For many students, especially those who may be the first in their families to pursue a graduate degree, the pathway to master’s and doctoral education is not always clear. This book aims to demystify the “hidden curriculum” of applying to graduate school and offers suggestions for planning and organizing the process. Students will find an overview of different degree types and advice on selecting potential programs and preparing the strongest application possible. We also provide ideas for maintaining work-life harmony and building supportive networks once a program begins. 

CGS provides free electronic access to all our publications at the Member Library. Any administrator, faculty, or staff member of a CGS member institution may view, download, or print copies of CGS titles in PDF format (login required).

Print copies of this publication are also available for purchase in the Online Store. CGS members receive discounted rates. To order, access the publication in the Member Library. For complete details on CGS publications, visit cgsnet.org/publications. 

CGS invites doctoral-granting federally recognized Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) that are CGS members to apply to participate in Understanding PhD Career Pathways for Program Improvement, a multi-institution effort to collect and use data on PhD career pathways, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1661272) and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This is an important opportunity to deepen your institution’s understanding of the career goals and outcomes of its PhDs; communicate your support for the career diversity of PhDs; make evidence-based interventions that support the success of PhDs and the recruitment of future students; and access anonymized benchmarking data compiled from other project partners.

The Council of Graduate Schools’ PhD Career Pathways project is a multi-phase initiative to improve doctoral education through data collection, information-sharing, university networks, and resource development. With support from the National Science Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, CGS has built a coalition of 75 doctoral institutions working to help universities improve student and alumni experiences and outcomes through an evidence-informed approach. In addition, CGS collects aggregate data on PhD career aspirations and outcomes from our partner universities and provides insights on the experiences and outcomes of doctoral training at the national level.

Project Highlights

Join the Coalition

Doctoral institutions in CGS’s member network are eligible to apply to participate as project affiliates, a requirement for competing for future award funding. For more information on the project partners, please read and download the Career Pathways project flyer.

Resources

Contact

Julia Kent

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. (NSF #1661272 and #2000750). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admissions through Completion

**The Deadline for submission has passed.

Educational Testing Service and the Council of Graduate Schools are pleased to announce the Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admissions through Completion. This program recognizes promising efforts in initiating or scaling up innovations in graduate education that occur from admission through successful completion of a degree program. It is designed to link innovative admissions practices with other institutional practices including, but not limited to, mentoring, support programs, intellectual enrichment, and social support, that will improve student success once students are enrolled in their graduate programs. This award program is especially interested in encouraging innovations that promise to improve the success of a diverse and inclusive student population.

Purpose: To provide support in the form of a matching grant to one institution per academic year for the purpose of effecting institutional changes that result in enhancing student success though completion of programs at the master’s or doctoral level. The competition will consider either start-up efforts or efforts to expand or deepen existing initiatives to enhance or improve success.

Deadline: Applications must have be received by 5 p.m. Eastern on September 9, 2016. Send applications electronically, as a single pdf attached to an email to Maureen McCarthy.

Proposals: The proposal narrative should not exceed six pages, and should describe the strategies to be implemented and the institutional analysis that the graduate school has undertaken to arrive at those strategies.

Each proposal narrative should also address the impact of this intervention on increasing inclusiveness in graduate education.

Guidelines: Submit your application electronically as a single PDF that contains a letter of application (under the signature of the graduate dean or equivalent), proposal narrative, letter of endorsement (from the chief academic officer or president of the institution), and relevant attachments. The proposal narrative should not exceed six pages total and should include:

1. Description of how proposed institutional changes are expected to promote success in graduate education.
2. Description of the problem analysis that led to the development of the strategy proposed.
3. Discussion of the metrics to be used for assessing success of the program.
4. Two year budget that reflects the full amount of the award and the match.
5. Description for plans to sustain the initiative beyond the funding provided by the grant.
6. Letter of endorsement from the institution's chief academic officer or president.
7. Winner must agree to submit a final report to CGS in a form to be published in a series of case studies of "best-practices" in ensuring success in graduate education.

Eligibility: All member institutions of CGS will be eligible to apply for this award. Institutions that have won the award previously are eligible to apply again after a 10-year period.

The application must be submitted by the principal graduate representative of the institution and endorsed by the institution's chief academic officer or president. The principal graduate representative at the institution must have oversight of the proposed initiatives. Applications involving more than one institution are acceptable.

Awards: Each award shall be for $20,000 over a two year period, an amount to be matched by $10,000 from the selected institution. The contribution may be in-kind, but must be specified in the application.

Length of Grants: Two years, beginning January 2017.

Policy Concerning Indirect Costs: Indirect costs are not considered part of the Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admissions through Completion. The grantors do not pay overhead in connection with it.

Award Presentation: The award will be made in December 2016 at the CGS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

First presented in 1981 and sponsored jointly by CGS and ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (a Division of ProQuest Information and Learning), these awards are made each year to individuals who, in the opinion of the award committee, have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.

Two awards are given annually in two different broad areas (mathematics, physical sciences and engineering; and social sciences; and the biological sciences; and humanities and fine arts). Individuals must be nominated for these awards by a member institution, the nominations will be accepted until June 30, 2022.

The fields off competition for this year are:

• Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
• Social Sciences

2022 Call for Nominations

2022 Nomination Form

Past Award Winners

Contact

Anna M. Naranjo

Award support provided by

Frequent and robust assessment of undergraduate student learning outcomes is essential to improving the quality of U.S. higher education in all disciplines, yet many universities struggle to transform teaching and learning in their classrooms.  One approach to accelerating change involves training current graduate students in the use of best practices for undergraduate learning assessment – before they join the faculty ranks. Strategies to Prepare Future Faculty to Assess Student Learning describes an impressive battery of effective methods for preparing future faculty, including strategies tailored to specific institutional contexts as well as those used by many institutions to meet common challenges. An additional resource, Preparing Future Faculty: A Framework for Program Design and Evaluation at the University Level, was developed using insights from participants in the PFF ASL initiative and is intended to help universities with PFF and PFF-like programs strengthen their programs and develop robust evaluations of their impacts.

Project Goals

The overarching goal of the project was to provide graduate students who aspire to faculty positions with strategies to:

• Identify needs and opportunities in their classrooms and in their programs;
• Respond to those needs through enhanced teaching and learning techniques; and
• Engage with other graduate students and faculty in evidence-based conversations within and across the arts and sciences.

Project Outcomes

 Strategies to Prepare Future Faculty to Assess Student Learning

Executive Summary

Full Report

Preparing Future Faculty Resource Library

Press Release

Preparing Future Faculty: A Framework for Program Design and Evaluation at the University Level

        Full Report

Research Partners

Through a competitive process, the following universities were selected to participate in the project as funded research partners:

• Cornell University
• Harvard University
• Indiana University
• Michigan State University
• North Carolina A&T State University
• University of California, Merced
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro

An additional 19 universities participated in the project as affiliate partners:

Additional Resources

In 2010, the Council of Graduate Schools was awarded a grant from the Teagle Foundation to explore the preparation of future faculty to assess student learning. The publication, Preparing Future Faculty to Assess Student Learning, reviews recent trends in learning assessment, reports on data from a CGS survey of institutions with PFF and similar programs, and provides insights gleaned from a meeting of assessment experts, graduate deans, and graduate students about challenges and opportunities for future action. A free copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Contact

Julia Kent

In collaboration with:

Final Program

Meeting Dates and Location
December 1-4, 2021
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
New Orleans, LA

The CGS Annual Meeting was held December 1-4, 2021 in New Orleans. The 300+ attendees enjoyed a safe, productive, engaging, and thought provoking event. Annual meeting participants explored a variety of important issues in graduate education with topics ranging from mentoring to articulating the value of formal degrees to reinventing graduate STEM education.

Selected PowerPoint presentations from the 2021 CGS 61st Annual Meeting are below. Presentations are in chronological order by each category. Presentations are offered as Adobe Acrobat PDF files.

Pre-Meeting Workshop Presentations

Mentoring To Support Diverse Students and Careers
William Karpus, Ambika Mathur, and Paula McClain

Improving Marketing and Recruitment Strategies For Master’s Programs
Brian Carolan, Andrea Golato, and Ranjit Koodali

Data and Evidence Inspired Approaches Toward Graduate Student Well-being
Karen Butler-Purry, Elizabeth Klonoff, and Robin Yates

ProQuest Breakfast

Big Questions, Big Data and ProQuest Dissertations And Theses
Jason Owen-Smith and Gilia Smith

IELTS USA Breakfast

The Challenges of International Teaching Assistants and How to Support Their Transition into the Classroom
Kayla Landers, Marianne Menius, and Misty Wilson

Concurrent Sessions Presentations

More Than The Sum of Their Parts?: Articulating The Value of Formal Degrees
Bonnie Ferri, Clay Gloster, and Douglas Woods

Creating a Graduate Enrollment Ecosystem: Attracting, Engaging, and Retaining Your Best-Fit Applicants - Sponsored by Liaison International
Jillian Baer, David Daleke, and Algerian Hart

Mentoring Master's Students
Reginald Ellis, Jennifer Roberts, and Jerry Weinberg

Integrating Networking Skills Into Humanities Phd Programs
Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, Robin Garrell, and Thomas Jeitschko

Bridging The Gap: Deferrals, Leaves, and Skipped Cohorts
Scott Adler, Susan Ettner, and Mary Jo Finney

STEAM and The Future of Interdisciplinary Research: Engine of Innovation or a Bunch of Hot Air?
James Antony,  Natasha Croom, and Elizabeth Wentz

An Outcome-Based Proposal for the Future of the Phd: We’re All In This Together

NAGS organized session

Gina Beltrán and Bradley Nelson

Building A New Future for Virtual Academic Support and Professional Development for Graduate Students: Investigating A Consortium Model
E. Alana James, Scott Lanyon, Sarah Larsen, and Joseph Oppong

Reinventing Graduate STEM Education
Karen S. Coats, Peter J. Harries, Nirmala Kannankutty, and Kim LaScola Needy

Seeing the Future We Used to See Here: Compassion and Commitment to International Students
Angela Pool-Funai, M.J.T. Smith, and Melissa Sturge-Apple

Understanding Challenges and Impacts of Caregiving: Supporting Students at a Time of Transition
Susan Carvalho, Preselfannie McDaniels, and Michael Solomon

Are My Professional Graduate Programs Financially Sustainable? A DIY Guide for Deans MAGS organized session
Ricky Hull and Jennifer Ziegler

Understanding The Graduate Student Mindset: Insights From a New Survey of 2,000+ Prospective Graduate Students - Sponsored by EAB
Will Lamb and Ashley Walker Colquitt

Lightning Round Sessions

Student-Centered Language Assessment: Lowering Barriers and Increasing Opportunities - Sponsored by Duolingo English Test
 

State of the Education Market: Trends and Insights in Key Master's Disciplines - Sponsored by Wiley Education Services

Contacts:

Katherine Hazelrigg, CGS  (202) 461-3888 | khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Kristen Lacaillade, ETS   (609) 524-8172 | mediacontacts@ets.org

Washington, DC – Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ETS presented the University of Montana (UM) with the 2021 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Scott Whittenburg, vice president for research and creative scholarship and dean of the Graduate School, accepted the co-sponsored award on the University of Montana’s behalf during an awards ceremony held at the CGS 61st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

The ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s and doctoral levels while promoting inclusiveness. The winning institution is selected on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools. The winner receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

The University of Montana’s initiative, Completing the Circle: Supporting the Success of Native Graduate Students, focuses on a sub-population of underrepresented students, who are a significant regional population in the cultural life of the West: Native American graduate students. The university, which occupies the aboriginal territories of the Salish and Kalispell people, aims to address a gap in the “circle of support” that is a key component of graduate school success: peer-to-peer encounters, especially outside of the context of graduate programs, that facilitate the fullest intellectual and professional growth of our students.

The initiative includes four components: Peer Cohort Meetings, A Native American Visiting Scholar Series, A Peer-to-Peer Mentor Fellowship Program, and Tribal Listening Sessions.  Through these efforts, the university hopes to recruit more Native American students into their graduate programs, to increase retention and completion, and to strengthen connections with regional tribes to foster a reciprocal emphasis on community improvement by elevating the visibility of Native graduate students.

“The Graduate School of the University of Montana is proud to accept the 2021 Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admissions through Completion! Our proposal reflects our institution's acknowledgement of the distinctive contribution our Native communities make to local, state, and regional culture, including the wisdom of their traditional knowledge,” said Scott Whittenburg, vice president for research and creative scholarship and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Montana. “We look forward to investing the funding in ongoing support of Native graduate students through a new peer-mentoring program, as well as in outreach efforts to deepen our relationships with tribal partners, who can help us shape graduate education with relevance and impact.”

“Through their Completing the Circle initiative, the University of Montana commits to leveraging existing resources, programs, and relationships to substantially enhance Native American student success in graduate education. While our recent graduate enrollment and degrees data show modest increases in American Indian/Alaska Native students pursuing graduate degrees, the graduate education community still has so much work to do. This project’s success will provide CGS members with new approaches to better engage and support Native graduate students,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “We are so grateful to ETS for their support in recognizing this innovative way to promote best practices among graduate schools.”

“We are proud to recognize the outstanding innovation in diversity by the University of Montana with the 2021 ETS/CGC Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion,” said Alberto Acereda, associate vice president of global higher education at ETS. “The institution’s approach to advancing diversity, innovation and success in graduate studies addresses a critical gap and serves as an excellent example for other institutions in serving graduate students.”

# # #

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg  (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost and dean of the Graduate and Professional School at Texas A&M University, is the 2021 recipient of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Dr. Butler-Purry received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 61^st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

A passionate and steadfast advocate for graduate education, Dr. Butler-Purry becomes the sixth Debra W. Stewart Award recipient for her invaluable contributions to Texas A&M University and the graduate education community. As dean, Dr. Butler-Purry has prioritized graduate student’s quality of life, their educational experiences in the classroom and labs, and their professional development opportunities. In addition, she developed new pathways and funding sources for underrepresented students, providing more than 80 doctoral fellowships per year to underrepresented minority students. In 2020, Dr. Butler-Purry led efforts to elevate graduate education at the university, helping to transform the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies to the Graduate and Professional School.

Dr. Butler-Purry has also been involved in many CGS projects, including Supporting the Mental Health and Well-being of Graduate Students, Understanding PhD Career Pathways for Program Improvement, Professional Development for STEM Graduate Students, and the Global Postgraduate Diversity Resource. She has served as chair of the CGS Board of Directors and is currently on the Executive Board of the Association of American Universities’ (AAU) Association of Graduate Schools. Dr. Butler-Purry has a demonstrated commitment to mentoring, receiving the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mentor Award.

“Texas A&M University could not be more proud of Karen Butler-Purry’s recent Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Dr. Butler-Purry is a tireless advocate for diversity, inclusion, and access to graduate programs on our campus and across the country,” said Timothy P. Scott, interim provost and executive vice president, Texas A&M University. “We are grateful for her continued service and passion for graduate education.”

“The CGS Board of Directors is pleased to recognize Dr. Butler-Purry’s leadership and service to the graduate education community. Karen is a passionate advocate for graduate student success and well-being. Under her leadership, Texas A&M University has developed comprehensive learning outcomes for master’s and doctoral students, increased data transparency, and demonstrated a deep commitment to ensuring access and opportunity for all,” said Dr. Andrew G. Campbell, dean of the Graduate School at Brown University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors.

Created in 2016 by the CGS Board of Directors, this award recognizes outstanding leadership in graduate education, particularly those leadership qualities exemplified by the Council’s fifth President, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee considers nominees with a strong reputation for ethics and integrity, a history of active participation in the graduate community, and a record of strategic vision and actions resulting in meaningful impacts. Areas of special consideration include evidence-based innovation, program development, diversity and inclusion, student learning and career outcomes, personnel management, policy advocacy in support of graduate education and research, and fiscal responsibility.

Nominees for the award must be a current senior, graduate dean at a CGS member institution (Regular or Associate) and cannot be an active member of the CGS Board of Directors. Nominations are made by member institutions and are reviewed by a selection committee of former graduate deans in the CGS community. The winner receives a $4,000 prize to support continuing innovations at the awardee’s institution.

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The University of Montana Receives ETS®/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education

Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ETS presented the University of Montana (UM) with the 2021 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Scott Whittenburg, vice president for research and creative scholarship and dean of the Graduate School, accepted the co-sponsored award on the University of Montana’s behalf during an awards ceremony held at the CGS 61st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Karen Butler-Purry Receives Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education

The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost and dean of the Graduate and Professional School at Texas A&M University, is the 2021 recipient of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Dr. Butler-Purry received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 61^st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Jennifer R. Teitle Wins Assistant and Associate Deans Leadership Award

The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Jennifer R. Teitle, assistant dean of the Graduate College at the University of Iowa, is the 2021 winner of the Assistant and Associate Deans Leadership Award. Teitle received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 61st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Tae-Yeoun Keum Receives 2021 Arlt Award in the Humanities

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2021 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Tae-Yeoun Keum, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 61st Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Winners of 2021 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards Announced

The Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Caitlin Cornell and Denisa Jashari during an award ceremony held at the CGS 61^st Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Dr. Cornell received her PhD in physical chemistry and biophysics from the University of Washington in 2019; Dr. Jashari completed her PhD in Latin American History at Indiana University Bloomington in 2020.