I’m nearing the end of the first iteration of university-wide discussions about the Graduate School, as part of a general review of how Georgetown should support and enhance graduate programs. In several meetings around campus, faculties and students tended to comment on functions that they thought were effectively conducted and some they thought could be improved. It was common to hear that the graduate School staff were devoted to students and faculty needs, but sometimes working over capacity because of complicated processes.
There do seem to be some near consensus perspectives on some functions now offered by the Graduate School. Most people agree that there are real efficiencies gained by centralizing the application receipt software, administrative procedures for international students, and allocation of graduate student fellowship support to programs.
Some expressed the need for ongoing review of the quality and performance of graduate programs, especially the relatively new Master’s programs. Many thought we could do better at this.
There was also general support for the centralized adjudication process of academic integrity issues involving graduate students to be centralized.
There was less consensus on whether programs might better handle the distribution of graduate student support after receiving block grants from a central source and whether the monitoring the progress of a graduate student toward degree requirements is best centralized.
The graduate students I met with asked for more attention to support outside the classroom – help with nonacademic job search, with meeting places convenient for intellectual exchanges across programs, and with reduction of teaching assistant duties.
There were some arguments that focus on differences between terminal Master’s programs that focus on direct application to occupations and Master’s programs more directly connected to PhD programs. In some faculty’s opinion, the first might require different oversight than the second.
The next iteration in the discussion will focus on alternative options for the Graduate School to allow everyone to compare how they fulfill the goals we have for graduate education at Georgetown.
I am devoted to having this be a transparent process fueled by widespread input.
It is great that Dr. Groves is looking into how to improve the Graduate School and graduate programs.
1. As in all parts of the university, the Graduate School would benefit from the simplification and stream-lining of its procedures.
2. I agree that the emphasis should be improving and strengthening existing programs before starting too many additional degree programs.
3. Grad students have for a long time asked for additional and more competitive fellowships, research and pre-dissertaion grants, dissertation fellowships, travel grants, etc. A serious effort should be made to raise funds for these purposes in the present and future capital campaigns. Outstanding teaching assistants should also receive awards — this would help them secure teaching jobs.
4. GU would benefit from graduate students playing a greater role in campus life, as they would contribute different and perhaps more mature perspectives, as they do at some other universities.
5. Perhaps new graduate students should receive orientation on living off-campus in the neighborhoods around the University. Complaints by neighbors seldom concern grad students, and they should be treated as adults. However, they should be aware of D.C. laws and regulations including noise ordinances. This would help them avoid problems and also help reduce town-gown tensions.
something my graduate program did which I have no seen at other places which really improved the quality of life was to have a ‘graduate student center’ which offered activities for us to sign up for to socialize (wine tasting, outings, walking tours, bar-nights, halloween party, etc) and it was a physical location with ?cheap/free? coffee. sans profs sans undergrads.