Speaking, Publishing, Research & Professional Development Opportunities

As a Graduate Liberal Studies student, you have access to many academic development opportunities.  If you have been pursuing an area of research and writing that you would like to share with others, you may want to articulate your thoughts in a conference paper or journal essay that allows them to have resonance beyond our program.  Please see below and check this page periodically for updates.

Research and Learning Opportunities

Bass Connections offers the opportunity to research real-world situations as part of an interdisciplinary team of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.

Search the following Duke sites for further opportunities: The Center for Philosophy, Art and Literature at Duke (PAL) and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke.

Professional Development for Master's Students

Each semester, The Graduate School offers several workshops specifically designed for students in the school’s research master’s programs as part of the Professional Development Series. Master’s students are also welcome at most other events offered as part of the Professional Development Series. Visit The Graduate School's website for a full list of professional development workshops and resources.

Publishing Opportunities

Confluence is the online journal of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs (AGLSP), which is the professional organization for Graduate Liberal Studies programs, faculty, students and staff; Duke GLS is a longtime member of the AGLSP and has played a leadership role in the organization. The journal welcomes research essays, short fiction, nonfiction, photography, poetry and art, and is eager to receive sub­missions from students, alumni, and faculty of GLS programs. Many Duke GLS students have published in Confluence.

Palaver is UNC-Wilmington’s online interdisciplinary journal housed in the Graduate Liberal Studies program. Palaver seeks submissions that defy the confines of a single discipline and explore multiple disciplinary influences: “We publish creative and academic work that values the nonrestrictive and looks beyond the paradigms of the discipline to converge versatility, skill, and ingenuity in the service of its subject..." 

Zeteo: The Journal of Interdisciplinary Writing, which is sponsored by the Liberal Studies program at City University of New York (CUNY), publishes faculty and student work in a lively interdisciplinary format.  Submission guidelines here.  

Speaking Opportunities at Duke

Duke GradX is a showcase of Duke graduate student work in which students from across the disciplines give 5-minute presentations -- think TED Talk, but even shorter -- that share their engagement with a compelling research question or issue. The event is anchored by a talk from a guest speaker, and followed by a reception where presenters and attendees can mix and mingle, and discuss interdisciplinary research questions.  The 2019 deadline for abstracts is March 4 at 5 p.m.  Visit the GradX site for more information and check out the archives for past GradX talks by GLS students Andrea Larson (2017), John Bechtold (2016), Ellen Rivers Gambrell (2015), and Max Erdemandi (2014). 

Search the following Duke sites for further opportunities: The Center for Philosophy, Art and Literature at Duke (PAL) and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke.

Conferences

BiblioTECHa: Reading the Past, Performing the Present, Writing the Future -- The Association of Graduate Liberal Studies (AGLSP) Annual Conference, San Antonio, October 10-12, 2022 The AGLSP is the professional association of GLS programs, faculty, students and staff; Duke GLS is a longtime member of the AGLSP and has played a leadership role in the organization. Student papers are welcome: many Duke GLS students have presented at the AGLSP annual conference. The deadline for submitting a paper or a Story Slam video is May1, 2022

Travel Funding

 ​Lottie Applewhite Travel Awards are available for any student who is delivering a paper at a conference.