Supporting Mathematics Graduate Students: A Call for Departmental Leadership

By Deewang Bhamidipati @theewaang

As I prepare my job applications and reflect on my graduate school experience, I want to share thoughts on how departments can better support their mathematics graduate students. While peer support is valuable, I want to emphasise that these support structures must be department-led initiatives rather than relying on graduate student labour. These programs respond to institutional gaps and therefore require institutional stewardship.

First-Year Support Programs

For about three years, I have helped to organise a peer mentoring program with a modest but effective structure. We group two senior graduate students with three first-years into "pods" that meet regularly throughout the academic year. This structure evolved through trial and error - we found one-on-one mentoring unsustainable in our small department, but pods struck the right balance between supporting first-years and not overburdening seniors.

Core Coursework Challenges

Departments must improve their approach to first-year coursework in three ways:

Recognize and accommodate diverse student backgrounds
Standardise core sequence content between cohorts
Align coursework with preliminary exam requirements

Core sequence classes should receive the same pedagogical investment as undergraduate courses, including robust support, for example, providing regular feedback on assessments. Departments need to "meet students where they are" rather than assuming uniform preparation.

Preliminary Exam Support

In our department, we established "Prelim Study Sessions" where senior students lead problem-solving sessions for exam preparation. Crucially, we secured departmental funding for study leaders, transforming this from an ad-hoc initiative into a fairly sustainable program; but still graduate student-led and department-supported, rather than being the other way around. Any kind of institutional support is essential for long-term success.

Teaching Development

Teaching forms a significant part of many graduate students' experiences and future careers. Departments must stop treating it as something that "gets in the way of research." Beyond basic pedagogy courses, we need comprehensive TA training programs. Currently, teaching-related responsibilities often fall entirely on teaching faculty, creating an artificial separation between teaching and research. Research faculty must engage in teaching development to bridge this gap.

Professional Development

Departments often mistakenly assume all graduate students aim for research-focused academic careers. This narrow view can harm students interested in teaching-focused institutions or industry positions. Effective professional development requires:

Diverse career pathway support: Organise alumni panels featuring graduates in various roles such as industry and various academic roles such as teaching-focused roles.
Conference support: Dedicated funding for first-time conference attendees, particularly from underrepresented groups.
Teaching career advocacy: Actively challenge the notion that teaching-focused positions are "lesser" academic paths.
Centralised resources: Professional development shouldn't rely solely on individual advisors; departments should provide structured support for all career paths.

The key is moving beyond the traditional model where thesis advisors are the sole source of professional guidance. Departments must take active responsibility for preparing students for diverse career paths.

Diversity and Inclusion

Mathematics departments must actively address their traditionally homogeneous makeup. At UC Santa Cruz, we've developed several successful initiatives:

AWM Student Chapter: Our "EmpowHer Hour" provides biweekly space for meaningful discussions about gender equity in academia. These conversations help build solidarity and develop strategies for creating more inclusive mathematical communities.
Experiences in Mathematics Seminar: This series features speakers from underrepresented groups sharing their journeys through academia and industry. These candid conversations illuminate both challenges and triumphs, offering practical insights and inspiration. Through these stories, students find role models who reflect their own experiences and aspirations.
Departmental DEI Committee: Graduate student voices must be central in diversity initiatives. Departments need to be open to criticism about faculty representation and willing to make concrete changes, or at least willing to engage in conversations.

The success of these programs stems from departmental financial support, but this still lacks any meaningful commitment to structural change. Simply acknowledging diversity issues isn't enough - departments must actively work to transform the demographic makeup of both faculty and students.

Moving Forward

Creating supportive environments requires real departmental investment - not just approval, but active commitment of resources, time, and institutional authority.

While graduate school will always be challenging, many obstacles students face are institutional rather than mathematical. By providing robust, department-led support structures, we can create environments where students focus on mathematical development rather than navigating unnecessary barriers.

This is partly a reflection of initiatives I helped create and partly a wishlist for the future. I invite others to reflect on and critique these ideas as we work toward better supporting graduate students in mathematics. The key message remains: while peer support is valuable, these initiatives must be led and funded by departments rather than relying on graduate student labour.

Deewang Bhamidipati is a fifth year graduate student at UC Santa Cruz studying arithmetic geometry and algebraic number theory. He is passionate about teaching, community building and mentorship in all of its forms. During his off time you can find him reading, watching KDramas and distracting people from their work. At the moment, he is losing his mind over job applications.