Last week at the Provost’s Student Advisory Committee, I discussed the concerns and aspirations of graduate students at Georgetown. This meeting supplemented other talks over the past few months.
As I have written before, the reorganization of the Graduate School is focused on building new interdisciplinary graduate programs on the Hilltop. Our new dean, Norberto Grzywacz, will arrive in January and begin to work with faculty groups interested in advancing this goal.
With this in mind, it’s clear that the provost’s office needs to make sure we build the most welcoming, supportive environment for graduate studies. So we’re attempting to listen to those involved in graduate studies carefully and to discern how best to proceed.
We’ve learned that the thinking about a residential campus, so dominant in the undergraduate model, needs to be adjusted in important ways. In the meeting, some of the issues we learned about have to do with the lack of university-affiliated graduate student housing. Most larger research universities have university-supported graduate dormitories and/or apartments. Housing of this type is of great importance especially for international students, unfamiliar with the US processes of renting an apartment. I’m happy to report that we’re working vigorously to develop a relationship with a housing development in the vicinity of campus to serve those needs. We’ll report progress on that front when we can.
Another issue that seems ripe for discussion is space for graduate students during the day on campus. In contrast to undergraduates, graduate students tend to focus on the courses of a single department. They are specialists. They need to see faculty at a higher rate. In addition, much of the learning in graduate programs comes from study groups and informal conversations about the subject matter focal to the program. While their formal classes are an important part of their education, graduate students also tend to need more interactions with each other. Learning is enhanced when graduate students can get together easily and frequently.
We do have study space in Lau for graduate students; we have also added more library carrels for them. Many departments, however, do not have common space for graduate students inside the department, close to faculty offices. Although space is the most precious resource at Georgetown, we ought to see whether we can’t get better at this issue over time. The ideal is locating graduate student space interspersed with faculty space. We can’t do that for all programs, but we’re open to creative ideas on how to get better on this issue.
Many of our PhD students interact with undergraduates as part of teaching assistant duties. They need to give course performance feedback to students in private conversations. While office space is at a premium, one wonders whether we couldn’t set up some hoteling scheme for sharing office space by teaching assistants to have those discussions when needed.
Another issue that arose in discussions concerned career counseling for graduate students. Graduate studies programs tend to lean on the professional networks of their faculty to a greater degree than is true of undergraduate programs. For many students, this is a wonderfully effective protocol. Faculty members pass on resumés and vitae to potential employers with recommendations. However, when students are interested in nontraditional career routes, they may need a different type of advice. We need to make sure that such students are not falling between the cracks of our career centers. We have a set of alumni, who started Hoya Gateway, to help our students navigate the career process by linking with alumni employed in fields of interest. One wonders whether that might be activated for graduate students, to address this problem.
Georgetown offers wonderful opportunities for graduate studies led by strong faculty. As we add more graduate students to the Hilltop, we need to be very purposeful on how we can support them in their out-of-class activities.
It is good news that a new Graduate School Dean has been selected and that greater attention will be given to the place of graduate students at Georgetown. Some comments on the blog are in order:
• Helping graduate students obtain suitable employment is a crucial service. SFS, MSB, MSPP and CCT all have graduate level placement services or units that organize very useful presentations by employers and workshops on job related topics. Is there any coordination and exchange of information among these units? Is there or should there be a coordinating committee? Can graduate students from one school (including the graduate school) attend career related events organized by another school or program? Could some of these activities be held in common?
• More recognition and awards for teaching excellence by TAs and excellent research work by Research Assistants would help them in obtaining academic and research jobs. Some leading graduate schools automatically give recognition to the 15% top performing TAs.
• The new Dean should also assess the adequacy of fellowships and scholarships both quantitatively and qualitatively. One of the reasons mentioned for Georgetown PhD programs not ranking as well as they should is that in the case of some GU departments the proportion of PhD students who are on fully funded fellowships is lower than is the case at top graduate programs. A greater number and more competitive fellowships and scholarships would greatly help in increasing the prominence of the graduatel programs and reduce the debt of graduates. At some leading universities graduate students on fellowships also receive financial support during the summer.
• It would also be important for the new Graduate School Dean to assess the adequacy of the funds available (internally and externally) for graduate student research, including for pre-dissertation and dissertation research, and for dissertation fellowships. Also, in the past graduate students have felt that more funds needed to be available for them to travel and attend professional conferences. Has this been now improved?
• Graduate students at Georgetown play less of a role in campus life and in determining campus culture than those at some other major universities. Student organizations are for the most part run by undrgrads, which is how it should be. However, grad students could play a more active role in mentoring undergrads, and in advising them on graduate schools and employment. They could also act as advisors to undergrad organizations, as guest writers and op-ed columnists for undergrad students publications, etc. A more active role by grad students would enrich campus life and culture. The adequacy of administrative and financial support for grad student organizations should also be assessed.
• As Dr. Groves has mentioned, the primary mandate of the new Graduate School Dean will be to provide greater support for graduate students, and to develop new graduate inter-disciplinary degree programs. Some possible inter-disciplinary degrees that readily come to mind include a PhD in Communication Culture and Technology, one in bio-informatics and bio-statistics , and a Master’s in Environmental Science /Studies.
• There are also some new PhD degrees that have been proposed by single departments that merit serious and favorable consideration, namely a PhD program in English and one in Applied Mathematics and/or Statistics. Very few, if any, universities of the size and stature of Georgetown lack PhD programs in these fields. A PhD program in Mathematics/Statistics would definitely raise Georgetown’s profile in the STEM area.
• Also, if I am not mistaken, the new Dean will have a role in arranging for the evaluation of existing graduate programs. This will be very important in assessing their needs and performance, and in helping them move towards true distinction.
• Of course, new proposed graduate degrees should be carefully evaluated to ensure the availability of sufficient demand, financial feasibility and chances of academic success, etc. In view of the enrollment cap existing at the Main Campus, new degrees should be prioritized and carefully selected.
• Financing of graduate programs and activities is a challenge. Most of the alumni donors are undergraduate alumni, and much of the donations in the past have been towards supporting undergraduate schools, undergraduate scholarships and student services, and for buildings. It falls on the Provost, the Associate Provosts and the new Graduate Dean to explain to the advancement staff, alumni and other potential donors the importance for the stature of the University of donations to suppor the Graduate School, graduate scholarships and fellowships, research activities, and chairs and professorships.
Thank you for hosting this conversation – I was just linked to it through the GSO’s weekly email blast. Another population that I’d like to see included is graduate students who have families of their own. Many on-campus events are difficult to coordinate with child care responsibilities, especially since (in my experience) this population tends to live farther from campus where housing is more affordable. Among the grad student – parents I know, we also have specific concerns such as finding childcare, balancing family responsibilities with dissertation writing, etc. which we discuss among ourselves, but it would be useful if the university could provide a forum for us to network across departments and programs.
It is terrific that there is an ongoing dialogue of the needs of the graduate student population, however there is an important body of students that has been left out of this conversation: the online/distance students. In the School of Nursing & Health Studies alone we have ~950 students currently enrolled (as of Fall 2014) in the Master’s of Science in Nursing degree program delivered online, and ~290 students who have graduated to date since the program launched in March 2011. In addition, several other online degree programs are in the build and launch phases across campus from a variety of schools, and in time, the online population will comprise a large proportion of the graduate students at Georgetown. Online students have a unique set of needs, whether it be access to resources like the library, GoCard, career services, or always having opportunities to join campus events via live streaming. It is critical and essential that this population be represented and included with a seat at the table when it comes to defining a graduate student at the University—the traditional definition is no longer valid and we need to recognize the tremendous value our online students bring to the University community.
Provost Groves,
Thank you for your informative blogpost about issues facing Georgetown students attending the Graduate School. In your penultimate paragraph, addressing career counseling and professional networking, you reference the GUAA’s Hoya Gateway initiative and “wonder whether [Hoya Gateway] might be activated for graduate students.” To be clear, Hoya Gateway is available to all Georgetown University students! And we would welcome the engagement of our Graduate School students in the Hoya Gateway program!
Again, thank you for providing your weekly window on different facets of Georgetown University!
Respectfully submitted,
Michael E. Karam, F’72, L’76, L’81
Senator, GUAA Board of Governors
Vice-chair, Communications and Technology Committee (Social Media)
Hoya Gateway is available for all Georgetown students– undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. There are more than 800 alumni who are eager to meet with students. For more information: http://www.hoyagateway.georgetown.edu.
Glad to see discussion about grad students. At the ceremony celebrating the opening of the Healy student center tonite it was nice to see the representative of the graduate student organization be part of the ceremony. Important topic. Also is is pretty impressive how many med students have a combination program. Ie masters in in bioethics, MBA , etc