Mission

Imagined Futures builds the capacity of faculty, staff and graduate programs to help graduate students embark on meaningful careers of all kinds.

About

Imagined Futures seeks to enact transformative change in the career-development support that Ohio State offers graduate students.

Graduate programs have long cultivated cross-disciplinary methods and practices to build skills like creative and critical thinking; the ability to analyze complex data and use evidence-based practices; and enhanced communication and collaboration. Historically, many graduate programs focused on preparing students to enter research and teaching careers within the professoriate. Today, our students are applying these skills in many lines of work. Our graduate programs should adapt to serve our students’ changing professional needs.

Imagined Futures aims to build a culture of support for career development in which graduate students understand how their transferable skills can serve communities and employers, their advisors support their ambitions through informed planning, and their graduate programs enable their growth and celebrate their achievements. The Imagined Futures Career Allies Academy offers faculty, staff and graduate programs tools for guiding graduate students’ career exploration; teaching students to translate skills to seek jobs beyond the professoriate; and integrating career diversity across the breadth of graduate education.

This project builds on GAHDT’s prior investments in research that addresses critical societal challenges. When researchers commit to understanding challenges of this kind, they build capacities for empathetic and data-driven problem-solving that can be applied in many sectors of society. Training our graduate students to engage with community partners and ensuring that they develop practical skills helps to close the gaps between study and practice, between campus and community, while also helping students find work that matters to them.

Ohio State offers many career development support programs housed in its various colleges, the Office of Student Life, the Graduate School and elsewhere. By sustaining conversations that cross institutional boundaries and encouraging these programs to take full account of the advanced skills and integrative thinking our graduate students achieve, Imagined Futures seeks to increase their collaboration and effectiveness in the service of our students.  

2024-25 Plan of Work

This year, Imagined Futures is enhancing capacity for graduate career support in the following ways:

• In the Imagined Futures Career Allies Academy — a select cohort of faculty and staff — are meeting monthly to develop plans for sustainable integration of graduate student career development in their own programs. 
• To raise awareness on campus and beyond, Imagined Futures is gathering and disseminating information about the many career trajectories of Ohio State’s graduate alumni. 
• Imagined Futures has developed a template that assists departments and schools in gathering and using alumni data to inform the direction of their graduate programs. This template is now available. Email Imagined Futures Faculty Fellow Mark Moritz (moritz.42@osu.edu) to learn more. 

Contact

Director Danielle Fosler-Lussier (Music)
Email: Fosler-Lussier.2@osu.edu

Danielle Fosler-Lussier is a professor in the School of Music, where she has taught since 2003. Fosler-Lussier's principal interests include music in international contact and exchange; the role of women in the creation of concert life, state support for the arts and educational institutions; and music history pedagogy.