GSAS Celebrates Third Annual Graduate Appreciation Week
April 16, 2025
Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Brandeis University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) celebrated the university’s third annual Graduate Appreciation Week from April 7 to 11, 2025. Along with other members of the Graduate Engagement group, they offered a range of activities to celebrate and support graduate students as a part of this national event.
Activities organized by the Office of Graduate Affairs included chair massages, a hot pot night, and a networking event that also included graduate students from Bentley University. GSAS also hosted daily gift card giveaways and organized an appreciation wall on their social media. Faculty and staff were invited to share messages of appreciation for specific students. “The virtual appreciation wall on social media is always my favorite part of the Graduate Student Appreciation Week celebration because it’s a chance for faculty and staff to specifically acknowledge the everyday things students contribute to the lab, classroom, or department,” said Becky Prigge, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for GSAS. “This is an opportunity for those who typically don’t lean toward the effusive end of the spectrum to show their appreciation.”
GSAS also co-sponsored a webinar, “Understanding & Navigating Burnout: Building a Healthy Work Environment.” Open to all graduate students, this webinar provided tools for recognizing the signs of burnout, preventing it from getting worse, and dealing with it when it comes. “I picked the topic for this year’s webinar based on conversations I’ve been having with, well, just about everyone I meet. We’re all SO mentally and physically exhausted, and it’s important that we find ways to take care of ourselves,” said Prigge. “Self-care looks different for everyone, and I love talking with people about the coping mechanisms they’ve found that work for them. I figured if they heard at least one thing in this webinar that they hadn’t thought of or that sounded interesting, it would be helpful. Another part of the webinar that was really important for me was that it talked about the experience of burnout from the perspective of both neurotypical and neurodivergent folks. It’s important to remember the causes and signs of burnout appear differently in each of us and there are a variety of approaches to dealing with it.”
As an annual event, Graduate Appreciation Week provides an opportunity for students to be celebrated for their hard work during the year and to de-stress with some fun activities as the end of the semester approaches. Staff and faculty also get a chance to reflect on and give thanks for the contributions of the students -- the people who bring them all here.