Eric Juarez was already planning for a career in higher education policy, so when P&N began analyzing its graduate program, he knew it was a perfect fit.
This semester, the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience will complete a year-long assessment of its graduate training program.
With particular focus on curriculum requirements, how it determines funding awards in its admissions process, and ways to increase underrepresented student applications and enrollment, the department is evaluating changes that will add greater value to the program.
“We have a very strong graduate program, but we think we can make it even stronger,” said Professor and department Chair Elizabeth Marsh.
As a Psychology & Neuroscience graduate student Eric Juarez has played a pivotal role in the process as a Reimagining Doctoral Education (RiDE) Fellow, a program launched by the Office of the Provost in 2019 to help strengthen the Ph.D. experience at Duke.
Juarez has drawn on data from peer institutions and the graduate student community for ideas to help department leadership make final decisions.
“Eric has been amazing, doing lots of research on peer schools and designing and running Qualtrics surveys of our students. Hopefully we’ll have something exciting to communicate by the time the process is done,” Marsh shared.
"The opportunity to work closely with department leadership on strategic questions during graduate school has shaped my career trajectory."
The department’s RiDE fellowship position was circulated among the Psychology & Neuroscience Ph.D. students as an opportunity for someone interested in learning about institutional data and decision making, and as good preparation for non-faculty career paths in academia. The description aligned with Juarez’s career interests, so he decided to apply.
“I have been on the job market both inside and outside the academy with a focus on developing skills that will help me as a future leader in higher education administration and policy,” Juarez said. “The RiDE Fellowship helped me learn about how strategic curricular decisions are made and the role of faculty governance at Duke.”
Juarez — who was named a finalist for the Presidential Management Fellowship, a pathways program into the federal civil service — has accepted a position through the Consortium for Faculty Diversity as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Education at Mount Holyoke College.
“The opportunity to work closely with department leadership on strategic questions during graduate school has shaped my career trajectory,” he said.