Graduate School

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Graduate Education at Southern Miss

Through an extensive selection of outstanding degree and certificate programs and professional development opportunities, graduate students at The University of Southern Mississippi acquire the knowledge and skills for success. Our graduates impact the world in such diverse fields as ocean science, psychology, social work, nursing, business, and the arts. Currently, over 3,000 students from across the globe are pursuing degrees in a broad variety of degree and certificate programs across all academic colleges.

Opportunities for Professional Development

As part of our commitment to providing a holistic educational experience, the Graduate School offers graduate students professional development opportunities to build the transferable skills necessary for success in both academic and non-academic careers.

In partnership with the Jimmy A. Payne Foundation, the Southern Miss Graduate School is thrilled to offer competitive Dissertation Completion Grants for the 2024-2025 academic year. These awards are intended to reduce the burden of dissertation-related expenses for students while helping to decrease students’ time to degree.

To be considered for a Dissertation Completion Grant, students must have achieved the status of “doctoral candidate,” which necessitates completing all required graduate coursework, obtaining a passing score on one’s doctoral comprehensive examinations, and successfully defending a doctoral project proposal or dissertation prospectus. Students must be enrolled full-time and be in good academic standing with the Southern Miss Graduate School. Students must also commit to completing their dissertations and all degree requirements by the summer 2025 term. Applicants may request up to $2,000 to be used within the final year of their doctoral program. This initiative is open to students in all doctoral programs at Southern Miss.

Graduate Coordinator Workshops

The Graduate Schools facilitates 4 Coordinator Workshops throughout the academic year. The sessions are facilitated by current USM graduate faculty or Graduate School staff and concentrate on creating successful mentoring approaches, fostering strong connections, utilizing faculty and student resources, and equipping mentors with strategies to resolve conflicts. Graduate coordinators and mentors can gain integral knowledge and abilities for developing an effective and meaningful mentoring program that benefits graduate students' academic and professional growth.

Mentorship Lunch and Learn

This is an in-person mentoring workshop designed to help new and continuing faculty sharpen their skills as effective and positive mentors in their work with graduate students. The workshop will be roundtable discussions of case studies of realistic interactions between graduate mentors and students. For new faculty, this workshop will also satisfy the mentorship training requirement to receive graduate faculty status.

Mentorship Training Series

Student success and well-being are affected, either positively or negatively, by the quality of the mentoring they receive. Improved persistence, enhanced research productivity, greater engagement of women and minorities in STEMM fields, and better academic performance are examples of positive outcomes of high-quality mentoring.

To address this need, the Southern Miss Graduate School is offering a comprehensive mentor-training program for graduate faculty in conjunction with the Center for Faculty Development during the 2024-2025 academic year. In-depth training sessions will be facilitated by graduate faculty members at Southern Miss with extensive graduate mentorship experience who have participated in an intensive mentorship training through the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

Topics to be covered throughout the year include defining mentorship, understanding outcomes of effective mentoring, addressing demographic disparities of mentees, and attributes of effective mentor-mentee relationships (including academic, interpersonal, and psychosocial development). Faculty members who may be interested in expanding their knowledge and skills concerning graduate mentorship can register below.

Professionals in Preparation is a professional development program designed to help students improve their transferable skills (leadership, effective communication, problem solving, management, etc.) making them more marketable and effective in an increasingly competitive job market. The two-semester program consists of:

• Bimonthly seminars and workshops
• Mentor-ship training
• Participation in communication competitions

The Proposal Project aims to strengthen grant-writing skills of graduate students through training and practice and increase the number of externally-funded fellowships and traineeships awarded to graduate students at Southern Miss. Grant-writing workshops will be held each fall and spring semester, providing training to enable students to identify potential funding sources, to prepare competitive proposals, and to navigate the submission process.

The Susan A. Siltanen Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 3, 2025 from 10:00am-11:30am in the Thad Cochran Center (2nd Floor). Winners will be announced during the Awards Luncheon in the Thad Cochran Ballroom from 12:00pm-1:00pm.

The symposium provides graduate students with an opportunity to present their research to faculty, staff and students in a friendly competitive environment through oral and poster presentations. The symposium aims to enhance the scholarly environment and highlight the creative and innovative research conducted by Southern Miss graduate students.

Symposium Presentation Deadline: Friday, March 28, 2025

Submit Symposium Presentation

The Graduate School's annual Three Minute Thesis Competition will be held at the Joe Paul Theater on November 13-14, 2025. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland in Australia. 3MT participants are asked to describe their thesis or dissertation in a three-minute presentation, clearly conveying the complexities of their topic and research to a nonacademic audience. The competition provides an excellent opportunity for students to hone their 30-second elevator pitch and win monetary prizes while doing so. 3MT is open to all graduate students, and students enrolled in 100% online programs can participate virtually.

Each semester, USM Graduate students have the opportunity to apply for the Graduate Competitive Travel Award. The funds may be used to support graduate student participation in a virtual or in-person professional conference, exhibition, or other appropriate venue for purposes of presenting research or other forms of creative work in conjunction with a student’s program of study.

Applicants may request up to $500 to be used for virtual conference registration fees or domestic travel or up to $1000 for approved international travel.

Fall 2025 Travel Award Application Deadline: Friday, July 11, 2025

Fall Travel Award Application

Faculty Letter of Support