Appointments

Meet confidentially with a graduate-specific career advisor from Texas Career Engagement, the College of Natural Sciences, or the College of Liberal Arts. Advisors work individually with graduate students and postdoctoral scholars on a wide range of career-related topics to help them explore and prepare for careers in academia, nonprofit, government, and industry.

Topics you can discuss with your advisor include:

  • Preparing application documents including CV, cover letter, and resume
  • Professional communication skills such as interviewing, negotiation, and networking
  • Managing your graduate program and working with your advisor
  • Exploring career options in academia, government, nonprofit, industry, or business
  • Utilizing strategies and resources for your job and internship search
  • Understanding your skills, interests, and values through self-assessment
  • Creating an individual development plan for degree completion, skill development, and employment

All currently enrolled graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and advanced degree alumni who completed within the last year can make an appointment with a graduate career advisor.

Schedule Appointment

  • How to schedule an appointment

Graduate Career Advisors

Annie Maxfield has been helping advanced degree students and trainees across disciplines pursue their career of choice for nearly 10 years. Nationally, she is the Design and Development Lead for ImaginePhD, a free and confidential online career exploration and planning tool for humanities and social sciences that also has been used with many STEM fields. She also grew national employer education and recruitment for doctoral students by establishing the Virtual Master’s & PhD Career Fair (STEM) and worked with Connected Academics and the American Historical Association on initiatives such as Faculty Training, Humanists@work, and the MLA Doctoral Student Career Planning Guide. Annie has a strong foundation in working across industries and disciplines and is happy to support graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in whatever they choose to pursue. Annie’s areas of advising expertise include: the employer perspective, career exploration and planning, strategic job and interview searching, the intersection of identity and career, values, networking, professional communication, and negotiation.

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Colleen Gleeson has over 10 years of university career services experience working with students at all academic levels. She spent three years working with graduate students studying public policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, where she also worked with employer partners across sector, industry, and policy area to engage with graduate students across campus. Prior to her time at UT, she served as director of career development at the University of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership. Colleen enjoys working with graduate students and postdocs to identify new and exciting career paths, internships, and other experiential opportunities. Areas of expertise include graduate career exploration and industry job search prep, including resume and cover letter support, mock interviews and navigating federal job applications.

Brian Fonken has spent over a decade in higher education administration and faculty roles, developing curriculum, managing programs, teaching, and mentoring graduate students. Prior to joining career education teams at UT in the College of Liberal Arts and then Texas Career Engagement, he taught writing and humanities courses at the University of California, Irvine and helped lead its Composition program. He supports graduate student and postdoc professional development in preparation for a wide range of careers both inside and outside of the academy, and he enjoys working with students to identify skills and experiences developed in their scholarly pursuits that can be applied across diverse career paths. Brian strives to be an informed, empathetic ally to advanced degree scholars as they pursue professional development opportunities and engage in career exploration and planning.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Trey received her PhD in Microbiology from UT Austin resulting in a highly diverse skill set ranging from molecular biology wet lab techniques to entrepreneurial product development and management. She gained extensive experience in addressing the needs and concerns of graduate students and developing programs and initiatives to improve graduate student life while serving as President of the Interdisciplinary Life Science Graduate Program Graduate Student Assembly. Her current position as Program Manager of Advanced Degree Career Education with Texas Career Engagement enables her to utilize the technical skills she obtained as a scientist and the soft skills she developed as a leader to help advanced degree students plan and achieve their career goals.

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Dr. Ku has been at his current position for more than five and a half years, providing individual coaching for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in career exploration, job searches, and professional development in STEM fields. In addition to establishing and maintaining relationships with employers, he also plans, develops, and executes career exploration and professional development seminars and workshops and networking and recruitment events. Before coming to UT, Dr. Ku was a product marketing professional with more than 13 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, including at Ambion, Life Technologies, and EMD Millipore. Prior to joining the biotech industry, he completed postdoctoral training at both UT and Baylor College of Medicine. He received an MBA from UT, a PhD in Cell and Development Biology from Harvard University, and a BS in Biology from the University of South Florida. Dr. Ku’s expertise spans across all career-related topics, though he is most excited to advise on career exploration, job/internship search strategies for non-academic jobs, academic job searches (faculty and postdoctoral positions), CVs, cover letters, research statements and teaching statements, and resume and cover letter review and editing.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Tatem Oldham is a licensed counselor with 15 years of experience in career counseling and hiring/recruiting. She specializes in helping humanities and social sciences graduate students transition into the world of work and effectively market themselves to potential employers. Tatem’s services include helping students convert their CVs to resumes, articulate their transferable skills to employers, and prepare for interviews. Tatem is most excited to help College of Liberal Arts students brainstorm potential career paths.

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Meet with an expert

Make a confidential appointment with a Graduate Career Advisor to explore next steps and prepare for your career.

Make an Appointment