Tithi Basu Mallik, PhD works to support the career development needs of 6000+ graduate students, professional students, and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Kentucky. She serves as the Assistant Director for Graduate/Professional Students & Postdoctoral Career Support at the Stuckert Career Center and as the Graduate Student & Postdoctoral Career Advisor for the Graduate School. Tithi provides one-on-one advising, offers various programs including informational presentations on career topics, and organizes employer and alumni panels. She also works closely with various stakeholders across campus including faculty to improve career preparation for graduate student and postdoctoral scholars. Tithi received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut. She is an active member of the Graduate Career Consortium and has contributed to the Inside HigherEd Carpe Careers column.

Dr. Patrick D. Brandt, PhD, is the Director of Career Development and Outreach in the Office of Graduate Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He directs career awareness and professional skills development programming for life science graduate students. Dr. Brandt is Co-PI for UNC's ImPACT program, which was funded by an NIH-BEST grant in 2014. He was instrumental in securing $5.4 million in grant funding from NIH and Burroughs Wellcome, among other funders, to support career development, outreach, and training initiatives. Dr. Brandt received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He held a postdoc at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences after completing his doctoral studies.

Dr. Amanda Ellis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics. Dr. Ellis joined the College of Public Health at University of Kentucky as an Assistant Professor in 2020. Her focus is on graduate education, course and curriculum development. She earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Kentucky. She also earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Kentucky. She previously taught at Eastern Kentucky University where she focused on undergraduate and graduate education.

Morris has directed Graduate Student Professional Enhancement (GSPE) at the University of Kentucky since 2007 and has served as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School since 2010. GSPE oversees campus-wide career and professional development activities for graduate students. Before transitioning to administration, he taught literature and writing for ten years as a professor of English at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky. He holds a master’s in English from Western Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kentucky. In addition to graduate student development, his research and teaching interests are the history and theory of the short story internationally. He has been a frequent presenter and panelist at the International Conference on the Short Story in English and is editor of Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories (University Press of Kentucky), Conversations with Wendell Berry (University Press of Mississippi), and Every Leaf a Mirror: A Jim Wayne Miller Reader (with Mary Ellen Miller, University Press of Kentucky).

Kay was hired by University of Connecticut to create, lead, and deliver career services to graduate students and postdocs (8th year in this role). She jumped at the opportunity because of a love to be in start-up environments with both opportunities and challenges, and cultural shifts to facilitate. Her work also focuses on delivering tailored career services to international students at the University. She is also a member of the Student Affairs Team at The Graduate School and member of the University Senate Student Welfare Committee. Finally, she works on faculty development and integration of career development in graduate program courses and curricula. Kay has served many roles in GCC including chairing the Benchmarking Committee, sitting on the Communications Committee, occasionally contributing to Carpe Careers, serving on Conference Committees, as well as the Virtual Career Fair Committee, and she is a past participant in the Mentor Program. Kay currently serves as co-chair of the newly formed Membership & Belonging Committee with Angie Hawkins, Associate Director of Educational Programs, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education. When not at work -- Kay enjoys outdoor pursuits including wilderness camping, skiing, hiking, and gardening.

Dr. Rebekah Layton, PhD, PCC, CMC, is the Director of Professional Development Programs at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Dr. Layton is an active scholar in graduate education, a published author on professional development and career outcomes, a contributor to Inside HigherEd Carpe Careers, and a member of the Graduate Career Consortium where she currently serves as Southeast Region Co-Director. Dr. Layton designs, implements, and evaluates a comprehensive professional and career development program housed in the Office of Graduate Education supporting 1000+ graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. She earned degrees in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the University at Albany, State University of New York (PhD & MA) where she studied self-regulation and goal-setting.

Joseph received his Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Bath, United Kingdom, and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky. He subsequently joined the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he completed his postdoctoral training in the Human Addiction Psychopharmacology lab. He then became Program Manager of a multi-investigator research group administering several NIH funded research projects focused on neuroimaging of mental illness. During his postdoc, he was an active member of the UIC Postdoctoral Association allowing him to find his passion for postdoc career & professional development and helping the next generation of scientists and scholars. He thus became the inaugural Associate Director of Postdoctoral Affairs at UIC and then returned to his alma mater to become the inaugural Director of Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Kentucky.

Talline Martins is the Director of the Office of Graduate Professional Development at the University of Florida. Prior to this role, she was the Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Staci McGill is a PhD Candidate in the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Kentucky as well as the 2021-2022 Graduate Student Congress (GSC) President. In addition, she is also a USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellow. She received her bachelor's in Agricultural Biotechnology and her master's in Biosystems and Ag Engineering from UK as well. Staci works closely with members of the Graduate School as well as many offices and organizations around campus in her role as the GSC President to advocate on behalf of graduate and professional students and postdoctoral scholars and provide resources and programming to better the graduate and professional student experience at UK.

Dr. Ana Nogueira, PhD, is an Education Research Fellow in the Office of Graduate Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where her research focuses on career awareness and professional development for the international trainee community. Dr. Nogueira volunteers in the International Committee at the National Postdoc Association (NPA) and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Pharmacology Department at UNC. Additionally, she is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Pharmacology Department in the UNC School of Medicine. In this role, she develops molecular tools and applies them to 3D high-resolution microscopy to monitor protein activity during platelet formation. Before joining UNC for her postdoctoral work, Dr. Nogueira earned her Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen in the UK in 2017 where she developed 3D cultures to study infectious diseases.

Rob Pearson is Assistant Dean of Professional Development and Career Planning in the Laney Graduate School at Emory University, where he manages a team that prepares graduate students in forty-five diverse programs for the range of career paths available to them. He also serves as the Director of the Laney Graduate School’s TA training program. Rob earned his doctorate in musicology from Brandeis University in 2011 and currently serves as Co-Chair and mentor in the AMS Sustainable Mentorship Program. He is an active member of the Graduate Career Consortium, serving as Regional Co-Director of the Southeast Region and was involved in developing ImaginePhD: A Career Exploration and Planning Tool for Humanists and Social Scientists, a tool he continues to use every day.

Martha began her role as Acting Dean of the Graduate School and Acting Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education in July 2021. She provides leadership and direction for the Graduate School and professional education at UK and facilitates collaboration among academic units and other areas of institutional leadership. Peterson is a Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics in the College of Medicine. In her more than 30 years at UK, Peterson has held a number of roles including Senior Associate Vice President for Research.

From January 2019 to January 2022, Chris served as Postdoctoral Affairs Program Manager at North Carolina State University. He recently began in a new position supporting postdocs at Virginia Tech as Postdoctoral Affairs Program Administrator. He is an active member of the GCC Benchmarking Committee, serves as GCC Communications Chair, and is a member of the National Postdoctoral Association Board of Directors.

Prior to pivoting to support postdocs as an administrator, Chris was a leader in the Vanderbilt University Postdoctoral Association and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Vanderbilt. He holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Furman University.

Lydia Soleil, Ph.D., provides 1:1 career consulting and directs professional and career development programming for Postdoctoral Fellows and Scholars in her role as the Director of Career Development in the Office of Postdoctoral Education in the Emory University School of Medicine. She earned a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of California, Davis and a B.S. in Biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Soleil has worked in a variety of positions in higher education, with ~15 years focused on the professional and career development of advanced degree seekers and holders. Dr. Soleil served as the first Associate Director of the University of California Irvine's (UCI) formerly named Instructional Resources Center where she helped create and teach a set of three graduate courses focused on college teaching and the academic job search. She then served as the inaugural Graduate Career Consultant in the UCI Career Center where she designed and implemented a plan for graduate student career services and programming. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Soleil combined her expertise in TA & future faculty development and career development to create and implement an NSF-funded graduate certificate in college teaching and academic job search support services for doctoral candidates.

Ashley splits her time as a Senior Consultant at CELT and as the Assistant Director of Graduate Student Professional Enhancement for the Graduate School. In both capacities, she provides instructional support for graduate teaching assistants and coordinates the pedagogy track of the "Grad Degree +" program, which offers credentialing in thematic areas of teaching and learning. Ashley also consults with faculty on inclusive teaching pedagogies, student engagement strategies, and collaborative pedagogies. Before joining CELT, Ashley was a teaching assistant for UK’s Department of History, where earned her PHD and was awarded the campus-wide Provost Outstanding Teaching Award. Ashley continues to teach courses in history, civic engagement, women's and gender studies, and in the Preparing Future Faculty program.