Crisis Text Line is a national not-for-profit organization that provides free, 24/7 support to people in crisis, including underserved populations like the Deaf community. In 2015, the support line noticed they were receiving a lot of texts from members of the Deaf community, and that those reaching out for support were almost twice as likely to mention depression and suicide. To provide better support to the Deaf community, Crisis Text Line joined efforts with Gallaudet University's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) office.

Tiffany Bridgett, a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Gallaudet University began volunteering with Crisis Text Line about a year ago, and the organization recently hired her as the first full-time Deaf staff member.

In addition to leading Deaf and hard of hearing outreach for Crisis Text Line, Ms. Bridgett is a Crisis Counselor Supervisor for Crisis Text Line. "Texting provides people the privacy and comfort of asking for help when they're experiencing a crisis,” said Bridgett. “I hope Crisis Text Line can help the Deaf community become healthier and less restricted from mental health resources." To learn more about Tiffany and the Crisis Text Line, visit the Gallaudet University website.

2016 Annual Meeting Program

Selected PowerPoint presentations from the 2016 CGS 56th Annual Meeting are below. Presentations are in chronological order by each category. Presentations are offered as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. The file size is indicated after the name of each presenter.

Pre-Meeting Workshop Presentations

Creating and Sustaining Campus-Wide Career and Professional Development Programs
Henry Campa and Judith Stoddart (5.26 MB)

Master's Level Enrollment Management
Lynn M. Maurer (1.5 MB)

M.J.T. Smith (1.2 KB)

Review of Graduate Programs: Master's and Doctoral
Mark Garrison (545 KB)

Scott Herness (1.89 MB)

Heather Zwicker (484 KB)

Preparing for Crisis Communications
Karen DePauw (2.0 MB)

Amy Hurd (1.3 MB)

Ron Vetter (1.5 MB)

Ron Vetter (2.0 KB)

Post Docs
Elizabeth Watkins and Michael Zryd 1.01 MB)

Building Competency Based Master's Programs
Aaron M. Brower (255 MB)

Anthony Scheffler (255 MB)

Supporting Student's Writing and Degree Completion: Boot Camps, Write-Ins and Writing Retreats
Cari Moorehead and Jovana Milosavljevic (3.24 MB)

Pamela Carmines (2.8 MB)

Concurrent Sessions Presentations

Engaging International Graduate Alumni
Pushpa Murthy (3.46 KB)

Robin Garrell (243 KB)

The Emerging Master's Degree
Beth Boehm, Paul Gemperline, James Marshall and Bob Augustine (3.79 MB)

Creating A PHD for A New Generation of Humanities Students: Sparking Cultural Change
Eva Badowska (1.02 MB)

Developing Thriving Online Graduate Programs
Cheryl Addy (114 KB)
Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko (8.96 MB)
Lynn Maurer (181 KB)

International Competition For Master's Students

Keiichiro Yoshinaga (75 KB)

Redesigning The Survey Of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates In Sciences and Engineering (GSS)

Kelly Kang, Patricia Green, Peter Einaudi (552 KB)

The Role of Mentoring In Enhancing Graduate Student Diversity
JoAnn Canales, Henry Frierson and Melissa McDaniels (5.8 MB)

The Future Of The Dissertation
Brandy Randall (669 KB)

Stackable Graduate Certificates and Customizable Master's Degrees
Charles Taber (573 MB)

Kerry Wilks (2.05 MB)

What Is A Doctorate? A Global Conversation
Bernadette Franco (500 KB)

Promoting Laboratory Safety: Role Of The Graduate Dean
Mark McLellan (2.45 MB)

Ethics In The Era of Big Data
Anna Harvey (429 KB)

William Tate (34 KB)

The Public and Private Value Of Master's Education: A Focused Discussion
Mark Sheridan and Christopher Sindt (1.68 MB)

Lessons From Alliances For Graduate Education and The Professoriate (AGEP)
M.J.T. Smith (361 KB)

Karen Butler Purry (690 KB)

Prior Learning Assessment In Graduate Education
William Ayres (360 KB)

Robert Wojtowicz (560 KB)

Reinventing Graduate Orientation
Jeffrey Franke (850 KB)

Plenary Sessions Presentations

Strategic Business-Higher Education Partnerships: Impact on Graduate and Undergraduate Education
Brian Fitzgerald (593 KB)

Studying Middle Eastern history opens a door to a world not many Americans understand, but nevertheless have strong opinions about. As a graduate student at East Carolina University, Adam Stoddard chose to pursue a master’s degree in history because he wanted to better understand the world around him. “Most of the United States' foreign aid flows into the Middle East and our nation has had a military presence in the region for most of modern history,” said Stoddard. “People should care about what effect their tax dollars and military presence have overseas.”

His concentration in Middle Eastern history and study abroad experience in Cairo, Egypt, led him to a teaching opportunity in United Arab Emirates. Stoddard’s thesis on the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli June War helped him in the interview process and ultimately to secure his teaching job. As one of only two Western teachers in an Abu Dhabi public school of only Middle Easterners, Adams learned as much from his students as they did from him.

Stoddard received his M.A. in history from ECU in 2009 and his J.D. from Wake Forest University in 2014 and credits his success to the research, writing, and critical thinking skills he learned in graduate school. To learn more about Adam, visit the East Carolina University website.

As a graduate student at Wayne State University, Jisha Panicker, B.D.S., M.P.H. worked as an intern with the Henry Ford Health System’s Women Inspired Neighborhood (WIN) Network: Detroit to improve women’s access to pre-natal healthcare and maternal support. Her local engagement produced award-winning research with direct impact on Detroit’s health services and the lives of women and families.

In Fall 2016, Panicker received the Public Health Education and Health Promotion (PHEHP) Student Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) for her presentation: “Creating a sustainable group prenatal care model for the Women Inspired Neighborhood (WIN) Network: Detroit at the Henry Ford Health System.” She was one of ten top-ranked poster abstracts presented during the PHEHP section of the APHA Annual Meeting. Panicker's project sought to address the high infant mortality rate in Detroit despite its strong healthcare systems by creating a consortium of healthcare professionals in an enhanced group prenatal care (GPC) model.

Panicker graduated from Wayne State with her M.P.H. degree in October 2016. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in dental surgery and plans to, “address issues in oral health disparities and implement sustainable community-based disease prevention and health promotion strategies to promote affordable and accessible oral health care.” To learn more about Panicker and her research, visit the Wayne State University website.

As the first legally blind person to earn a doctorate in genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and possibly only the second blind UW–Madison Ph.D. in biological sciences, Dr. Andrew (Drew) Hasley wants to improve biological education so future students with disabilities can succeed in whatever field they choose.

Hasley started his first biology research job as an undergraduate at Albion College in Michigan and continuing his study in graduate school seemed an obvious next step. His dissertation research blends statistical and computational analyses of large datasets with techniques from developmental and molecular biology to answer basic biological questions about the early development of vertebrate embryos, using zebrafish as a model.

Hasley is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Pelegri Lab at UW-Madison and looking for his next opportunity. “Whatever it is must involve teaching,” Hasley says. “I see an opportunity to improve biological education in a way that will get more people into it who are like me. There is no reason for me to be this rare.” To learn more about Hasley and his research, visit the UW-Madison website.

U.S. Master’s Degrees a Major Draw for International Graduate Students (12/17/2015)

New data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) provide an unprecedented picture of the degree objectives of international graduate students studying in the United States. As the only report of its kind to offer data on the current fall term, International Graduate Applications and Enrollment: Fall 2015 reports applications, admissions, and enrollments of international master’s, certificate, and doctoral students at U.S. colleges and universities.

M.J.T. (“Mark”) Smith of Purdue University to Serve as Chair of CGS Board (12/15/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Board of Directors has announced its officers for the 2016 term. CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions. Board members serve for set terms.

Stephen S. Bush Wins 2015 Arlt Award in the Humanities (12/3/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2015 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Stephen S. Bush, Manning Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 55th Annual Meeting.

University of California Los Angeles Receives ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education (12/3/2015)

The seventh annual ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion was presented to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The award is sponsored by CGS and Educational Testing Service (ETS). Dr. Robin L. Garrell, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate Division, accepted the award on UCLA’s behalf during the 55th Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

Winners of 2015 CGS/ProQuest® Distinguished Dissertation Awards Announced (12/3/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Jeongmin Choi and Timo Schaefer at an awards ceremony during the Council’s 55th Annual Meeting. Dr. Choi completed her PhD in 2014 at University of Missouri, in Plant Science, and Dr. Schaefer received his PhD in 2015 from Indiana University, in History.

Graduate Schools Report 3.5% Increase in First-time Enrollment (9/17/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today reported a 3.5% one-year increase in first-time graduate enrollment between Fall 2013 and Fall 2014—the largest since 2009. Institutions responding to the CGE/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment & Degrees received more than 2.1 million applications for Fall 2014, extended over 850,000 offers of admission in Fall 2014, and enrolled nearly 480,000 incoming, first-time graduate students in fall 2014 graduate certificate, education specialist, master’s or doctoral programs—all new highs.

Master’s or Doctorate? For International Students Applying to U.S. Graduate Programs, Clear Preferences Emerge by Country, Field of Study (6/30/2015)

New data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) provides a first-ever breakdown of international graduate applications by degree objective. The report, 2015 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey: Preliminary Applications, collects data on international graduate applications by all geographic regions and fields of study, revealing trends important to the graduate research enterprise and our understanding of the global competition for top talent. Conducted annually since 2004, the survey was expanded this year to distinguish between applications to programs at the doctorate and master’s & certificate levels.

Edelma Huntley Named 2015-16 CGS Dean-in-Residence (6/8/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Edelma Huntley, Dean of the Graduate School and Chief Research Officer at Appalachian State University from 2006 to 2014, has been named the CGS Dean-in-Residence for 2015-16. Dr. Huntley brings to the post significant experience leading graduate education, including serving as President of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) from 2012 to 2014, and serving two terms on the CGS Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Huntley will join CGS on August 1.

CGS Report Highlights Completion Trends of Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Doctoral Programs (4/14/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today released findings from the Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (DIMAC), a 3-year study that examined patterns of degree completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1138814), the project collected data from doctoral students at twenty-one universities in the United States, including universities affiliated with NSF’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program.

CGS Builds on Efforts to Understand PhD Career Pathways (4/10/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today announced it has been awarded grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance national and local understandings of the career pathways of PhD holders. Over the next nine months, with input from a range of stakeholders in the higher education community, CGS will develop a survey instrument and guidelines for data collection across a broad range of fields. These guidelines will be designed to help universities gather long-term career information from their PhD students and alumni with the goal of improving PhD programs.

Robert M. Augustine Appointed Senior Vice President for Two-Year Term (3/3/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Robert M. (Bob) Augustine, Dean of the Graduate School, Research and International Programs at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), has been appointed to a two-year term as the Council’s Senior Vice President. In addition to serving two terms as President of the Illinois Association of Graduate Schools, Augustine served on the CGS Board of Directors from 2011 to 2014 and held the position of Board Chair in 2013. He will join CGS on August 1, 2015.

Brian Mitchell Named 2015-16 CGS/NSF Dean-in-Residence (1/22/2015)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Brian S. Mitchell, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane University, has been named the Council of Graduate Schools/National Science Foundation Dean-in-Residence for 2015-16. Dr. Mitchell brings to the post significant experience leading graduate education at his home university, having served as Tulane’s Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research from 2006 to 2014. Mitchell will join CGS on February 1.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                             

Contact: Julia Kent

(202) 461-3874 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Board of Directors has announced its officers for the 2017 term. CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions. Board members serve for set terms.

Dr. Nancy Marcus, dean of the Graduate School at Florida State University, was announced the 2017 Board Chair at the conclusion of the 2016 CGS Annual Meeting. Appointed graduate dean in 2005, Marcus’ responsibilities include oversight of the education of approximately 8,500 graduate and professional students. During her tenure as Dean, Marcus has sought to enhance and complement the experience graduate students gain in their individual academic units by establishing programs such as the Office of Graduate Fellowship and Awards, The Fellows Society to promote interdisciplinary engagement, fellowships for international study, and an online tracking system to monitor graduate student progress.

“CGS is honored to have Dr. Marcus’ expertise during this important time in graduate education. She has provided exceptional leadership to The Graduate School at Florida State University and will help advance CGS’ mission to meet the evolving needs of our member institutions,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

The new Chair-elect, Dr. Karen Butler-Purry has served as the associate provost for graduate and professional studies at Texas A&M University since 2010. In addition, Butler-Purry is a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering and has experience in graduate education as a faculty member, administrator, researcher, and program leader. Under Butler-Purry’s leadership, the TAMU Office of Graduate and Professional Studies (OGAPS) added a new initiative to promote and support graduate student participation in professional development opportunities aligned closely with the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan, Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime.

Beginning their three-year terms on the board on January 1, 2017, are Dr. John McCarthy, senior vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School at University of Massachusetts Amherst; Dr. Paula McClain, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost of graduate education at Duke University; and Dr. Josephine Nalbantoglu, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies at McGill University.

Dr. M.J.T. (“Mark”) Smith, dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University, will remain on CGS’s Executive Committee for one year as immediate past chair.

“Dr. Smith has provided outstanding leadership during his term as CGS Board Chair,” Ortega said. “He has contributed greatly to the success of graduate students at his own institution and to graduate education more broadly in his efforts to improve faculty diversity.” 

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

Julia Kent, Council of Graduate Schools

(202) 461-3874 | jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Tom Ewing, ETS

(609) 683-2803 | tewing@ets.org

Washington, DC – Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) presented Cornell University with this year’s ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Barbara Knuth, senior vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, accepted the co-sponsored award on Cornell’s behalf during the 56^th Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

The award recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s or 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.

Through the project: Innovative Inclusion Interventions (I3): Promoting Graduate Student Success through Advancements in the Climate of Graduate Education Cornell University intends to promote graduate student success and a more inclusive climate through four innovative interventions supporting the academic and social engagement of graduate students across identities. These interventions include: a summer success symposium, an interactive theatre project, an intergroup dialogue project immersion program, and an inclusive teaching institute for graduate students and postdocs.

Knuth commented, “Our goal is to achieve a campus climate in which all graduate students feel valued and accepted by faculty and peers, and where incidents of bias are minimized. This recognition from ETS and CGS will help us to provide an environment in which all members of our graduate community understand and value the diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives present on our campus.  I am honored to accept this award on behalf of my Graduate School colleagues and our partners across many offices at Cornell.”

“The practices showcased by this award competition greatly benefit the graduate education community, and we especially want to thank ETS, whose support makes possible this novel way to promote best practices among the graduate community.” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

“Pursuing and completing master’s or doctoral level study is challenging, and a program such as this that provides both academic and social engagement goes a long way to ensuring higher levels of student success,” said David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “ETS congratulates Cornell University for their innovative and inclusive approach.”

This year, the selection committee chose one institution to be named as Honorable Mention: North Carolina State University for a project titled GradPath: A Graduate Student Success App. Led by Maureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School, this project’s aim is to develop a mobile-friendly tool to give graduate students timely access to critical academic data and professional development information in real time. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Julia Kent (202) 461-3874 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Karen DePauw, vice president and dean for graduate education at Virginia Tech University, is the 2016 Winner of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 56th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

The award was created by the CGS Board of Directors to recognize outstanding leadership in graduate education, and particularly those leadership qualities exemplified by the Council’s fifth President, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee gives consideration to 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.

Dr. DePauw becomes the award’s first recipient for her invaluable contributions to the Virginia Tech graduate community. Her many accomplishments include: success in building a strong, diverse graduate community in multiple locations in Virginia; establishment of the national award-winning, Innovate Graduate Life Center; creation of the signature academic initiative: Transformative Graduate Education; initiation of 14 unique interdisciplinary graduate education programs; and promotion of work-life management programs that foster thriving (not surviving) during graduate studies.

“We applaud the Council of Graduate Schools’ recognition of Dr. DePauw’s many contributions to graduate education,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands.  “Her work has significantly advanced the quality of our student’s experience, and her dedication to the wellbeing of our graduate community exemplifies the Virginia Tech spirit of service.”

“Karen DePauw’s leadership has contributed greatly to the success of graduate students at her institution and to the enterprise of graduate education worldwide,” said Dr. M.J.T. Smith, dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors. “Dr. DePauw’s innovative use of technology and life-long commitment to building a diverse and inclusive graduate community sets a standard of leadership for deans of graduate education across the globe.”

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 CGS 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Julia Kent (202) 461-3874 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2016 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Barlow J. Elmore, assistant professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 56th Annual Meeting.

The Arlt Award is given annually to a young scholar-teacher who has written a book deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to scholarship in the humanities. Dr. Elmore becomes the award’s 46^th recipient for his book, Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W.W. Norton, 2014). He received his PhD in history from the University of Virginia in 2012.

Citizen Coke chronicles the making of what Dr. Elmore calls “Coca-Cola capitalism,” a system for making money deployed by many twentieth-century businesses, one that involved scavenging on natural capital stockpiles generated by vertically integrated industrial empires, agribusinesses, and government-run utilities. Dr. Elmore argues that Coca-Cola capitalism ultimately weighed heavily on host communities, especially in regions where the company was able to capture precious water resources in arid regions of the country. The book has been praised in media outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Times Higher Ed.

“The Arlt Award has a long and prestigious history of recognizing exceptional humanities scholarship generated by early-career humanities faculty,” commented Dr. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “The Council of Graduate Schools is delighted to recognize Dr. Elmore for his important contributions to the field of History.”

Created in 1971, the Arlt Award honors the first president of CGS, Gustave O. Arlt. The winner must have earned a doctorate within the past seven years, and currently be teaching at a North American university. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a panel of scholars in the field of competition, which rotates annually among seven disciplines within the humanities. This year’s field was History. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.