image

The “Academy” is a student-led organization comprising ASDL’s PhD students. Its purpose is to to support students’ academic development and in doing so to contribute to ASDL’s overall academic mission. The Academy fulfills its mission by:

  1. Promoting standards of academic excellence and integrity
  2. Providing forums for academic dialogue, discussion, and knowledge building among peers
  3. Encouraging honest, constructive discussion and criticism of ideas among peers
  4. Creating and disseminating a variety of resources that support students in their academic endeavors

The Academy’s activities are organized by a board of senior PhD students.

Mentoring

The Academy organizes a mentoring program in which incoming students are paired with senior PhD students who can act as mentors. Mentors meet weekly with the new students to help them adjust to life in grad school.

Peer Support Groups

The Academy organizes several “support groups” to help ASDL students connect with each other in their academic pursuits. These offer students a chance to share their ideas and get informal feedback and support. The groups include:

  • Presentation Review Sessions
    • Students who have upcoming presentations can practice their presentation in front of a group of peers and receive suggestions for improvement
  • Pre-Proposals and Pre-Defenses
    • A more in-depth review of these important presentations help PhD students fine tune their presentation before the big day
  • Post-Proposal and Post-Defense Discussions
    • After each PhD proposal and defense presentation, the student members of the audience are invited to a group discussion to critique the ideas that were presented
  • Dissertation Writing Support Group
    • A forum for students who are writing their dissertations to share ideas, ask for suggestions, and review each other’s writing
  • Conference and Journal Paper Writing Support Group
    • A forum for students who are writing conference and journal papers to share ideas, ask for suggestions, and review each other’s writing