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Home » Professional Development » Competencies Road Map

Competencies Road Map

Develop your six core competencies to enhance personal and professional success

Competencies Road Map

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Enhance your career preparedness with the Competencies Road Map

Use this Road Map as a framework to develop your six core competencies in three areas identified to enhance personal and professional success. The systematic approach helps you progress and build up your competencies using CSU resources for training open to all resident graduate students. Many of the linked resources are also available to online graduate students and postdoctoral associates. We particularly recommend engaging in our Graduate Professional Development Series for graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Please check your department, college, the Graduate Student Council, and professional organizations for additional resources and opportunities to develop your competencies.

Start by engaging in one activity listed for each core competence to see what is most relevant and helpful to you.  You may then decide to pursue further core competence opportunities or additional competencies.

The six competencies are depicted as stops on a road map.

Immediate Use

You are likely already using these skills on a day to day basis. Enhancing your abilities in these three competencies will immediately strengthen your efforts and contribute to your future success. Click on the buttons for opportunities to develop at CSU:

1. Personal Development
2. Work Management
3. Diversity & Inclusion

Foundation Building

These competencies are foundational for any career path. Click on the buttons to find ways to develop:

4. Communication
5. Teamwork

Future Preparation

A graduate degree pairs with strong leadership skills to have a meaningful and impactful career. To prepare for your future, you should also visit the Career Center and conduct job searches. Click on the buttons below for opportunities to build skills that may apply to your career goals:

6. Leadership
Complementary Competencies

Core Competencies 

The Graduate Professional Development Series has many sessions to help build your competencies. Find descriptions of competencies below, with lists of relevant CSU opportunities.

1. Personal Development Competence includes wellness and preventive mental health care, finances, and work-life balance.

To start on your Personal Development, download this Competencies Road Map reminder. Resources to get started on Personal Development include:

  • Financial Planning
  • Graduate Assistant Finances 101
  • Wellness Planning

More important ways to develop in this competence include:

  • Medical and Counseling Resources
  • You@CSU from the Health Network
  • Community Resources for Parents
  • Student Parent Services

2. Work Management Competence includes making a plan and effectively managing your resources, including time.

Find tools at:

  • Ram Individual Development Plan
  • You@CSU goal setting tool 
  • Nonprofit Administration Online Certificate
  • CSU Writes groups and workshops

3. Diversity & Inclusion Competence requires active engagement effort.

Further develop with:

  • Graduate Center for Inclusive Mentoring 
  • Inclusive Pedagogy from The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT)
  • Equity Toolkit from the Colorado Department of Higher Education
  • LGBTQIA Safe Zone Training
  • Educate Yourself — offerings from the Office of Inclusive Excellence
  • Research Mentoring to Advance Inclusivity in STEM
  • Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Module
Text with colorful frame

4. Communication Competence includes developing informative and persuasive communication, communication to the public, technical presentation, and technical writing.

Engage with the Graduate Student Showcase, our premier interdisciplinary event to highlight graduate student work from all eight colleges across campus. Resources to build this competence also include:

  • CSU Writes groups and workshops
  • Demo Day event with CSU Ventures
  • Toastmasters Club
  • CSU Speaks Event (usually in Spring, watch the Graduate Student Council website for information)
  • Travel Awards for professional presentations
  • Online National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
  • Center for Science Communication
  • Science in Action group
  • Science on Tap events
  • GRAD 550 STEM Communication Course: Resident and Online
  • BIOM 750 Grant Proposal Writing and Reviewing Course
  • Online GRAD 530 Introduction to Graduate Research and GRAD 540 Graduate Research Communication
  • Follow institutional calendars, including the Graduate School and CSU event calendars
  • Use your @Colostate email address to communicate professionally

5. Teamwork Competence includes networking and working collaboratively to building your mentoring contacts.

Ways to grow include:

  • Engage with the Graduate Center for Inclusive Mentoring
  • Follow the Graduate School on LinkedIn and connect with CSU alumni
  • Travel Awards for professional meetings and networking events

6. Leadership Competence includes opportunities to develop personal traits in a relevant environment.

Here are some ways you can develop leadership skills and get involved as a community leader:

  • CSU Ventures Ambassadors
  • Sustainability Leadership Fellows
  • Straayer Center for Public Service Leadership
  • Vice President for Research Fellows
  • CSU Extension Internship
  • Graduate Student Council
  • CSU Postdoc Association
  • Graduate Women in Science
  • Science in Action group

Complementary Competencies 

Entrepreneurship Competence includes research and development along with technology commercialization:

  • Institute for Entrepreneurship
  • CSU Ventures

STEM Research Competence includes research ethics; compliance, governance, and risk; engagement, translation, and outreach; research and development; data science; philosophy of science:

  • Data & Donuts Sessions
  • Coding & Cookies Sessions
  • 2-credit Data Science Courses
  • Responsible Conduct of Research Training
  • PHIL666/CM666 Science and Ethics Course
  • CSU Extension Internship

Teaching & Mentoring Competence includes mentoring, pedagogy, and inclusivity best-practices:

  • Graduate Center for Inclusive Mentoring
  • The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT):
    • New Graduate Teaching Assistant Training
    • Graduate Teaching Certificate
    • Inclusive Pedagogy
  • Facilitating Adult Learning Certificate (also available online)

Applying Policy Competence means understanding issues in your specialization and how your work impacts decision-making:

  • Straayer Center for Public Service Leadership
  • Science in Action group
  • School of Global Environmental Sustainability

Additional Resources

Graduate students and postdocs can face a number of different types of challenges and crises. Here we provide links that graduate students and postdocs have found helpful. If you do not find what you need here, please contact the Graduate School at gradschool@colostate.edu, and we will try to point you towards the resources you need to succeed.

  • Public Assistance and Community Resources for food insecurity, housing insecurity, resources for parents
  • Off-Campus Life has housing and commuting resources
  • Student Legal Services provides consultations on most legal concerns, notarization, and estate planning with reduced fees for graduate students
  • International Student & Scholar Services give support to international students
  • Adult Learner and Veteran Services has resources for veterans, resources for parents, peer mentoring for adult learners
  • Student Case Management provides assistance to students in difficult situations to help navigate resources and services available
  • Student Resolution Center gives confidential support to students navigating disputes, procedural challenges, and interpersonal conflict
  • Inclusive Campus highlights inclusive physical and virtual features, including physical accessibility, all gender restrooms, technology, lactation rooms, reflection spaces, signage, and transportation. 
  • CARE program hosts useful information for employees, with some relevant childcare resources for graduate students

Emergency Hardship Support

  • RamAid is available to any graduate student with an emergency hardship not due to a COVID-19. If you are an international or undocumented graduate student not supported on a graduate assistantship, RamAid may also be available to support emergency hardships due to COVID-19. Contact the Office of Financial Aid at FinancialAid@colostate.edu
  • Graduate assistants who are not US citizens may apply for emergency funds through CSU Cares. CSU Cares was created during the 2012 High Park Fire and has provided support to CSU community members through fires, floods, and other natural disasters. Money may be available for employees who have suffered a financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling to meet expenses. Award amounts vary depending on fund availability and need but may not exceed $2,000. Eligible beneficiaries must be CSU full- or part-time regular employees (not temporary or temporary hourly), including post-doctoral candidates, at the University who have been personally impacted by a disaster covered by CSU Cares. Graduate assistants who are not eligible for student relief funding from other sources may be eligible for CSU Cares, as determined by the Awards Committee. If you are a CSU employee in need, submit an application at https://commitmenttocampus.colostate.edu/rams-for-rams/
  • Rams Against Hunger offers emergency food relief for Colorado State University degree-seeking graduate and undergraduate students experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity broadly defined is “the state of being without reliable access to sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.” Indicators of food insecurity include skipping meals due to lack of financial resources, cutting the size of meals due to lack of financial resources, experiencing hunger but not eating, the inability to afford balanced meals, and/or running out of food at the end of a pay period. Students experiencing trouble reliably accessing sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food should visit lsc.colostate.edu/slice/slice-engagement/rams-against-hunger/
  • Students needing academic financial support or experiencing housing insecurity, please reach out. General inquiries should go to financialaid@colostate.edu, including questions about CSU bills and requests for technology support (e.g. laptop purchase). Students should include their name, CSUID, and a brief statement of their circumstances and need.
  • Public Assistance and Community Resources for food insecurity, housing insecurity, resources for parents

Attend the Graduate Professional Development Series to further develop key skills and competencies. Find the schedule here. Opportunities often include:

  • How to build your CV or resume
  • Interview with purpose
  • Use internships for exploration

The Career Center has a lot to offer graduate students:

  • 1:1 career advising services are open to all CSU students, including graduate students. This can take the form of a drop-in or a scheduled appointment for a deeper dive with a career educator. Many career educators have a specialization within a college.
  • An online Resource Center with resources that are specific to graduate students
  • Career Competencies
  • Career Center Event Calendar 

More on Professional Development Competencies and References:

  • Professional Development Institute
  • Council of Graduate Schools Professional Development
  • Career Readiness Defined

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