10 at 11:00 AM - Funding Your Graduate Degree at UIS (GPSI)
- Thursday, February 10 at 03:00 PM - History
- Friday, February 11 at 02:00 PM - Computer Science & Data Analytics
Register using the following link: https://www.uis.edu/grad-week.
*All times in CST Time zone
If you are interested or undecided about graduate school, we encourage you to attend one or more of these webinars. Additionally, UIS Admission is currently waiving application fees which makes now a great time to apply!
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Jocelyn Fluker has an Honors Bachelors degree of Science in Psychology from Indiana State University, and is pursuing her Master’s in Human Development Counseling at UIS. Jocelyn also serves as a Graduate Public Service Intern (GPSI) for the Office of Graduate Intern Programs, serving as the Social Innovation Intern.
