Notre Dame establishes Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
To ensure that postdoctoral scholars in the early stages of their careers receive necessary resources, training, mentoring and comprehensive professional development support, the University of Notre Dame is forming an Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. The newly formed office will be administered through the Graduate School and is slated to open July 1.
Postdoctoral scholars are researchers who have received their Ph.D.s and who are undertaking additional training before assuming their professional careers, be it in the academy, industry, government or nonprofit setting. There currently are 271 postdoctoral scholars at Notre Dame.
Building on a foundation put in place by Notre Dame Research — which formerly managed the appointments of postdoctoral scholars — the new office will consolidate services and provide additional professional development training and resources that will allow postdocs to flourish both at Notre Dame and beyond in their careers.
“The fact that the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs will report through the Graduate School signals Notre Dame’s recognition that postdoctoral appointments are developmental positions for scholars preparing for the next stage in their careers,” said Christine Maziar, acting dean of the Graduate School.
Primary functions of the office will include:
- Serving as a central location for providing services aimed at postdoctoral scholars’ needs.
- Developing a postdoc professional development program in partnership with the Graduate School Professional Development program that is focused on research, teaching, career and professional ethics.
- Building a strong and interactive postdoctoral community through orientation, information sessions, workshops and social events.
- Providing assistance to faculty with recruiting and hiring postdocs.
- Providing oversight of postdoctoral appointment procedures and policies.
- Serving as a resource for visa issues involving postdocs.
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on May 14, 2013.