Department of Psychology

Resources and Support (PhD)

Career Development

The Center for Career and Professional Development at the Graduate School organizes events and workshops, provides one-on-one career advising, and fosters employer relationships with Brandeis alum.

What they do:

  • Cover Letters, Resumes and CVs

  • Network and Interview

  • Career Tips

  • Explore your career options

  • How to find jobs/internships

  • And much more!

Make an appointment with Marika in-person, over the phone, or virtually.

Brandeis graduate students have access to a career resources Box folder with more resources.

Campus Mental Health Resources

Brandeis takes the mental health of its graduate students very seriously. As such, the Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) is available for all graduate students to use with no out of pocket expense to them. Additionally, in January 2019, a new community therapist will serve the science community directly by providing one-on-one therapy sessions in the science complex, free of charge.

Types of Services

Urgent concerns

Housing

Brandeis students have flexibility in choosing to live in a big city (Boston), small city (Waltham) or suburbs - all are easily accessible.

Some students choose to stay close to Brandeis and live in the Waltham area. Waltham is a small city of over 60,000 residents. The city's large number of multi-family dwellings offers a variety of housing opportunities to students.

Since Waltham is only 12 miles due west of Boston, some graduate students choose to live closer to Boston. The Brandeis-Roberts MBTA Commuter Rail stop is a short walk from the campus. Boston and Cambridge are typically only 20-30 minutes away via the commuter rail.

            Brandeis Housing Resources:

  • The graduate housing Facebook group is a great place to view and post housing opportunities.
  • Find affordable housing, housemates and roommates by subscribing to the listserv. Send an email to gradhousing@lists.brandeis.edu to share a posting with other listserv members. Enter a title for your posting in the subject line and attach up to six photos.
  • Diggz is a free roommate matching resource that connects you to like-minded prospective roommates with similar lifestyle attributes and preferences (roommates within Diggz may include Brandeis students and non-affiliated individuals). Find rooms for rent, roommates to fill your empty room, or partner up with someone to find a new place. Once signed up, get access to free premium messages that can accelerate your roommate search using promo code: OLLIEMOLY
  • The Graduate Student Affairs website offers additional information for outside of Brandeis Resources

Diversity and Inclusion

Brandeis is proud to provide a supportive and inclusive community for its students. The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is committed to working collaboratively with the campus community in an effort to build high-quality programming that evokes social change.

Tax/Finance Management

Students should be aware that if stipends are part of the financial package, they may be taxed differently over the summer months. For more information, please refer to this page from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Brandeis graduate students have access to a taxes resources Box folder with additional resources.

Career Club

Grad Rep Liz created a career club that meets on Zoom every Sunday at 11am EST for one hour to hear from a wide variety of guest speakers (about their academic path, career path, and current work). Guest speakers have ranged from age 25 to 75, and from careers in clinical psychology, neuroscience, and medicine to economics, journalism, and marketing, to name a few. Guest speakers are usually recruited by Liz from her own friend or work groups, but Liz hopes to expand this by asking guest speakers outside of her life. The career club is comprised undergrads, grad students, and some graduates. Each meeting is recorded for anyone who would like to watch it later or cannot attend. If interested in joining the email list, please email Liz at elizabethmahon@brandeis.edu.

Graduate Student Representatives

The Graduate Representatives (Grad Reps) facilitate connection between grad students and faculty. This includes communicating the needs of students, bolstering the supportive environment, and assessing the cultural integrity of the department. They also help with prospective student interview day, mentor new students, organize social events, plan seminars and provide resources for professional development seminars, and list various financial/health/living/etc. resources on- and off-campus.

Graduate Student Representatives

Tong Lin

Tong is the Graduate Representative contact person for GSAS Events. She is a Ph.D. student in the SIM Lab, studying empathy and neural mechanisms underlying people's ability to understand another's emotions. Tong joined Grad Reps hoping to help facilitate communication between the faculty and the grad students, and to contribute to social events in the psychology department. In her free time, she enjoys going to music events in Boston and playing tennis.

Elizabeth Mahon
Elizabeth Mahon

Liz is the Graduate Representative contact person for departmental and social events. She is a PhD student in Dr. Margie Lachman's Lifespan lab, researching cognitive and voice biomarkers of dementia. Liz joined Grad Reps to further develop the "bridge" between faculty and graduate students in hopes of strengthening the genuinely supportive and friendly environment that attracted her to Brandeis. These duties include creating professional and personal resources for students, understanding and making developments from department-wide feedback, planning social and academic events, and providing a listening ear to any concerns. Outside of Grad Reps, Liz enjoys advising undergrads, playing music with friends, a fresh jar of Nutella, and naps.

Jillian Franks
Jillian Franks

Jillian Franks is the Graduate Representative contact person for department socials and events. She is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Social Interaction and Motivation Lab. She graduated from Rhodes College with a B.S. in Neuroscience (Theatre minor) and a M.A. in Psychology from the University of Missouri St. Louis. Her research centers around understanding the underlying neural mechanisms of perspective-taking and empathizing during intergroup interactions. Jillian joined Grad Reps to help foster community among the psychology departments’ students, faculty, and staff. In her free time, she enjoys watching television and movie reaction videos on YouTube, attending theatre performances, and taking a good nap.

Jourdan Parent

Jourdan Parent is a Graduate Representative contact person for Faculty-Student communications. Jourdan is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Neurochemistry and Cognition Lab. She graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Neuroscience. Her research projects use MR and PET imaging techniques to understand how individual differences in catecholamine function are related to higher-level cognition and brain network activity in healthy older adults. Currently, she is working on several projects focused on assessing how local and long-range functional connectivity is associated with changes in catecholamine synthesis capacity, Alzheimer’s Disease pathology, and cognitive function in aging. Jourdan joined the graduate representatives to help incoming graduate students navigate their transition into the program and also advocate for current students in the continuing growth and development of the psychology programs. In her free time, Jourdan enjoys watching crime documentaries and going for walks with her dog.

Emily Calobrisi
Emily Calobrisi

Emily is a Graduate Representative contact person for Faculty-Student communications. She is a Ph.D. student in the Knight Lab studying factors that contribute to punitive public attitudes towards individuals who commit sex offenses. She joined the Grad Reps to help students voice their concerns and help make the Psych Department a supportive and welcoming place for everyone! In her free time, she is a competitive ballroom dancer, lover of long walks, and a big fan of the UK show "Taskmaster."

Ashley Gilliam

Ashley Gilliam is the Graduate Representative contact person for Masters and PhD Support. Ashley Gilliam is a third year Ph.D. student. She has received a B.S. degree in Psychological Sciences (Neuroscience minor) and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Western Kentucky University in addition to her M.A. in Psychology from Brandeis University. Her research interests center around culture and cognition, especially studying within-culture variation (e.g., acculturation, SES, rural/urban differences) and non-WEIRD populations. Ashley joined the grad reps because sheis a first gen student and wants to make it easier for others to navigate academia. Currently she is investigating the impact of acculturation on memory strategies. Outside of research, Ashley enjoys drawing, rock climbing, and playing with her dog

Xiaolin Qiao

Xiaolin is the Graduate Representative contact person for survey information. Xiaolin Qiao is a PhD student in the Howard Lab studying the effect of mental imagery on learning and decision making. She is also interested in the underlying neural mechanism of these processes. She Grad Reps to know more about the department, how things are planned and organized, and also to know more about people around her and knowing how to work with different people on different types of tasks.

Jinlin Liu
Jinlin Liu

Jinlin is the Graduate Representative contact person for Masters support.

Grad Rep Email Contact For:
Tong Lin tonglin@brandeis.edu GSAS Events
Jillian Franks franksj@brandeis.edu Department Events
Liz Mahon elizabethmahon@brandeis.edu Department Events
Jourdan Parent jourdanparent@brandeis.edu

Faculty-Student communications

Emily Calobrisi emilycalobrisi@brandeis.edu

Faculty-Student communications

Xiaolin Qiao xiaolinqiao@brandeis.edu

Surveys

Ashley Gilliam ashleygilliam@brandeis.edu

Masters and PhD support

Jinlin Liu zero@brandeis.edu

Masters support