Careers Beyond Academia

Alumni Conversation about the Academic Writing Process
2025-07-15 15:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | 172 Goldwin Smith Hall, 232 Feeney Way, Ithaca, NY, 14850, United States
The College of Arts and Sciences is hosting alumna Dr. Alison Miller on Tuesday, July 15. Dr. Miller authored the book Finish Your Dissertation: Once and for All! and co-founded a virtual co-working community for graduate students and other academic professionals called The Academic Writers’ Space. She is focused on helping people shift from hustle and overwhelm to Relaxed Productivity, a way of working that honors productivity, purpose, and well-being. Her approach is rooted in both science and lived experience. She holds a BA from Cornell and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from University of Illinois Chicago, and has 25 years of entrepreneurial leadership, including founding and leading The Dissertation Coach, which helped over 15,000 people earn their doctoral degrees before she sold the company after 24 years of impact.
In addition to presenting to undergraduate Nexus Scholars in their professional development class, the Graduate School and Arts and Sciences Career Development are delighted to offer 1:1 meetings and an Academic Writing Process small group conversation hosted by Dr. Miller in the afternoon. Individual meetings are available for both undergraduates and graduate students, while the Academic Writing Process event is open to students, postdocs, and interested faculty/staff. If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please sign up via this SignUpGenius link as soon as possible.
Please send any questions about Dr. Miller’s events for graduate students on July 15 to Dr. Colleen McLinn (cmm252) or Jess Shapiro (js3845).
See also:
More resources for Graduate Student Writing Support

Ph.D. Career Stories: The Good, The Messy, and The Pivot
2025-07-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
Join us for Ph.D. Career Stories: The Good, the Messy, and the Pivot—a virtual conversation series featuring guests who hold doctoral degrees and have pursued diverse careers beyond academia.
In this session, you’ll hear from Dr. Yvonne Masters, Ph.D. (Food Science, Cornell), a food safety & quality leader with nearly two decades of global CPG experience and technical expertise in compliance, auditing, and supplier risk mitigation. Dr. Jenny Valentine, Ph.D. (Chemistry, Yale) is a Senior Principal Scientist at Regeneron, where she leads bioanalytical strategy for oncology programs using both traditional and emerging drug modalities.
What to expect:

Candid, informal conversation—no slides, just real stories
Insights on working in industry, biotech, and food safety
Q&A and advice from experienced Ph.D. professionals

Whether you’re actively exploring careers beyond academia or simply curious about what’s possible, this session offers a unique opportunity to hear from those who’ve charted new paths—with all the complexity, creativity, and learning that comes with it.
Register to attend.

Dr. Yvonne Masters, Director of Food Safety and Quality Policy at John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., brings nearly two decades of leadership in food safety across the nut, dairy, and snack food sectors. A Cornell alumna, she has also served as a Senior Microbiologist and Quality Leader, earning recognition through the 2022 IAFP Harold Barnum Industry Award and her company’s 2024 Vision Award. Her academic foundation from the University of Illinois and Cornell continues to inform her impactful work in advancing industry standards.

Dr. Jenny Valentine currently works in the Bioanalytical Sciences Department at Regeneron. In her role, she leads bioanalytical strategy for multiple programs in oncology that utilize both traditional and emerging drug modalities. She has eight years of experience in large molecule bioanalysis, with previous roles focusing on immunogenicity assay development, validation, and sample testing. Jenny earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University in the Matthew DeLisa Laboratory from 2012–2015. She is an active participant in several AAPS working groups.
