How well do we prepare our graduate students for the diverse careers they pursue in
teaching, research, and outside of academia? This is the second time Graduate Education has
been a track in the TLC, and this year we have also incorporated topics related to
professional development. Despite the diversity of our presentations, we arrived at a
unifying theme for our track: we must prepare graduate students for the multiple arenas they
will enter into after graduation. We discussed at length how most of our graduate students
seek something other than the traditional, research-oriented model of graduate education
that we experienced. They seek a graduate experience that is civically engaged, prepares
them for teaching in addition to research, and is perhaps more connected to disciplines
outside of political science. Either we provide graduate students a framework of knowledge
consistent with these demands or they will be left to develop these skills through trial and
error alone. In support of this goal, we urge systemic change to our professional
institutions that will value and reward a more holistic approach to graduate education and
professional development. Elements of such change can be found in the variety of
presentations contained in our track.