Welcome to the Resource Fair for New Graduate Students in Online Programs!
Use this page to explore campus resources, UW–Madison offices, and community organizations that support online graduate student success at UW–Madison. You can read about each of the services below, watch short videos that some of the organizations prepared especially for online graduate students, and click on the resource or organization’s name to learn more.
If you have trouble viewing any of the videos on this page, you can access them in a playlist on Kaltura MediaSpace.
Professional and Career Development
Graduate School Office of Professional Development
When you participate in professional development, you build skills needed to succeed academically and thrive in your career. Each semester the Graduate School, together with campus partners, hosts nearly 400 professional development events, which can be found through DiscoverPD and our events calendar. The Individual Development Plan (IDP) helps you reflect, plan, and discuss in order to achieve your academic and professional goals.
Beyond Graduate School
Beyond Graduate School is a one-of-a-kind online career training platform for master’s students. The platform provides on-demand, self-paced learning modules that allow master’s students to explore career options and learn proven job search strategies to secure employment after graduation. Beyond Grad School also hosts a unique video library where students can hear from master’s degree holders working in all career sectors.
Beyond Graduate School benefits master’s students by:
• supporting career exploration and building job search skills.
• providing proven job search strategies so students can leverage their education into professional careers of their choice.
• providing accessible, well-curated resources for busy master’s students.
• complementing existing on-campus graduate student career supports.
• offering recorded seminars, workbooks, and a one-of-a-kind informational interview library where students can learn from other master’s degree holders.
To log in, visit Beyond Graduate School, select University of Wisconsin-Madison, and enter your institutional login information.
Handshake
With Handshake you can:
• Browse and register for career events
• Explore thousands of jobs and internships from over 300K employers nationwide
• Get personalized job recommendations based on your degree program, interests, and more
• Manage your own campus interviews with top employers
Join UW on Handshake! Here are the steps to get started:
1. Read the Student Terms of Use
2. Go to MyUW
3. Add the Handshake app to your homepage
4. Launch to the app and start exploring!
Campus has preloaded your profile to get you started. Please note that your profile’s default setting is set to “hidden.” Employers, alumni, and students won’t be able to see anything until you choose to unhide it.
Big Interview
Big Interview helps students to learn, practice, and improve their interviewing skills, whether it’s in the job search process or negotiations. This online platform combines training and practice to help you improve your interview technique and build confidence.
Big Interview offers a variety of tools and resources, including:
• A curriculum covering the entire job search process, interviewing, and negotiations
• Mock interview practice
• Industry- and competency-specific interview question sets
• Help creating a resume
To log in, go directly to Big Interview or add the Big Interview tile to your MyUW portal.
Mental Health Resources
These online, on-demand tools are available to all online graduate students at UW–Madison regardless of your program of enrollment, thanks to support from University Health Services’ Mental Health Services.
24-hour Crisis Services
If you’re thinking about suicide, or if you’re concerned for the well-being of someone you know, call UHS at 608-265-5600 (option 9) to speak with an on-call crisis counselor who will help address your most pressing concerns, assess your safety, and connect you with follow-up service needs.
Togetherall
This clinically moderated, online peer-to-peer mental health community reaches and empowers a diverse population of students to anonymously seek and provide support by sharing their experiences in a safe virtual space. Sign up with Togetherall to access 24/7 peer support.
Uwill
Every UW–Madison student has access to three 30-minute sessions with a Uwill counselor by registering for an account with their @wisc.edu email address. Students can get in quickly to see a counselor, with appointments typically available within 24 hours.
Suicide Prevention Training
This training aims to provide students with information, guidance, and resources to support their peers. Enroll in the Suicide Prevention Training: Recognize, Respond, Refer course on Canvas.
Let’s Talk
Let’s Talk can help you gain insight, support, and information about other resources. Common concerns include: stress, sadness, worry, relationships, academics, family problems, and financial struggles. The 20-25 minute-sessions are first come, first served.
Connecting Badgers podcast
Subscribe and listen to the Connecting Badgers podcast. The University Health Services podcast focuses on mental health topics.
Campus and Community Organizations
Center for High Throughput Computing
The Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) serves as UW–Madison's core research computing center, with access to large-scale computing systems and dedicated staff who proactively work with researchers to help them scale their work beyond-the-desktop. Compute systems operated by CHTC are suitable for tasks from analyzing numerous pieces of data, to performing large/long simulations (including MPI-enabled applications), to machine learning and GPU-dependent work. Whether your computational work takes too long, crashes your computer, or requires more data than you can work with on your current system, CHTC’s Research Computing Facilitators can help you to find and most efficiently use the ‘right’ services and support, whether offered by CHTC or by connecting you with another resource provider.
Center for Leadership & Involvement
The Center for Leadership & Involvement (CfLI) assists students in intentionally connecting with the far-ranging opportunities that exist throughout campus, including graduate and undergraduate student organizations, student leadership programs, and many others. As a Center, we offer leadership programming that supports students in making meaning of these experiences and in developing leadership capacity – the ability to affect positive change.
Data Science Hub
The Data Science Hub executes a mission for community engagement and learning opportunities for campus researchers through a variety of services, including:
• consultations with Data Science Facilitators who can recommend learning pathways and project strategies, and liaise contacts with collaborators and data science experts
• community events and co-sponsored seminars that bring together researchers and other partners around relevant data science topics
• regular trainings (including Carpentries workshops) around fundamental data science and computational skills
Office of Student Assistance and Support
The Office of Student Assistance and Support (formerly the Dean of Students Office) encourages student success by creating a culture of care on campus and connecting students with support resources available on campus. The office assists with academic, financial, health, family emergencies, and other difficulties including students who are victims of bias incidents or sexual harassment or violence. The office supports the success of ALL Badgers, including undergraduate students, graduate & professional students, special students, and undocumented/DACA students. Office of Student Assistance and Support staff also consult with faculty, staff, parents, and community members to help support overall student success.
Delta Program for Research, Teaching, and Learning
The Delta Program engages graduate students and postdocs in professional development in teaching, mentoring, outreach and advising. Whether your future career is in academia or beyond, Delta's offerings can help you develop inclusive and evidence-based teaching and mentoring skills.
In addition to the Delta Program’s offerings, UW–Madison students can take advantage of online professional development opportunities presented by the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning (CIRTL) Network. As one of founding members of this international network of 40+ higher education institutions, the Delta Program posts all of CIRTL’s upcoming courses and workshops on the Delta website.
Want to be the first to know about Delta and CIRTL’s upcoming offerings? The best way to stay in the loop is to subscribe to Delta’s biweekly newsletter.
DesignLab
DesignLab offers free one-on-one design tutoring for UW–Madison students, faculty, and staff!
Get help with all of your digital projects, including presentations, posters, videos, audio, websites/blogs, infographics, and more! DesignLab consultants can help with everything from conceptualizing the first steps to polishing a nearly finished project.
Discovery to Product
Whether you’re just starting out with an idea, or you’re already on the path to launching a startup, Discovery to Product (D2P) is your “front door” to get connected to the many available and effective people, programs, and resources designed to help bring university ideas to the marketplace. All D2P educational programs are free and open to UW–Madison faculty, staff, and students.
How we can help:
• Open Houses: Attend a virtual monthly Open House to learn about D2P’s programs and services.
• Direct mentorship: Sign up for a virtual Mentor Chat with one of our Expert Mentors for advice and guidance.
• Cohort Programs: Whether just getting started or already developing your product or service, D2P’s educational programs teach teams how to assess their innovation’s value and develop an implementation strategy.
• Innovation to Market (I2M)
• Igniter
• Funding: D2P directly administers two funding opportunities that support innovators, the Draper TIF and SEED grants.
• Innovate Network: Connects UW–Madison faculty, staff and students with resources to support campus inventors and entrepreneurs.
DoIT Help Desk
The DoIT Help Desk provides free tech support and troubleshooting help for students, staff, and faculty through phone, email, chat, or in-person assistance. The various level-one services we provide range from getting help with your NetID, resetting your password, software repair, malware detection/removal, and general troubleshooting and diagnostics.
Greater University Tutoring Services
There are currently two options for UW–Madison Online students to receive tutoring services through UW–Madison’s Greater University Tutoring Services (GUTS):
• Drop In Tutors: Great for quick questions and homework help.
• Academic Match: Small group tutoring in introductory academic courses, two hours a week
McBurney Disability Resource Center
The McBurney Disability Resource Center is the entity on campus that determines eligibility for academic accommodations. We work with students who have a variety of disabilities such as mental health diagnoses, chronic health conditions, learning disabilities, AD/HD, autism spectrum disorder, and more.
We work with over 4,000 students annually, and we partner with students, instructors, staff, student organizations, and others throughout the campus and community. Whether you are a student or instructor, are new to campus or are already quite familiar, have a long history of accommodations or are just exploring disability-related accommodations for the first time, we invite you to learn more about the Center and to contact the McBurney Center with any questions you may have.
Morgridge Center for Public Service
The goal of the Morgridge Center for Public Service is to connect the University of Wisconsin–Madison to service and learning opportunities at the local, national, and global level. Specifically, graduate students have the remarkable opportunity to partake in the Wisconsin Idea through these online options offered by the Morgridge Center.
• Achievement Connections-Virtual Tutoring: Achievement Connections is a partner of the Morgridge Center that offers all UW–Madison students the opportunity to tutor Madison area high school students in geometry and algebra. Virtual tutoring options are available.
• Association of Community-Engaged Scholars (ACES) is a student-run organization through the Morgridge Center that aims to provide resources and support UW–Madison graduate students in all departments. Online resources, support, and networking events are run through ACES.
• Badger Volunteers is a semester-long program that provides undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to partner with community service sites.
• Community-Engagement Preparation Courses
• Community Partnerships and Outreach Network (CPO)
• Professional Development-Bagels and Research: The Morgridge Center offers online presentations once a month during the school year to facilitate discussion on Community-based Research conducted on campus. Past presenters include graduate students, faculty members, and community partners.
Office of Child Care and Family Resources
The Office of Child Care and Family Resources promotes the academic and professional goals of the University of Wisconsin community through the administration of early education and family support programs. Our services and outreach enable campus families to earn degrees, to achieve career objectives, and to foster positive social and emotional development for their children.
We offer support to student parents enrolled at UW–Madison to help them complete their degrees:
• by providing financial grants to pay for the cost of high-quality early care and education for their children
• by recognizing their multiple roles as students, parents, and employees
• by giving them access to valuable resources on parenting
• informative webinars by top parenting consultants and childhood experts
• monthly electronic newsletters
• parent support mailing list to keep families informed of events, activities, and other relevant resources
Office of Human Resources Madison Benefits Services
Greetings from UW–Madison’s Office of Human Resources! We want to introduce you to our Benefits Services unit.
Our Benefits Specialists work with employees of the university who qualify for employee benefits. Graduate Students who may qualify include certain Fellows, Scholars, TAs and PAs who hold appointments of at least 33% time for at least a full semester or longer.
Benefits Specialists present new employee insurance overviews in what we call our Graduate New Employee Benefits Sessions aka “Grad NEBS.”
And every fall, during the Annual Benefits Enrollment period, we offer Benefits Changes presentations so you can learn what benefits changes may affect you next calendar year.
Visit our website hr.wisc.edu/benefits/grad for information on grad employee insurance coverage and how much insurance plans would cost if you were to enroll.
Welcome to the UW–Madison! We look forward to working with you.
Office of Student Financial Aid
The Office of Student Financial Aid is here to help you navigate the financial aid process to get the most out of your online experience. The Office of Student Financial Aid website is a great place to start to find answers to many of your questions. Virtual services are available between 8 am-4 pm Monday through Friday. Just call 608-262-3060 or email finaid@finaid.wisc.edu to connect with us. Current UW–Madison students may also schedule a virtual appointment with one of our advisors through Starfish.
Office of Sustainability
At UW–Madison, sustainability means caring for the health and resilience of our shared environments and communities. There are many ways to get involved:
• The UW–Madison Green Fund supports student-initiated projects that address the environmental footprint, social impact, and operating costs of campus facilities.
• Working in a campus office or lab, or organizing a campus event? You can make your activity greener by collaborating with the Office of Sustainability.
• Students can stay informed by signing up for the sustainability newsletter or following the Office of Sustainability on social media at @SustainUW.
Research Data Services
Research Data Services (RDS) supports UW–Madison researchers as they gather, manage, and share their research data to make their data citable, reproducible, and publicly accessible. We offer consultations, education and training, online resources, and referrals to campus services that support researchers' efforts to store, manage, and share their data. Learn more about Research Data Services’ consultants and partners.
We can help you:
• review your data management plan
• share your data to meet publisher and funder requirements
• find appropriate storage for your data
• learn more about data equity, reproducible research, and open data
• and many other things like digital humanities, text analysis, geospatial data, data policy, and more!
Software Training for Students
We offer free technology training and project support to registered UW–Madison students and instructors.
1. The STS Canvas Course: Great for students who want to access our existing training materials on different sofwares
2. Remote Ask-A-Trainer Appointments: Great for students who have very specific questions regarding a software they need to use for a class project
3. LinkedIn Learning: Great for students who like to learn a software more in-depth at their own pace. All UW–Madison students have free access to LinkedIn Learning!
University Book Store
The University Book Store is your one-stop campus shop for textbooks, tech, school supplies, Badgers clothing and gift items, and more! Since 1894 the University Book Store has proudly served the students, faculty, and staff of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the greater community. We are a non-stockholding corporation that receives no aid or funding from the University or the State of Wisconsin. Our proceeds stay local to benefit UW students and our community.
UW–Madison Libraries
When most people think of libraries, the first thing they think of is books. And it’s true, we do have more than 10 million books in 425 different languages! However, the Libraries also have thousands of databases, which contain millions of articles, streaming movies and music, as well as more than 1.3 million eBooks. In addition, the Libraries have more than 7 million materials in other physical and digitized formats. You can find nearly all of these resources through the Libraries website. Learn more about these resources, services, and spaces in this guided orientation to the Libraries.
The UW–Madison Libraries support graduate students through every phase of the research process, including planning, organizing, finding and evaluating information, publishing and sharing your research, curating and preserving your research, and measuring your impact. Our services support your research, learning, and teaching, including one-on-one research assistance, interlibrary loan, citation management support, research data services, workshops, and library instruction. To learn more or take advantage of any of these resources, contact the Libraries by chat, email, text, phone, or make an appointment with a subject specialist librarian. We’ll look forward to talking with you!
The Writing Center
At the Writing Center, we work with graduate writers at any stage of the writing process—from choosing a topic to drafting to revising. Our online services for graduate students include one-to-one meetings, writing groups, writing workshops, and an extensive online Writer's Handbook.
During a one-to-one appointment, we will talk with you about your goals, review your writing with you, and discuss the next steps you might take. We have two options for online appointments: (1) Virtual Meetings that connect you with Writing Center instructors through real-time, face-to-face appointments in WCOnline, our online appointment system, and (2) Written Feedback appointments that allow you to upload your draft and receive written comments and suggestions from a Writing Center instructor.
We also offer weekly writing groups, which are a fantastic way to get some support and accountability when you’re working on longer projects. By reserving this time for writing in your schedule each week, you’ll have the chance to share your project and writing goals with others and to be part of a community of other writers who are also experiencing the challenges and successes of writing. We offer both registered writing groups as well as drop-in groups.
In addition, if you want to learn about writing in different genres, we offer free, non-credit workshops for graduate and professional students. Our Writer's Handbook, which provides guidance on writing in various genres along with writing samples, is another way you can optimize the Writing Center's resources. For more information about our services, check out our website: writing.wisc.edu. We look forward to working with you!