Highlights for the Global Studies Graduate Group
by Ali Alsmadi
Through a screen or behind a mask, the year 2021 marks intensive Global efforts to cope with a global pandemic and bring back education and learning to be effective and successful. Our Global Studies Graduate Group thrived, featuring virtually or in-person events and workshops that tackled global issues and promoted a better education. In the spring, we produced a graduate student's panel, "Pandemic! Pivoting to Digital/Virtual Research," which featured Meg Morley (Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology), Samuel Victor (Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology), and Laila Rajani (a Research Consultant) who shared their experiences on shifting research plans to include digital methods with an emphasis on globally scoped research. In order to enhance the skills of our graduate students, in March, we conducted a workshop that taught students how to design surveys.
For the fall, we collaborated with IU librarians Alyssa Denneler and Anna Marie Johnson and produced an in-person workshop that taught graduate students how to use citation management programs EndNote and Zotero. In Addition, for the entirety of the fall semester, we ran an in-person Global Studies Graduate Writing Group that featured twelve graduate students from various disciplines discussing the issues and struggles they face in writing and offering practical strategies to progress in their dissertations and research projects. For the upcoming spring, we have a list of exciting in-person and virtual events and workshops which will focus on tackling global issues of learning and research and enhance graduate students' skills.
