Jami K. Armbrester and Lisa Schwiebert

The role of any postdoc office (PDO) is to serve as an advocate for postdoctoral scholars and support them by providing the tools to advance into the next stage of their career. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) established the Office of Postdoctoral Education in 1999, becoming one of the original institutions to have a PDO. With strong institutional support, the UAB PDO has the opportunity and flexibility to pursue many initiatives to support trainees over the past 20 years. UAB PDO’s central goal is to create the best environment possible to allow postdocs to thrive during training, while also serving faculty mentors through assisting recruitment and providing guidance during conflict resolution. To accomplish this, the UAB PDO office has four areas of emphasis:

• Creating career development opportunities
• Engaging and encouraging a strong postdoc association
• Providing mentor training
• Strengthening the campus wide Council on Postdoctoral Education (COPE)

Jami Armbrester, MS, the director of Career Development, and Lisa Schwiebert, PhD, senior associate dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs and professor of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology, views their primary role as preparing trainees for their next steps. UAB PDO begins this preparation during UAB Postdoc Orientation, beginning with a paraphrased NPA definition of a postdoc: “a temporary period of mentored research and/or training for the purpose of acquiring the skills needed to pursue your long-term career goals.” To forward the transition to long-term careers, UAB PDO provides early access to career development opportunities.

Creating Career Development Opportunities

Many postdocs need to learn the jargon of a career outside of bench research. A tuition benefit offered trainees allows postdocs to take credit bearing courses or pursue an academic certificate program such as the Graduate School Research Communication Certificate or the School of Business Entrepreneurship Certificate. UAB postdocs also can shadow a professional in the EXPERIENCES Program, or complete an internship. Since 2008, UAB has offered an Internship Award, which purchases a percentage of a postdoc’s effort from their mentor, allowing the postdoc to complete an internship in an industrial, administrative, or academic setting.

In addition, monthly seminars guide trainees on career exploration, “soft skill” development, and job search techniques. These seminars are open to all trainees, including graduate students – after all, they are postdocs of the future. Themes of the seminars are based on recommendations from current trainees and feedback from UAB postdoc alumni.

Maintaining connections with past trainees is a valuable tool in the work UAB PDO does. In addition to encouraging alumni engagement through annual surveys, which are a trusted source of insight, UAB focuses efforts on speaking to trainees who were actively engaged in the UAB postdoc association (PDA). These select postdoc alumni have previously acted as leaders of the UAB postdoc body and are now following their long-term career goals. They provide unique perspectives on how to improve UAB PDO offerings and better train UAB postdocs.

Engaging and encouraging a strong Postdoc Association

Just as the UAB PDO works to engage alumni, much effort is invested in fostering an active PDA on campus. The PDA Board is the source of many ideas. For instance, current postdocs Stephanie Momeni, PhD , Stephanie Moore, PhD, and Heather Ray, PhD, created a peer-to-peer network for postdocs to help each other. Topics of discussion include campus resources, opportunities to gain teaching experience, or navigating difficult conversations with a colleague or mentor.

UAB PDO collaborated with the PDA to ensure the endeavor was successful. While postdoc leaders developed the content for the series, the PDO organized the logistics of the event through catering, room reservation, and advertisement. The PDO also provides support for National Postdoc Appreciation Week, postdoc awards, and Postdoc Research Day. Strong institutional commitment to support UAB PDO through financial and human resources, provides the PDO the good fortune to encourage the PDA.

Providing mentor training

Another vital mission of the UAB PDO is to provide mentor training to the faculty and senior postdocs of UAB. UAB PDO provides training and guidance to junior and senior faculty as they work to gain the skills to successfully guide a postdoc through their career. Mentor training offered by the PDO occurs during the annual UAB Mentoring Week.

During UAB Mentoring Week, UAB PDO hosts events that address aspects of mentoring, with two recurring events. The first event is the Mentoring Academy. During the academy, mentors are offered tools to improve communication with trainees, in-depth review of case studies, and a discussion of issues faculty may have in their current mentoring relationships. Attendees say they gain practical information to improve how they guide, train, and communicate with trainees. The second event is a performance from Theater Delta. Theater Delta is an interactive theater group for social change which encourages healthy dialog. Theater Delta has offered performances for UAB on a range of subjects such as Mentoring and Unconscious Bias, Communication of Original Research, and The Mentee-Mentor Relationship. These performances allow attendees to interact with characters and see first-hand how the mentor/mentee relationship can be improved.

Strengthening the campus wide COPE

To protect trainees and promote shared governance, the COPE Committee was formed in 2003. This committee is comprised of postdocs, representatives from all academic divisions, as well as student services units (International Student Services, Disability Services, Employee Assistance and Counseling). Academic division representatives are nominated and voted on by their peers to serve a three-year term. This committee meets bi-annually or as needed to discuss updates to policies, address disputes, and determine if initiatives can be enacted to improve training. The voices of current postdocs on this committee are invaluable. They bring the needed perspective while providing feedback on possible changes to policies or benefits which would impact the postdoc community.

The UAB PDO strives to support and prepare UAB postdocs for the next steps in their careers. This commitment is a strong selling point for PIs hoping to attract postdocs to their labs at UAB. The research landscape continually shifts and best practices for PDOs will continue to evolve, but the need for and appreciation of well-planned and extensive support for postdoc trainees will persist.

Jami K. Armbrester, MS, is the director of Career Development at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Office of Postdoctoral Education. Lisa Schwiebert, PhD, is professor and senior associate dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Graduate School.