In this inaugural leadership role, Senior Associate Dean Eva Kubu provides strategic vision and oversees the Graduate School's priority to make professional development an intrinsic and transformative part of graduate education at Princeton. She and her team spearheaded the GradFUTURES^® campus-wide initiative to provide a comprehensive model of interdisciplinary and experiential learning opportunities designed to prepare all Ph.D. and master's students with the skills and competencies they need for academic and career success. 

Eva has more than two decades of leadership experience within the field of career and professional development. Before joining the Graduate School, Eva served as Director of Career Services at Princeton where she helped lead a structural reimagination and major expansion of the career center serving all undergraduates, graduate students, and alums. She built new organizational capabilities and oversaw a management team responsible for career advising, educational and experiential programming, employer relations/on-campus recruiting, marketing and communications, DEI, alum engagement, technology, assessment, and finance. Earlier in her career, Eva managed marketing and communications for the three regional career centers of Rutgers University. She was also the managing partner of an executive coaching firm and served as the associate director of career services and adjunct faculty member at DeVry University. 

A first-generation college student, she has dedicated her career in higher education to creating systems and structures that promote professional development, build social capital, and ensure equitable access to opportunity for all students. Eva has provided consulting for other institutions and organizations in the United States and abroad to help advance goals related to early career talent and strategic leadership. She has earned multiple awards for innovation throughout her career, including Princeton University's Donald Griffin Management Award, the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Innovation Excellence Award for Research, the Metropolitan New York Career Officers’ Association Award for Innovative Career Center Programming, the DeVry University Innovative and Creative Teaching Award, and the DeVry University President's Award. An early adopter and evangelist of social media use in higher education, she has conducted three nationwide research studies regarding the use of social media in the career services field and ways to leverage social platforms for constituent engagement, community building, and professional development. She has presented to academic and industry audiences about ways to develop a compelling and authentic social media presence, connect with purpose, and establish meaningful and enduring professional networks. 

As a faculty member for the Management Leadership Institute of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, Eva has taught a course in strategic communications for emerging leaders in the fields of career services and professional development. She is a member of the Graduate Career Consortium, the Society of Human Resource Managers, and the American Association of University Women, among others. Eva also previously served on the board of directors for Dress for Success Central New Jersey, where she assisted in developing a strategic plan for the expansion of the organization to serve disadvantaged women in seven counties across the state.

Eva received an M.S. in higher education administration from Drexel University, a B.A. in psychology from Rutgers, and holds a mini-MBA certificate in social media marketing from Rutgers Business School. 

As I think about the role of GradFUTURES and its relationship to both the future of graduate education and the future of work, I am committed to innovative and evidence-based approaches and to leading a dialogue on our campus and across the nation about the importance of integrating professional development in ways that ensure equitable pathways to opportunity and support the futures of all graduate students.

Please see the University news story of Dean Kubu's appointment here.

Read more about GradFUTURES' strategy and the imperative of graduate student professional development in Dean Kubu's recent article,  “Reimagining Graduate Student Professional Development as an Institutional Inclusion, Equity, and Innovation Driver,” in the fall 2023 edition of the National Association of Colleges & Employers Journal. 

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: 

• Lead the efforts of the Graduate School in developing a comprehensive and integrated program of professional development offerings for all graduate students
• Provide strategic vision and leadership of the GradFUTURES programmatic hub devoted to graduate student professional development,
• Establish and expand key partnerships with students, faculty, staff, industry, and alums
• Ensure that Princeton is identifiable as a leader in making professional development an integral part of the formal and co-curricular education that our graduate students receive