Identify the issue: Stakeholders

Learn who else besides you has a stake in your completion of graduate school, and how they affect your opportunities and progress through the program.

“We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.” — George Bernard Shaw

Stakeholders in your graduate education include anyone who plays a role in and/or is affected by your progress in graduate school. 

Stakeholders may also include your:

• Dependents (e.g., children, aging parents, partner)
• Financial Supports (e.g., boss, financial aid providers, parents, partner)
• Moral Supports (e.g., friends, partner, family, cohort, co-workers, religious community)

Some stakeholders will play a more central role than others in your professional development and/or in your personal life. It is impossible to meet the needs of everyone involved in your graduate education, so it is important to clarify the key players.

Of course, you are the No. 1 stakeholder in your graduate education. If you don’t put your own needs first, no one else will. See the CareerWISE module Setting Priorities to learn tips on prioritizing your needs with respect to different stakeholders.

Bernstein, B. L., Evans, B., Fyffe, J., Halai, N., Hall, F. L., Jensen, H. S., Marsh, H., & Ortega, S.  (2014).  The continuing evolution of the research doctorate. In M. Nerad & B. Evans (Eds.).  Globalization and Its Impacts on the Quality of PhD Education: Forces and Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide.   Rotterdam, Netherlands: Springer.

Bixenmann, R., Natalizio, B. J., Hussain, Y., & Fuhrmann, C. N. (2020). Enhancing dissemination of evidence-based models for STEM PhD career development; a Stakeholder Workshop Report. https://doi.org/10.13028/79a5-ym66

Bridgstock, R. (2009). The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: enhancing graduate employability through career management skills. HE Research and Development, 28(1), 31- 44. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360802444347 

Jackson, D. (2016). Re-conceptualising graduate employability: The importance of pre-professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(5), 925-939.  https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1139551 

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018. Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25038. 

Pool, L. D. (2017). Developing graduate employability: The CareerEDGE Model and the importance of emotional intelligence. In Graduate employability in context (pp. 317-338). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Small, L., Shacklock, K., & Marchant, T. (2018). Employability: a contemporary review for higher education stakeholders. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 70(1), 148-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2017.1394355

Separate Advisors and Mentors
The importance of having a variety of mentors throughout your graduate experience.

Advisor Issues
How a positive advisor challenged his students to think for themselves.

Special Characteristics of Your Advisor and Struggling with Life Balance Issues
Advisor’s experiences encourage well-informed career decisions.

Give Yourself Credit
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately giving yourself recognition for your successes.

Hearing from Students and Having an Impact
The importance of giving back to students and making an impact in their future education and career choices.

Developing a Scientific Identity in an Advisor’s Shadow
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influential advisor.

Trade Offs and Choices
The tradeoffs and choices of graduate life.

Stubbornness and Tenacity
Highlights the obstacles faced when trying to have research reviewed by the advisor and emphasizes the steps necessary to make adequate progress in the program.