The Graduate College's Career Exploration Fellowship Program connects doctoral students with administrative units within the university for substantive, mentored work experiences.
The main goal of the program is to enable doctoral students to gain experience and build skills beyond traditional research and teaching roles, aligning their professional development to a wider range of career aspirations. Graduate students develop a number of vital, transferrable skills through their work in research and teaching at the university, but students often tell us that they wish they also had the opportunity to get hands-on experience in other kinds of work. Such experience gives graduate students the chance to develop new skills, explore unfamiliar career options, and market themselves more effectively to employers when they graduate. You can read more about the experience of being a Career Exploration Fellow in this GradLIFE blog by a Fall 2023 Fellow.
How the Program Works
As a Career Exploration Fellow, selected students will receive the following:
- A 25% graduate assistantship at a campus unit. See host units below.
- A $5,000 Career Exploration Fellowship from the Graduate College, which will generate a tuition waiver for the semester.
- Professional and career development activities facilitated by the Graduate College.
The student's tasks and responsibilities as part of the assistantship will be determined by the host unit (in consultation with the student), and the host unit will provide mentoring and targeted professional development opportunities. In addition to their work with the host unit, the student are required to participate in a twice-monthly career exploration seminar, during which they will reflect on their work and engage in career development activities.
Spring 2026 Host Units
We are pleased to announce the lineup of Spring 2026 Career Exploration Fellowship hosts! Each of these units will host at least one Fellow for the duration of the Spring 2026 semester. Read more about the units and the work a Career Exploration Fellow might do for them below.
Note: additional hosts may be added during the application process. Check back often for more information.
The Career Center
The Career Center exists to empower career choice and action. We coach and support Illinois undergraduate and graduate students as they explore their major and career options, gain experience, build lifelong career management skills, and apply to internships, jobs, and graduate/professional school. The Career Center will have two positions for Spring 2026.
Career Drop-In Advising and Training Development
The graduate fellow will receive training to provide career support to undergraduate and graduate students who utilize our Career Drop-in Advising. During Career Drop-in Advising, students meet with a staff member for 10-15 minutes to discuss quick career-related questions related to searching for jobs, editing a resume, CV, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile, picking a career path, interviewing tips, considering job offers, negotiating salary, and almost anything else career-related! This fellow will also assist in the creation of paraprofessional training materials to support our 80+ student paraprofessionals across our various teams. Learn more about our teams here.
FOCUS Assessment
The graduate fellow will support the assessment and program evaluation efforts for the FOCUS program, a career development program for first generation college students. Potential duties may include survey development, facilitation of individual interviews or focus groups, data analysis, documentation of findings and presenting findings to various stakeholders. The fellow will contribute to research, data visualization, and program evaluation to enhance our understanding of student career outcomes and service effectiveness. Click here to learn more about the FOCUS program.
Carle G. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB)
The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology is an interdisciplinary research unit that unifies genomics-related work across campus, addressing societal grand challenges through team science. IGB researchers come from many different disciplines, including biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, social sciences, engineering, crop science, and many others, and are brought together by a shared interest in how an understanding of living things can help us make the world a better place. Because of the broad potential impacts of basic and applied genomic research, the IGB has a strong focus on science communication and outreach activities. Our team and institute include members from a wide array of academic backgrounds, and we enjoy discovering how each person's strengths and interests can be incorporated into what we do. Depending on their interests, the Career Development Fellow will have opportunities to work within administrative groups dedicated to external relations, strategic partnerships, communications and outreach, with opportunities for fellow-led writing and activity design projects
Content and Educational Portfolio Strategy - Gies College of Business (CEPS)
The Content and Educational Portfolio Strategy (CEPS) unit at Gies College of Business supports the management of a wide portfolio of educational offerings, from non-credit MOOCs to full degree programs (undergraduate and graduate, residential and online). Our work spans minors, certificates, bachelor’s, and master’s programs, and requires collaboration across administrators, academic departments, program offices, admissions, IT, marketing, and learner success teams. CEPS work advances Gies College of Business’ mission to expand access to high-quality, career-aligned business education. The Career Exploration Fellow will gain hands-on experience in curriculum strategy, program development, and educational research. Fellows may conduct labor market and industry analyses, evaluate peer and competitor offerings, draft reports, review course descriptions and learning outcomes, and support the design or redevelopment of courses and curriculum. This role may interest those pursuing careers in higher education administration, curriculum and instructional design, program management, education policy and strategy, or learning innovation.
Office of Inclusive Excellence, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
As a Career Exploration Fellow in the LAS Office for Inclusive Excellence, you will be crucial in advancing the college’s commitment to fostering an inclusive environment. Your responsibilities will include collaborating with the LAS Inclusive Excellence team to develop and implement projects and events that promote inclusive excellence. Essential duties may involve researching best practices, assisting in the planning and execution of diversity-related programs and initiatives, developing communication materials and strategy, and engaging with various campus community partners. You’ll have the opportunity to contribute to creating educational materials, workshops, and awareness campaigns. Furthermore, as a career exploration fellow, you will be expected to actively participate in meetings, workshops, and training sessions provided by the LAS Inclusive Excellence office. In summary, you will foster a culture that values and celebrates diversity, promotes equity, and ensures an inclusive environment for all campus community members.
Office of Research, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
The LAS/OR champions research across more than 60+ diverse disciplines represented in the CLAS. Our mission is to foster both disciplinary and collaborative interdisciplinary research tackling local, regional, and global challenges. As a Career Exploration Fellow in the Office of Research, you will join a team committed to advancing LAS research through the strategic management of resources, research infrastructure, and programmatic support. As a Fellow, you will engage with staff across the College (MarCom, Advancement, Public Engagement) to gain insight into their roles, understand how our teams work together to facilitate and celebrate LAS research, and explore diverse career trajectories. You will also attend meetings and help plan events, such as the Research Resource forums, which provide researchers with professional development tools to help them navigate institutional policies, funding-agency requirements, and develop their collaborative networks. The LAS/OR engages with a wide range of offices and researchers, and this gives us the ability to tailor the fellowship to your interests. So, if you think you might enjoy engaging with researchers in the humanities, social sciences, life, physical, and mathematical sciences, who take diverse approaches to addressing grand challenges, all while dipping your toes into the world of research development, join our team as a Fellow this year!
If you work at a unit on campus and are interested in hosting a Career Exploration Fellow in Spring 2026 or later, please contact us at gradsuccess@illinois.edu.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be enrolled in good standing in a PhD, DMA, EdD, or AudD program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
- Applicants must be graduating May 2026 or after.
- During Spring 2026, Career Exploration Fellows may not hold more than a 25% appointment (or equivalent) in addition to their hourly position and Fellowship. Any additional employment must be confirmed in advance by the Graduate College. The number of hours a Fellow can work at their host site may be impacted by visa status.
- At the finalist phase, applicants must confirm their participation with their advisor or Director of Graduate Studies before they can be selected.
- Career Exploration Fellowship activities typically happen primarily in-person, on campus. (If you will be working remotely during Spring 2026, you are still eligible to apply though host units may consider that when making their decisions. If you will need to work remotely, please indicate it in your response to Question 21 of the application.)
- Career Exploration Fellows must commit to attending eight to ten 90-minute professional development sessions hosted by the Graduate College Career Development office throughout the Spring semester.
Application
Applications consist of the following items:
- A completed application form
- A professional resume (see this handout for more information about resumes, and consider making a career advising appointment to work on yours)
- Fellowship Application Statements (no more than 500 words each)
- Statement 1: How do you feel participating in the Career Exploration Fellowship will contribute to your career and professional development? How could it help you clarify or pursue your goals?
- Statement 2: A key part of the Career Exploration Fellowship is a collaborative professional development seminar, during which participants share with and learn from one another. In this response, 1) describe your commitment to diversity and inclusion in the academic, professional, or civic realm through your work experience, volunteer engagement, or leadership of student or community organizations, and 2) discuss how that commitment will help you contribute to the intellectual and collaborative community of the Fellowship.
- Host Site Selection Statements
- Rank your top 3 host sites
- Statement 1: Indicate why are you interested in the host sites you ranked (3-4 sentences per site)
- Statement 2: What are some of the key skills, experiences, or perspectives that you would bring to your host site? What strengths have helped you succeed in previous academic or professional experiences? (300 words max)
- Statement 3: What are some skills you would like to develop or refine during your work with a host site? (300 words max)
In order to provide more comprehensive answers to these questions, we encourage you to to use tools that can help you reflect on your career goals. Consider engaging with individual development plans (like myIDP or ImaginePhD) or self-assessments (like our skills worksheet and values worksheet).
The deadline to apply for the Spring Career Exploration Fellowship is 11:59 p.m. Central on Sunday, October 26.
Questions?
Contact us at gradsuccess@illinois.edu.