CFP: Mental Health and Wellness in Graduate School

The Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA)’s graduate student caucus (GSC) is calling for submissions on mental health and wellness in graduate school for its sponsored session at this year’s meeting.

Mental health related challenges among graduate students have long been known as a serious concern across universities throughout the world. Women, LGBTQ students and graduate students from other, minoritized, underrepresented groups in universities are even more vulnerable to such issues. Hostile workplaces, unmanageable workloads, difficult relationships with supervisors, financial precarities compounded by a decimated job market further exacerbate the mental health-related challenges faced by graduate students. 

This GSC-sponsored panel aims to offer a robust discussion on this often unaddressed topic by suggesting likely solutions that university administrators, faculty, and advisors can adopt to better support graduate students’ mental health particularly in a post-pandemic landscape.

Panel organizers invite proposals of around 250 words accompanied by a bio of at most 100 words. Topics might include but are not limited to:

• Safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students
• Safe spaces for graduate students of color
• Safe spaces for graduate students with disabilities
• Tips to improve graduate students’ financial wellness
• Protecting the mental health of Asian/Asian American students at a time of historic rise in anti-Asian violence and rhetoric
• Mental health during the dissertation writing stage
• How graduate student unions can advocate for fairer labor practices
• How advisors can better support graduate advisees
• Tips for university administrators, campus resources/organizations to accommodate graduate students’ mental health
• What Student Health & Wellness Services can do better to serve graduate students

Submit proposals directly to https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/19344.