Project upGRADS Certificate

Description of and requirements to earn this certificate listed below

Spring 2025 Offerings

Supporting Graduate Students' Mental Health
Facilitated by Dr. Adrian A. Rodriguez

• February 5 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)
• February 13 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)

This workshop explores how faculty can support graduate students' mental health by considering intersectionality, resilience, discrimination, microaggressions, and imposter syndrome. Attendees will develop strategies to broach mental health topics, cultivate empowering academic environments, and promote a culture of well-being and cultural responsiveness in their departments.

The Nuts and Bolts of Mentoring Graduate Students: Building Relationships, Setting Goals, and Creating Success
Facilitated by Dr. Matt Englar-Carlson

• February 7 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)

Effective mentoring of graduate students of color is not mentoring as usual. It requires culturally responsive attention to the multiple identities and lived experiences of the mentee. This workshop explores evidence-based mentoring practices that focus on nurturing the relationship between mentor and mentee. Cultivating belonging, addressing overcoming barriers in higher education, and setting reasonable and reachable goals are the building blocks of graduate student success. Attendees will reflect upon their mentoring style, develop practical strategies for communicating with mentees, and gain an understanding of realistic ways to be an effective mentor.

Funding Their Futures: Strategies for Faculty  to Support Graduate Student Success
Facilitated by Dr. Matt Englar-Carlson

• February 12 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)

This workshop equips faculty with actionable strategies to connect students with scholarships, funding, and travel opportunities—both on campus and beyond. Learn how to identify hidden pockets of support, guide students through the application process, and empower first-generation and underrepresented graduate students to leverage their cultural strengths and talents. You’ll leave with practical tools, fresh ideas, and a roadmap to foster graduate student success in a resourceful and impactful way.

The Resilient Faculty: Thriving Without the Superhero Cape
Facilitated by Dr. Jason Branch

• February 21 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom) - OR -
• February 27 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)

Are you wearing the superhero cape but running on empty? This workshop is designed to help faculty prioritize their own well-being while continuing to support their students effectively. Explore practical self-care strategies and learn how to build healthy systems, routines, and boundaries with graduate students. Leave with actionable tools and fresh ideas to foster resilience and sustainability in your academic life.

Reflective Thinking in Intercultural Contexts: Applying Communication Theories to Support Graduate Students of Color
Facilitated by Dr. Erika Thomas

• February 26 | 11:30am - 12:30pm (Zoom) - OR -
• March 13 | 3:00pm - 4:00pm (Zoom)

This workshop discusses communicative theories and their application to better understand the identities of your students and the ways power differences are implicitly and explicitly conveyed in everyday interactions. It presents techniques for processing and conflict resolution strategies in intercultural exchanges.

Humanizing Graduate Students: Pragmatic Practices, Generative Dialogue, and Cultivating Peer Relations
Taught by Dr. Sarah Grant, Department of Anthropology

• March 4 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)
• April 21 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom)

This discussion-oriented workshop emphasizes humanizing the graduate students we recruit, admit, celebrate, advise, and mentor while also recognizing the ethical obligation to guide them to completion and prepare them for a post-graduate future. Focusing on historically underrepresented and post-traditional graduate students, this session explores supporting our students in the classroom. It shares pragmatic techniques for cultivating graduate student peer relations that foster well-being and a thriving community while working toward degree completion.

Supporting First-Generation Students Using Community-Building Strategies
Facilitated by Dr. Edson Andrade

• March 10 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Zoom) - OR -
• March 19 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm (Zoom)

Establishing a sense of belonging can be challenging for first-generation college students, whose identities and cultures are often not represented in higher education. This workshop shares community building as a vital strategy for nurturing students’ success and belonging.

Workshop Flyer

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Certificate Description and Requirements

This certificate focuses specifically on strengthening faculty abilities to support Black and Hispanic graduate students and build students’ sense of belonging with culturally sensitive advising and the fundamentals of mentorship. This certificate requires the completion of three different workshops from the series.

CSUF's Project upGRADS is a grant funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education's HSI Title V program.

Dr. Katherine Powers, Principal Investigator | Dr. Volker Janssen, Project Director, vjanssen@fullerton.edu | Angelly Barroso, Advising Coordinator, angbarroso@fullerton.edu | Stephanie Vega, Program Manager, sevega@fullerton.edu.

Certificate Completers