Kori Andrea didn’t know how she would fare in graduate school. Though her parents are both public school teachers and had always valued education, the Memorial University student from Nova Scotia was the first person in her family to pursue a graduate degree. “The idea of graduate school was new,” she said in a recent interview, “especially being involved in research.”

It was her passion for research, however, that led Andrea to pursue her doctorate in chemistry at Memorial University in Newfoundland. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, she fell in love with research. She enjoyed the intellectual challenges, meeting leading scholars, and traveling for conferences. “The decision to continue my research career by pursuing a PhD was an easy decision for me,” she noted, even though it meant being the first member of her family to enroll in graduate school.

Since arriving at Memorial her research has flourished. Her PhD research focuses on using carbon dioxide (CO2) to design plastics “that can degrade and not pollute our oceans.” Early in her research she realized that though CO2 is inexpensive and easy to access, its stability means that it can only be made into plastics by applying high temperatures and pressures combined with an, often metal, catalyst. This production method is costly and risks metal contamination in the products. Andrea’s current research focuses on studying “a metal-free catalyst that is commercially available and capable of performing just as well if not better than the traditionally used metal catalysts.” The aim is to refine this catalyst to improve the types of plastics being produced and eliminate the possibility of metal contamination. Her long-term hope is that better catalysts will produce more biodegradable plastics that will allow for continued use of plastics in key industries without the damaging environmental impact.

Her innovative research has already attracted widespread acclaim. In May 2018 she was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, which is the most prestigious award granted to a Canadian graduate student. She was also named Cape Breton University Young Alumni of the Year for 2018. In 2019, she received the NSERC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement grant that allowed her to spend six months studying at Oxford University in England.

Despite these awards, Andrea remains humble and focused on her research. Her work has thrived under the mentorship she has received at Memorial, but she realizes that it’s the student’s drive to succeed that defines their graduate career. “My main point of advice would be to follow your heart,” she concluded, “Take advice from others but remember [that] to succeed, especially in graduate studies you really have to enjoy what you are doing and hard-workers are rewarded.” 

To learn more about Kori’s work visit the Memorial University website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

CGS, with support from ETS, has begun a new project, Supporting Diversity in Graduate Education: Next Steps in Advancing the International Agenda. This project grew out of the 2018 Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education and aims to address the absence of a global effort to tackle diversity issues at master’s and doctoral institutions by cataloguing, classifying, and disseminating diversity initiatives through a digital repository.

Background

Even after decades of reform, the underrepresentation of women and minorities in graduate education remains a persistent problem across a variety of global higher education systems. National and regional organizations supporting graduate education have attempted to tackle this underrepresentation with different projects and approaches.

Addressing this gap was a goal of the 2018 Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education co-sponsored by CGS, ETS, and the University of Johannesburg, which explored a range of issues related to diversity in master’s and doctoral education. Summit topics included clarifying and comparing definitions of diversity and inclusion, creating an inclusive campus and program culture, student recruitment, curriculum and pedagogy, retention and completion, and supporting successful career paths for all students. Under the theme, Supporting Diversity in Graduate Education, participants in the summit discussed current strategies for improving diversity, existing roadblocks, and future priorities.

In spite of the fact that national, community, and university systems confront unique challenges, and diversity often depends on national context, CGS and summit attendees agreed that the global graduate community would benefit from two areas of work: 1) Developing a system for classifying issues in diversity in graduate education and 2) Creating a resource library based on this taxonomy to include example policies, diversity metrics, research frameworks, promising practices, and case studies.

Proposal Overview

In March 2020, CGS and ETS released The Global Postgraduate Diversity Resource. The resources included on the website include essays from postgraduate leaders on diversity and inclusiveness as well as information from university diversity initiatives across the globe. You can access the diversity resource via this link. If you would like to submit a resource for consideration email Matthew Linton (mlinton@cgs.nche.edu). 

Advisory Committee

Suzanne T. Ortega, President, Council of Graduate Schools

Alberto Acereda, Senior Director of Business Development, Educational Testing Service

Sue Berners-Price, Dean, Griffith Graduate School, Griffith University

Hans-Joachim Bungartz, Dean of Informations, Graduate Dean, Technical University of Munich

Karen Butler-Purry, Associate Provost, Graduate and Professional Studies, Texas A&M University

Carlos Gilberto Carlotti, Jr., Provost, Graduate Studies, University of São Paulo

Alexander Hasgall, Head, Council for Doctoral Education, European University Association

Nelson Ijumba, former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs and Research, University of Rwanda

Shireen Motala, Senior Director, Postgraduate School, University of Johannesburg

Susan Porter, Dean and Vice-Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of British Columbia

Adham Ramadan, Dean, Graduate Studies, The American University in Cairo

Project support provided by

Nominations for the 2022 award are due August 31st.

Description

Created by the CGS Board of Directors, the Assistant and Associate Deans Leadership Award recognizes the major impact of assistant and associate deans on the quality of graduate education. Through this award, the CGS Board recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to graduate education through:

• Demonstrating creativity and innovation in response to institutional challenges and/or limited budgets or resources.
• Building partnerships both internal and external to the graduate school.
• Identifying and obtaining resources, both internal and external to the graduate school.
• Effectively advocating on behalf of graduate education.
• Fostering inclusiveness in the graduate community.
• Engaging student voices (including diverse voices).

Eligibility

• Assistant and associate-level deans whose official duties include a primary and substantial commitment to enhancing graduate education at any CGS “Regular” or “Associate” member institution are eligible to be nominated. Those eligible include deans within individual academic colleges or schools, if their primary administrative responsibility is graduate education.
• Nominees must have served for at least three full years at either the Assistant and/or Associate Dean level (or a combination of those two levels) at the nominee’s current institution. 
• Assistant or associate deans whose graduate deans currently serve on the Board of the Council are not eligible to be nominated for the award during the dean’s active years of board service.  That assistant or associate dean may be nominated when their Dean rotates off the board.
• Regional association representatives are not eligible to be nominated for the award during their term of service as liaison to the board.
• Please see the Frequently Asked Questions for additional considerations. 

If, in the selection committee’s view, the award’s high standards for outstanding achievement are not met in a given year, the committee may choose not to confer the award.

How to Submit a Nomination Package:

A complete nomination package includes the following components:

1. A completed nomination form.
2. A summary of the nominee’s achievements in the relevant areas of leadership. (See further instructions below).
3. The nominee’s curriculum vitae (5 pages maximum).
4. A signed letter of endorsement from the graduate dean (IHE1) at the nominee’s institution.
5. Two additional letters of recommendation supporting the nomination. A combination of internal/external letters. Letters should be addressed to the “Assistant/Associate Award Selection Committee.”

Note: The nomination package must be sent as a single pdf document to Anna M. Naranjo. Mailed or faxed paper submissions will not be accepted.

Instructions for Preparing the Summary of Achievements

When preparing the summary of the nominee’s accomplishments as an assistant or associate dean, please focus on each of the following considerations:

1. A history of active participation in the graduate education community (200-word maximum)
2. Ethics and integrity as a leader (200-word maximum)
3. A record of accomplishment and strategic thinking, resulting in meaningful impacts in one or more of the following six areas (400-word maximum):

• Demonstrating creativity and innovation in response to institutional challenges and/or limited budgets
• Building partnerships both internal and external to the graduate school
• Identifying and obtaining resources, both internal and external to the graduate school.
• Effectively advocating on behalf of graduate education.
• Fostering inclusiveness in the graduate community.
• Engaging student voices (including diverse voices)

Competitive nominees will have shown impacts in most or all of these six areas.

Nominators may also highlight accomplishments outside of these areas.  However, please be aware that the selection committee will give the highest priority to the criteria listed above and will evaluate each candidate’s accomplishments in these areas.

Review of Applications: 

All nominations will be reviewed by a committee selected by the Board of Directors.  

The recommendation of the committee will be approved by the Board.

Expectations of the awardee

If a selection is made, the award will be conferred at the CGS Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon. The awardee will be invited to plan and participate in a session at the CGS Summer Workshop, on a topic of their choosing.

Contact

Anna M. Naranjo

Award Support provided by:

On May 16, President Trump announced that the Administration is crafting a new “merit-based” immigration system that aims to significantly alter the recruitment and retention of those seeking U.S. visas. One of the stated goals of the proposal is to increase the number of highly-educated and highly-skilled international students and workers.

“CGS is committed to working with the Administration to ensure that the U.S. remains a competitive choice for international students. This is the second consecutive year we’ve seen a decline in application and first-time enrollment rates of international students at our member institutions. We also support efforts to retain their talent domestically,” said Suzanne Ortega, President of the Council of Graduate Schools.

CGS is, however, concerned that the proposal currently excludes a path forward for Dreamers. Also concerning is the potential adverse effect the proposal may have on the visa process for families and individuals seeking asylum.

“We remain steadfast in support of Dreamers and will continue to urge Congress to pass legislation that gives them an opportunity to become U.S. citizens. Additionally, we simply need more information about the Administration’s plan and the exact impact it would have on these stakeholder groups and our higher education system.”

As a first-year doctoral student in anthropology at Colorado State University, Ray Sumner believes public outreach and public archaeology are important aspects of his research. Sumner’s doctoral project is a multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach that relies on geography, archaeology, and history methods to better understand the 1865 Sacking of Julesburg, an event that succeeded the Sand Creek Massacre in which many Cheyenne and Arapaho people were killed.

Sumner uses traditional archaeological methods, such as excavation, but also employs emerging technologies, such as, aerial drone mapping, ground-penetrating radar, and thermal imaging to locate the lost stage stations, ranches, Indian camps and villages that are associated with this time period. He hopes his work will also serve as a rural economic development tool for heritage tourism in the area. Sumner says that, “Through my research process what I hope to achieve is for the Cheyenne and Arapaho to reclaim their agency and have people not just focus on the darkest days in Colorado’s history.”  He is in the process of initiating tribal consultation with a number of Native American tribal governments this summer and looks forward to incorporating their perspectives, voices, and concerns into his research.

Sumner was recently named a VPR Graduate Student Fellow at Colorado State and received the Innovation in Liberal Arts award at this year’s CSU Ventures Demo Day. In addition to his studies, Mr. Sumner is involved with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion, after serving 22-years in the United States Army. He’s the current Commander of Post 1879 of the American Legion and the President of the Colorado American Legion Press Association (COALPA). To learn more about Ray’s work visit the Colorado State University website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

On Wednesday, May 8, the full House Appropriations Committee marked-up and reported out its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS-ED) spending bill. The measure funds the Department of Education at $75.9 billion, $4.4 billion above FY 2019 and $11.9 billion above the President’s FY 2020 budget request. Funding levels for programs and agencies of importance to higher education and research, include:

• Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN): $24.05 million—$1 million above FY 2019; $24.05 million above the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Federal Work Study: $1.4 billion—$304 million above the FY 2019; $934 million above the President’s FY 2020 request
• Federal TRIO programs: $1.1 billion—$100 million above FY 2019; $210 million above the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Pell Grant: $6,345 for the maximum Pell Grant—an increase of $150 above FY 2019 and the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF): $350 million for the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF); same level as the previous two years
• International Education and Foreign Languages Studies program (Title VI): $80.4 million—$15.29 million above FY 2019; $80.4 million above President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Fulbright-Hayes: $8.73 million—$1.67 million above FY 2019; $8.73 million above the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): $41.08 billion—$2 billion above FY 2019; $6.9 billion above the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII and Title VIII: $854.9 million—$108.3 million above FY 2019; $550.2 above the President’s FY 2020 budget request
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): $358.2 million—$20.2 million above FY 2019; $358.2 million above the President’s FY 2020 budget request

These are preliminary funding levels, which may change as negotiations between the House and Senate continue. CGS submitted a letter to committee leadership in support of the bill, highlighting the critical importance of federal funding for student financial assistance, research, and workforce prorgams. Addtionally, CGS has updated it FY 2020 Appropriations chart to reflect the changes from this week’s markup. Further updates will be posted as the committee continues to complete its work.

Charlene Higgins, a graduate student in the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, has worked with the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS) for several years. ORIS, an ethnic community-based organization, aims to aid refugees resettled in New Hampshire and help them become self-sufficient. Higgins’s familiarity and passion for the work translated into her Master in Community Development capstone project.

The New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP), a program within ORIS, assists new Americans by helping them, “build sustainable farm enterprises that are consistent with their culture and lifestyle aspirations and that strengthen regional, sustainable food systems as a whole.” Higgins’s capstone project included helping the NASAP farmers increase their impact by providing technical assistance and training with an end goal of “effective co-op management and access to consistent, secure and profitable markets.”

“The co-op farmers are [now] equipped with additional tools, skills and knowledge to help them successfully reach their self-defined goals within the co-op, and within their communities,” Higgins says. “My education has benefited my work by providing me with the understanding that unique individuals-- with unique cultural backgrounds, life-histories, and personalities-- will have different self-defined needs, desires, and priorities.” To learn more about Charlene’s work visit the University of New Hampshire website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Charlene Higgins

Truong Xuan Tran’s academic path has been defined by transition. He began his undergraduate career as an electronic and telecommunications engineering student at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Vietnam. In 2010, he decided to make two important life changes: to attend graduate school in the United States and to change his research area to computer science. He would need to learn a new discipline and academic culture simultaneously.

Both of Tran’s decisions paid off, however. He thrived in his master’s program in computer science at Arkansas State University, so much so, that he was accepted into a doctoral program in computer science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Positive mentorship has eased Tran’s transition into doctoral work. His advisor, Ramazan Aygun, is a leading computer scientist in the field of protein crystallization and has co-written academic papers with Tran and invited him to present alongside him at conferences.

“Protein crystallization is a difficult process where thousands of trials may need to be set up for a successful crystalline outcome," Aygun noted. Computer models can speed these trials but may introduce errors. Aygun and Tran have introduced a novel decision-tree classifier – “else-tree” – that reduces the misclassification of data samples by labeling them as undecided instead of misidentifying them as another class. “The key point of the else-tree is that it postpones difficult data to classify by sending them to its else branch until a good attribute can classify those samples,” Tran concluded.

Though their collaboration has already proved fruitful, Tran and Aygun have an ambitious forthcoming research agenda. “We plan to investigate the proposed algorithm on other types of problems such as multi-class classification," says Tran. "We will examine the effectiveness of our method on other datasets. Especially, we will work on improving the else-tree to reduce the percentage of undecided samples while keeping the error minimum by working on other datasets." To learn more about Tran’s work visit The University of Alabama in Huntsville website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Truong Xuan Tran

On April 3rd and 4th, 40 CGS member deans and graduate students attended CGS’s 2019 Advocacy Day in Washington, DC. The activities of the two-day event included a training session on effective advocacy strategies with CGS’s government affairs staff, and Congressional meetings on Capitol Hill. Participants met with 61 House and Senate offices of both parties to advocate on behalf of graduate education, research, and scholarship. Using CGS-prepared requests, advocates urged legislators to preserve graduate student borrowing and loan repayment options in a Higher Education Act reauthorization; strengthen support for federal student aid and research funding in Fiscal Year 2020; and support policies that promote the U.S. as a welcoming environment to attract and retain international graduate students.

More information on Advocacy Day can be found in the April 2019 edition of CGS's GradEdge newsletter. 

View photos of CGS's 2019 Advocacy Day.

Testimonials from participating deans and graduate students:

Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, Associate Provost, Graduate Studies, Texas A&M University; 2018 CGS Board of Directors Chair 

• "The First Amendment of the Constitution outlines the “right of the people….to petition the government.” Graduate education must embrace and champion this right.  We must make concerted efforts to speak up and to ensure that legislators, government leaders and policy makers understand our particular needs and priorities. The CGS Hill Advocacy Day provides a high-quality opportunity to practice such advocacy and I greatly appreciate the chance to join with my fellow graduate deans and the graduate community to promote our cause. Furthermore, CGS Hill Advocacy Day provided a valuable professional development opportunity for the Texas A&M University graduate students who joined me. The active development sessions in the art of advocacy and the practical application via meetings with legislative aides will pay dividends for years to come."

Dr. Jerome Kukor, Dean of the Graduate School, Rutgers University; 2019 CGS Advisory Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy Chair

• "The Legislative Assistants/Legislative Directors with whom I met were keenly interested in my major requests, viz., restoration of subsidized student loans for graduate students, and improvement of the loan terms for GradPlus loans, because many of these legislative aides are considering graduate school and would need to take out loans to do so. The cost of borrowing is a concern for them." 

Celeste Bremmer, I-O Psychology Master's Candidate, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

• "One of my favorite moments happened during the training workshop. We were tasked with creating a 6-word phrase to help brand graduate education that would spark conversation with our congressional staff. My favorite phrase we developed as a group was “learning it, creating it, and implementing it.” This is just one example from the event that illustrates when you connect diverse individuals with a similar passion, you’re truly able to make a greater impact. CGS made this possible, and I am grateful to have had this opportunity. I hope to continue advocating for graduate education and share this experience with others!"

Jonathan Parcell, Higher Education in Student Affairs Master's Student, Salem State University

• "To be part of the Council of Graduate Schools’ Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. was a truly rewarding experience. I was a little nervous at first, but the training and preparation the members of CGS provided, gave me the confidence I needed to go to Capitol Hill.  This event gave me a chance to network with a number of other graduate students from different programs from around the country all advocating for graduate education. No matter which side of the political aisle you are on, this is a great opportunity get an inside look on what it is like to work on Capitol Hill.  It was a privilege to represent my university and meet with staff members of local senators and representatives sharing how graduate school has prepared me for the future. This experience boosted my interest in policy and I would recommend attending Advocacy Day to anyone who has an interest in this area."  

Ali Al Qaraghuli, Electrical Engineering PhD Student, University at Buffalo, SUNY

• "I found the CGS advocacy day to be a day of high importance, and definitely has added value to my career, particularly coming from a science/technology background and as an electrical engineering PhD student. Providing personal examples of how funding of such agencies of interest (such as NSF, NIH, Dept. of Ed, NASA, etc.) is the reason I am able to pursue my passion, and why funding for such organizations is crucial in the development of future technologies, especially concerning healthcare. I found the staff of the senators to be welcoming and receptive to suggestions, and the trainings and workshops provided by CGS definitely prepared me for all the interactions. I hope to participate in this event again next year if given the chance." 

Erin Wright, International Security Policy Master's Candidate, The University of Alabama in Huntsville

• "We met with representatives to put forth the policies that CGS and UAH are focused on. We dealt with every situation they had trained us for – people who were pressed for time, people who had tough questions, people who were not friendly. We had four meetings, but after the first one, it got a lot easier!"

Theresa E. Hernandez, Urban Education Policy Doctoral Student, University of Southern California

• “This was the first year ever that the Council of Graduate Schools invited graduate students to accompany their deans, so that we could tell our personal stories and put more of that human face on the appeal to support graduate education specifically. I decided to participate because it just sounded really unique as an opportunity—different than the research activities or the more local advocacy work that I’ve engaged in. I thought it would be a great learning experience to see how national policy advocacy happens.”

As a doctoral candidate in environmental epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Amy Schultz studies the effects environmental factors have on our health. She is currently a leading research assistant on the CREATE: Cumulative Risks, Early Development, and Emerging Academic Trajectories project, which studies how children develop in their environments and seeks to identify sources of stress in preschool-aged children.

CREATE, a research study conducted by the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), uses a Language Environment Analysis (LENA) device that measures the number of words spoken between the parent and child to learn more about the child’s role in conversation. In addition, data that measure air quality, noise levels, and stress hormones are collected. While this particular study is small, researchers hope that it will establish the feasibility of conducting larger studies to better understand how children’s environments affect their learning and development. More information about how noise, air quality, and other environmental factors affect children’s health and development will help experts determine whether to develop interventions.

In developing the protocol for CREATE, Schultz took on a lot of responsibility, including training staff members and managing large amounts of data. “I learned a lot about how to efficiently train and prepare for going in the field, and then also I’ve learned how to be flexible and adapt, to be open to trial and error,” Shultz said. To learn more about Amy’s work visit the University of Wisconsin—Madison website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.