Launched in May 2019, the Task Force on PhD Competencies was charged with identifying a set of core competencies that will help the BU respond to the shifting nature of the PhD job market and allow the University to define the skills it expect its students to develop. The central goal of the task force was to outline a set of the general, non-discipline specific competencies that Boston University would like all of its PhD recipients to have. The task force completed its work in April 2020. View the final report and recommendations.

Chair

Sarah Hokanson

Assistant Provost for Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs


Members

Hee-Young Park

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs; Professor and Chair of Medical Sciences & Education, School of Medicine

Irit Kleiman

Associate Professor of French, College of Arts & Sciences

Kathleen Corriveau

Associate Professor of Applied Human Development, Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Taylor Chase Boas

Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Arts & Sciences

Jessica Tytell

Director of Industry Engagement, Office of Research


Background

Historically, PhD programs have been designed to enable students to generate new knowledge and to prepare them for traditional careers in academia. However, the landscape for academic positions has changed substantially in recent decades, and we know both from national and our own data that not all PhD students stay in the academy.

Indeed, many PhD recipients seek careers outside of higher education. For our PhD to remain competitive, we need to prepare students for the full range of career pathways. In this context, there is increasing recognition that our students should leave graduate school with a set of core competencies that will serve as a crucial professional foundation for them whether they seek academic or non-academic careers.


Goals

  • Conduct a review of peer institutions to understand current practices for defining PhD competencies.
  • Review the literature on PhD core competencies.
  • Review the learning outcomes across PhD programs at BU to align language and goals related to transferable skills.
  • Consult with PhD programs across Schools and Colleges to identify core competencies with broad professional application.
  • Develop a set of PhD competencies of all BU PhD students.
  • Outline a strategy for communicating the recommended set of competencies to students, deans, faculty, and other stakeholders.
  • Identify learning opportunities for PhD students to develop PhD competencies outside of their academic programs.
  • Make recommendations for how best to assess the quality with which students are attaining these competencies.

Member Resources

Committee members can access information and documents here.