Transform Your Winter Break with January@HarvardGriffinGSAS!

January brings calm after a busy end of the semester and holiday season, a pause from classes and teaching, and a chance to recharge for the new year. It also brings the wide variety of programming that is January@HarvardGriffinGSAS.

Launched in 2010, January@HarvardGriffinGSAS is a mix of academic and professional development workshops, as well as cultural and recreational activities that promote student wellness, creativity, and community. (They’re also just fun.)

At the center of the programming is the Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Council (GSC), which strives to advocate for, support, and recognize all students at our School. As part of this work, the council has offered 115 mini-courses since January@HarvardGriffinGSAS’s inception. Mini-course grants are awarded to students who design and teach their own courses—often in fields of interest other than the ones they study formally. The goal for both leaders and participants is to learn, have a good time, meet new people, and try a new skill.

Over the years, course topics have ranged from the science of smell to the art of Chinese calligraphy, the Holocaust in film, poetry in connection to maps and scientific catastrophes, and no-knead bread making. Other subjects have included nutrition and America’s food crisis, social media, AI, data visualization, and more. (You can find a full list of courses in the “History of GSC Mini-Courses” article on Engage.)

David Caldas, a master’s student in medical anthropology and the current GSC co-chair of support, took the mini-course “Socializing Our Science: Embedding Your Research in Social Contexts” last January. He says the class introduced him to the field of science, technology, and society, focusing on how academia and society interact. “It was a transformative experience that will affect my entire career,” he says. “It opened my eyes to a field I now keep very close to my medical anthropology research and my professional development.”

After taking the course, which was taught by the members of the Harvard Griffin GSAS Science Policy Group, Caldas joined the group and now co-leads it. He says that his participation “fundamentally changed the academic and professional engagements I have with this institution.”

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Instructor guides students during a January@Harvard Griffin GSAS bookmaking course.

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Ben Gebo

Caldas and his GSC colleagues hope more students have the same kind of experience this January. “As one of the two GSC chairs of support in charge of mini-courses, I am determined to promote even more transformative offerings for all at Harvard Griffin GSAS.” (Check out a full list of January 2025 mini-courses in mid-December on Engage.)

January@HarvardGriffinGSAS also features a bevy of social events to brighten up the short, cold winter days, including board-game nights and the popular Student Center ski trip (sold out!). You can also take a professional development workshop like resumé and cover letter writing, productivity, and crafting abstracts, or take a deep dive into research with library staff. Finally, why not take some time during winter session to learn more about social media platforms like LinkedIn, attend career fairs, or prepare for Commencement?

You can find a complete list of January@HarvardGriffinGSAS events on the Engage events calendar. Whatever you decide to do, we at the Student Center hope your winter break is full of rest, learning, connection, and maybe having a go at something you’ve always been interested in. They’re all great ways to #FindYourCenter.

Banner photo by Tony Rinaldo.