https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317857 

Our nation's global lead in technology and economic success is thanks, in part, to bold immigrant innovators who sought to seize the opportunities our nation affords. Preventing them from staying here does nothing to strengthen the U.S. job market. If anything, it weakens it.

Moreover, it means handing over top talent to international competitors. A 2015 survey conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools found that temporary residents made up over 63 percent of first-time graduate students in math and computer science programs at U.S. universities. Gutting programs such as IER forces students to leave right after they graduate, at which point other countries will happily accept them. The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and France all are bringing in this kind of foreign-born tech talent that we're willing to forfeit, even at a time when the American job market is booming.

Finding ways to encourage medical professionals to choose to practice in underserved communities is a critical issue in the U.S. As a result, there has been an increasing focus on policies aimed to attract and retain physicians in rural and underserved areas. Teresa Zhou, a recent PhD in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spent her doctoral work focused on which policies are the most effective.

One of her most important findings is that, “an increase in the reimbursement rate, or a simulated 5 percent increase in average wages for all rural physicians, increases the average stay in the same rural county by 1.34 years.” She also found that rural areas with increases in registered nurses are more likely to experience significant increases is the amount of time physicians live in the area. Dr. Zhou received a UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School Impact Award in recognition of her outstanding research.

"Teresa's work quantifies the impacts of important economic determinants — including compensation, medical care market characteristics and local amenities — that define concerns about our state's physician maldistribution," said her adviser Donna Gilleskie. To learn more about Teresa’s work visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 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: UNC-Chapel Hill

CGS Summer Workshop and New Deans Institute Final Program

With over 275 meeting registrants, this year's summer meeting was an outstanding success! Meeting participants explored varied and important issues in graduate education. New and returning participants—graduate deans; associate and assistant deans; faculty and staff from colleges/universities; association, federal and state agency, and other education-related administrators; and others interested in graduate education—enjoyed a unique forum where they met leaders in their field and exchanged ideas and information.

Selected PowerPoint presentations from the 2018 CGS Summer Workshop and New Deans Institute are below. Presentations are in chronological order by each category. Presentations are offered as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. 

New Deans Institute Presentations

Session III: Managing Operations: Time, Staff and Partnerships
William J. Karpus

Session IV: Managing Enrollment: Recruiment, Admissions, and Funding
Jerry Pogatshnik

Summer Workshop Presentations

ProQuest Breakfast Meeting: PQDT Global, A Uniquely Valuable Resource: What Researchers Get From The World’s Largest Curated Collection of Dissertations and Theses

Marlene Coles

Plenary II: Supporting Graduate Student Health Grand and Wellness
Mona Shattell

Plenary III: Messaging and Connecting Through The New Media
Steve Allen

Concurrent Dean’s Toolboxes

Flipping The Orientation
Katy DeRosier

Engaging Departments In Research Ethics Training
Judith Stoddart

Using Data To Improve Graduate Student Life
Karen Butler-Purry and Shannon Walton

Technical Workshop: Graduate Admissions: Emerging Approaches
Suzanne E. Barbour

Mark Riley

Growing up in Oahu, Noah Patterson Hanohano Dolim developed an interest in Hawaiian history at a young age. Dolim, of Native Hawaiian and African American descent, is now doing research on Native Hawaiian travel in the 19^th century while he earns his doctorate in history at the University of California, Irvine. He’s interested in the contrast of themes between native authors and colonial authors and how those descriptions affect the way Hawaii has been exoticized.

Dolim is a recent recipient of the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, which provides support for students committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level. The program is administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties. Dolim plans to use his funding to conduct research at UCI and back in Hawaii.

“As a student and a professor, eventually, I want to be a conduit of diversity through teaching, educational outreach and community works,” Dolim says. “Living and researching from the other side of the Pacific has provided me with opportunities and new ways of thinking that I never could have imagined. I can’t wait to share my passion for Hawaiian history throughout my academic career, at home on the islands and beyond.” To learn more about Noah’s work visit the University of California, Irvine 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: Steve Zylius / UCI

Hailey Hughes, a master’s student in English at the University of West Georgia, has been an advocate for the disabled community for years. During high school, she became involved in an online forum for cerebral palsy and remained active through her undergraduate years at Marshall University. This experience inspired her aspiration to develop a transatlantic storytelling group for able-bodied and disabled communities.

Hughes’ desire to build this community led her to apply for a Fulbright scholarship in 2017 while she was finishing her bachelor’s degree. She made it to the semifinals but didn’t give up on her dream. While in her first semester of graduate school at UWG, Hughes prepared to reapply. Her persistence paid off, and Hughes received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to study creative writing in Ireland beginning Fall 2018. The Fulbright mission is to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” Hughes is one of roughly 1,900 U.S. citizens to receive this honor for the 2018-2019 academic year.

“I believe in the mission and love creative writing,” she concluded. “The idea that underpins this all is that it’s not about cultivating a voice. It’s about amplifying a voice that’s already there. The larger implication is that this can allow people with disabilities to develop self-advocacy and life skills.” To learn more about Hailey’s work visit the University of West Georgia 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: UWG News

The US must make big changes to graduate education in the sciences and related fields if it is to meet the evolving needs of students. That is according to a report published on 29 May by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which looks at graduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. The report calls for increased emphasis on teaching and mentoring of students as well as recognition that increasing numbers of graduate students will find careers outside of academia.

The number of international students applying to U.S. physics Ph.D. programs fell by an average of 12 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to new data from a survey conducted by the American Physical Society.

Scholars, policymakers and other stakeholders from 12 countries gathered in Princeton, New Jersey to delve deeply into social and emotional learning (SEL), one of the newest frontiers in education that some researchers and practitioners are tying to academic achievement, future labor-market success and personal happiness.

Arkansas universities saw a 4 percent drop in international undergrads during the 2016-2017 school year and an 8 percent drop last school year. As for graduate students, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education says it has no statistics on international student enrollment in advanced degree programs. Administrators fear that misconceptions about the state may be deterring international applicants. 

Statistics supplied by the Council of Graduate Schools in 2018 show that for the first time since fall 2003 there has been a decline in graduate student enrollment. The organization said specifically, applications from prospective international graduate students declined by 3%, while first-time enrollment of international graduate students declined by 1% in predominately master’s degree and certificate programs.