Robert Augustine of Eastern Illinois University to Serve as Chair of CGS Board
(12/13/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Board of Directors has announced its officers for the 2013 term. The new board was seated at the 52nd Annual Meeting, December 5, 2012 in Washington, DC. Dr. Robert Augustine, Dean of the Graduate School, Research and International Programs at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), became the 2013 CGS Board Chair. Dr. Augustine has served as the graduate dean at EIU since 2000.

Winners of 2012 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards Announced (12/13/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honor for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Björn B. Brandenburg and Junjie Chen at an awards ceremony during the CGS 52nd Annual Meeting.

Monica Popescu Wins 2012 Arlt Award in the Humanities (12/13/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2012 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Monica Popescu, Associate Professor of English at McGill University. 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.

University of Illinois at Chicago Wins ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education (12/13/2012)
The fourth annual “ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion” was presented to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) during the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). The award is sponsored by CGS and Educational Testing Service (ETS).

CGS and TIAA‐CREF Join Forces to Enhance Student Financial Literacy (11/27/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), a nonprofit organization devoted to graduate education and research, and TIAA‐CREF, a leading financial services provider, have announced a project to enhance the financial literacy of graduate and undergraduate students. Through the endeavor with TIAA‐CREF, CGS will make awards to colleges and universities across the country to develop innovative financial literacy programs that can be tailored to students with a range of financial circumstances and educational goals.

Media Alert: CGS Invites Media Participation at 52nd Annual Meeting (11/16/2012)
Higher education leaders and other stakeholders will convene to discuss new trends and important questions in graduate education. The conference theme, “Creativity and Innovation in Graduate Education” will inspire discussion across six plenaries and a diverse range of concurrent sessions.
 

First-Time Enrollment of International Graduate Students Up 8 Percent (11/8/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools reported an 8 percent increase in the first-time enrollment of international students from 2011 to 2012, matching the 8 percent increase between 2010 and 2011, and representing the third straight year of growth in first-time enrollments. Total enrollment of international graduate students among responding institutions reached 197,000 in 2012.

CGS Announces Awards to Support the Assessment of Student Learning by Future Faculty (10/31/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced awards to seven universities to develop new approaches for enhancing graduate student skills and understanding in the assessment of undergraduate learning. Supported through grants to CGS from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Teagle Foundation, the awardees will integrate learning assessment into programs that prepare graduate students for faculty careers.

Graduate Schools See Growth in Applications and Degrees, But Enroll Fewer New Students in 2011 (9/28/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reported that U.S. graduate schools saw a 1.7% dip in enrollments of first-time graduate students between fall 2010 and fall 2011, marking the second consecutive year of slight decreases. Across the board, graduate school enrollments remain ahead of where they were a decade ago, but the latest figures reverse increases for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years, when enrollments grew 4.5% and 5.5% respectively. These findings are the result of the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, an annual survey that has been conducted since 1986.

Employment Levels Remain High for Professional Science Master's Degree Holders (9/18/2012)
Recent graduates of Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree programs are reporting strong rates of employment, according to the second annual PSM Student Outcomes Survey released by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). The report tracks initial hiring trends and perceived satisfaction among 2010-11 and 2011-12 graduates of PSM degree programs.

CGS Announces Awards to Support Research Ethics Education in International STEM Collaborations (9/14/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has made awards to five universities to integrate research ethics education into international collaborations in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) fields. Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF # 1135345), the project seeks to enhance the preparation of future scientists and engineers for the ethical challenges that often arise in global research.

University Leaders Issue Statement on Preparing Graduate Students for Global Careers (9/6/2012)
Higher education leaders from 15 countries have agreed on a set of principles to guide the preparation of graduate students for the demands of the global workforce and economy. The statement was released following the Sixth Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit, “From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation: Graduate Education for Global Career Pathways,” jointly hosted by the U.S.-based Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Technische Universität München.

Media Alert for the 2013 CGS International Summit, From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation: Graduate Education for Global Career Pathways (8/28/2012)
From September 4-6, 2012, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Technische Universität München (TUM) will convene the Sixth Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education. The summit will address pressing questions for national economies and education systems.

Report Highlights Needs in Graduate Education for Research Integrity, Offers Best Practice Models for Institutions (8/27/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools has released a new report highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to graduate education in research integrity. The report, Research and Scholarly Integrity in Graduate Education, provides recommendations for U.S. universities based on best practice research as well as data collected through a multi-year CGS initiative, The Project for Scholarly Integrity (PSI), supported by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity.

International Graduate Admissions Increase 9%: Admissions Offers Rise for China, the Middle East, and Brazil (8/27/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools reported that offers of admission from U.S. graduate schools to prospective international students increased 9% from 2011 to 2012, following an increase of 9% last year. The new data marks the 3rd consecutive year of growth in international graduate admissions.

Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation’s Prosperity and Security (6/14/2012)
CGS President, Debra W. Stewart, issued the following statement on the National Research Council’s June 2012 report, Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation’s Prosperity and Security.

U.S. Must Close Gap Between Graduate Schools, Employers to Stay Competitive, Spur Innovation (4/19/2012)
By 2020, 2.6 million new or replacement jobs will require an advanced degree. Yet a new report warns that the nation will not be able to tap graduate students with high-level knowledge and skills unless university, business, nonprofit and government sectors team more closely — and innovatively — than they do now. The report, Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers, calls for such changes in graduate education’s link to the workforce.

CGS Launches Project to Prepare Future Faculty to Assess Undergraduate Learning (4/10/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has been awarded grants from the Alfred P. Sloan and Teagle Foundations for a new initiative to address the need for greater faculty expertise and engagement in the assessment of undergraduate student learning. CGS will collaborate with five U.S. universities to develop model projects for integrating learning assessment for the improvement of teaching into programs that prepare graduate students for faculty careers.

International Graduate Applications Rise for Seventh Consecutive Year; China, Mexico, and Brazil show largest gains (4/3/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is reporting that the number of applications from prospective international students to U.S. graduate schools increased 9% in 2012, following an 11% gain in 2011 and matching the 9% growth seen in 2010.

Selection of Institutional Partners made for Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (3/15/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has selected 20 proposals representing 21 universities to participate in a study to examine completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs.

Richard W. Linton Announced as CGS/NSF Dean-in-Residence (2/21/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF), has announced the appointment of the 2012-2013 CGS/NSF Dean-in-Residence, Richard W. Linton.

CGS responds to the Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Budget (2/15/2012)
We commend President Obama for the administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget which invests in education, research and innovation. The proposed budget reflects a strong commitment to the understanding that American competitiveness in a global economy depends on developing human talent.

Council of Graduate Schools Applauds President’s Call for Investment in Basic Research and Expanding Access to Education (1/25/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) strongly supports President Obama’s call for policies to increase job opportunities, support basic research, reform immigration, and expand access to education. In his 2012 State of the Union message, the president indicated his support for strategic investments to spur economic recovery while also streamlining government.

Keck Graduate Institute selected to administer PSM Affiliation process (1/25/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced that the Keck Graduate Institute has been selected to administer the Professional Science Master’s (PSM) Affiliation process.

Professional Science Master’s programs see strong growth in 2011 (1/18/2012)
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released the results of its second annual Professional Science Master’s Enrollment and Degrees Survey documenting applications,  enrollments, and degrees awarded in Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs. The PSM is an innovative graduate degree designed to allow students to pursue advanced training in science or mathematics, while simultaneously developing workplace skills highly valued by employers.

View 2011 Press Releases

 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities

Fields of Competition

2015: Religious Studies

2016: History

2017: Classical Studies/Archaeology

2018: English and North American Language and Literature 

2019: World Language and Literature, Comparative Literature, Drama/Theater Arts

2020: The Arts (Art History/Criticism/Conservation and Music)

2021: Linguistics and Philosophy

Attendees at the CGS 54th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, enjoyed engaging sessions, terrific speakers and exciting networking. Click on the images below to view this album at our Facebook page.

Contact:
Julia Kent
(202) 223-3791
jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Three New Members to Join Board in 2015

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Board of Directors has announced its officers for the 2015 term. CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions. Board members serve for set terms.

Dr. Barbara Knuth, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at Cornell University, as the 2015 Board Chair was announced at the conclusion of the 2014 CGS Annual Meeting. Serving in her role at Cornell since 2010, Knuth has enhanced her university’s professional development program for graduate students to focus on supporting students to work effectively with their graduate committees and to foster transferable skills relevant to academic and non-academic career paths. Since she became dean, all graduate degree programs have articulated specific learning outcomes and have implemented assessment plans focused on program improvement. Knuth joined the Cornell faculty in 1986 as an assistant professor of natural resource policy. She holds a bachelor of philosophy degree in interdisciplinary studies, a bachelor’s in zoology, and a master’s in environmental science, all from Miami University, and a PhD in fisheries and wildlife sciences from Virginia Tech.   

“In her role as graduate dean, Dr. Knuth has been at the forefront of the pressing issues graduate schools are facing today,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “Her expertise and leadership will help CGS chart ambitious goals for meeting the evolving needs of our member institutions.”

The new Chair-elect is Mark J. T. Smith, Dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University. Dr. Smith will serve in this role in 2015 and will become the board chair at the conclusion of the 2015 Annual Meeting. A member of the faculty in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Smith was appointed graduate dean in 2009. His scholarly interests are in the area of digital signal processing. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and is a former IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. He has authored many technical papers, six international standards publications, three textbooks, and two edited books, the most recent of which is the 2014 edited book GPS for Graduate School—Students Share Their Stories.

Beginning three-year terms on the board on January 1 are Maria Di Stefano, Associate Provost and Dean, Graduate Studies at Truman State University; Janet Rutledge, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Christopher Sindt, Vice Provost, Graduate and Professional Studies at Saint Mary’s University of California.

James Wimbush, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs and Dean of the University Graduate School at Indiana University, will remain on CGS’s Executive Committee for one year as immediate past chair.

“I am honored to have worked with Dr. Wimbush during his term as CGS Board Chair,” Ortega said. “He has contributed greatly to the success of graduate students at his institution and to the enterprise of graduate education worldwide.”

Julia Kent, Council of Graduate Schools                                            

(202) 461-3874                                                          

jkent@cgs.nche.edu                

Beth Dempsey, ProQuest

(248) 349-7810

beth.dempsey@proquest.com

Awards recognize outstanding research by graduates in the fields of Political Science and Physics

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Joshua Kertzer and Matthew Reed at an awards ceremony during the Council’s 54th Annual Meeting. Both awardees completed their PhDs in 2013— Dr. Kertzer at The Ohio State University, in Political Science, and Dr. Reed at Yale University, in Physics.

Bestowed annually since 1982, the awards recognize recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, an international leader in dissertation archiving, discovery and access, sponsors the awards and an independent committee from the Council of Graduate Schools selects the winners. Two awards are given each year, rotating among four general areas of scholarship. The winners receive a certificate, a $2,000 honorarium, and funds for travel to the awards ceremony.

“ProQuest has devoted decades to preserving and building paths to the discovery of dissertations because we believe they play a pivotal role in advancing knowledge,” said Niels Dam, ProQuest Vice-President, Dissertations Product Management. “The dissertations by Dr. Kertzer and Dr. Reed are excellent examples of the fresh perspectives that are explored and the new foundations set in graduate works. They make us proud to sponsor this important award.”​

“Once again, the Distinguished Dissertation Awards demonstrate how young scholars are having a dramatic impact on their fields,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “It’s a testament to the vitality of graduate education when new knowledge contributed by recently minted PhDs can raise the level of understanding in their fields of study.”

The 2014 Award in the Social Sciences was presented to Dr. Kertzer for his dissertation, “Resolve in International Politics.” The project examines the concept of resolve, one of the most commonly used, but insufficiently understood, independent variables in International Relations. Arguing that resolve is “an interaction between situational stakes and dispositional traits,” Dr. Kertzer uses a range of different methods to “explain why certain types of actors are more sensitive to the costs of fighting, while others are more sensitive to the costs of backing down.” He is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University.

[From left: Marlene Coles, ProQuest; Suzanne T. Ortega, CGS; Joshua Kertzer, winner, 2014 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award]

Dr. Reed received the 2014 Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering for his dissertation, “Entanglement and Quantum Error Correction with Superconducting Qubits.”  His project “reports on work demonstrating the fundamental capabilities of a quantum computer using superconducting quantum bits.” The most significant result reported on his dissertation is “the first demonstration of quantum error correction in a solid-state device.” Understanding how to correct such errors is an important requirement for building a quantum computer. Dr. Reed is currently Research Scientist at HRL Laboratories.

[Matthew Reed, winner, 2014 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award]

More information about the CGS / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award is available at www.proquest.com/go/scholars or at www.cgsnet.org.

Contacts:
Julia Kent, CGS
(202) 461-3874
jkent@cgs.nche.edu     

Tom Ewing, ETS     
(609) 683-2058
tewing@ets.org  

Washington, DC – The sixth annual ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion was presented to Duke University during the 54th Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). The award is sponsored by CGS and Educational Testing Service (ETS). Dr. Paula McClain, Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education, accepted the award on Duke’s behalf.

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

Duke’s proposal will create Duke OPTIONS (Online Professional Development Tool for Individual OpportuNitieS), a tool that will help doctoral students explore a wide range of careers and create a professional development plan to acquire the skills, experience, credentials, and connections they need while they are in graduate school.

“Our students are telling us that in addition to their advisors, they need more sources of assistance in navigating career options,” Dr. McClain said. “At Duke, we provide many professional development opportunities, and this tool will help students create roadmaps for their career paths and goals and connect them to the right opportunities at the right time.”

[Paula McClain accepts on behalf of Duke University the 2014 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion]

The selection committee noted that Duke OPTIONS is worthy of recognition for the way it will empower students to set their own professional development agendas throughout their doctoral studies. Also, because prospective applicants will have access to Duke OPTIONS, the tool will gather data on how professional development opportunities can be used to achieve recruiting and admissions goals. Perhaps most exciting of all is the potential Duke OPTIONS has to reveal the effect of professional development on persistence and degree completion.  

Following the two-year funding period, Duke OPTIONS will be sustained as a permanent program thanks to commitments by the Duke administration and the Graduate School.

“The graduate education community benefits tremendously from the practices showcased by this award competition,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “On behalf of our members, I thank Duke University for sharing their creative expertise with graduate institutions everywhere. And of course, I thank ETS, whose support makes possible this novel way to promote best practices among the graduate community.”

“Doctoral degrees are taking graduates to all corners of the workforce today,” said David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “As graduate schools redefine professional development to better reflect the broad range of careers PhDs are choosing, Duke’s project is well-poised to become a model for other institutions. We are especially excited to see the project’s focus on the full life-cycle of doctoral study, the transparency it adds for prospective applicants, and its potential to improve degree completion—especially among underrepresented minority students. ETS is delighted to support Duke in creating this innovative program for the benefit of doctoral students.”

Contact: 
Julia Kent
(202) 223-3791

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2014 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Michael Titelbaum, Associate Professor of Philosophy at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 54th 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. Titelbaum becomes the award’s 44th recipient for his book, Quitting Certainties (Oxford University Press, 2013). He received his PhD in Philosophy from University of California-Berkeley in 2008.

Dr. Titelbaum’s book presents a new approach for tackling a fundamental problem of epistemology. As a philosopher carefully rationalizes what s/he knows, it becomes necessary to accept that things can be ‘known’ with varying degrees of certainty. And over time, as new evidence is discovered and considered, the philosopher can update the degree of certainty with which they know what they know. The current standard theory of how individuals should change their degrees of belief over time (Subjective Bayesianism) has a few holes: it can’t account for situations where individuals have forgotten information; or in which the degree of certainty was based on self-locating claims. In the book, Titelbaum introduces his Certainty-Loss Framework as a way to reinterpret Bayesian methodology and alter the theory’s updating rules.

[From left: Suzanne T. Ortega, CGS President; Michael Titelbaum, winner, 2014 Arlt Award; John McCarthy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at University of Massachusetts Amherst and member of the 2014 Arlt Award Selection Committee.]

Quitting Certainties was selected to receive the Arlt Award based on the impact the book has seen since its publication. Nominators praised Titelbaum for the way his Certainty-Loss Framework is making possible a deeper examination of commitment, consistency, and the nature of information.   

Created in 1971, the Arlt Award honors the first president of CGS. The winner must have earned a doctorate within the past seven years from, 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 Linguistics and Philosophy. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.

Attendees of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) 2014 Annual Meeting were repeatedly exhorted to press for more legislative support for graduate institutions. Speakers issued a call to action for greater advocacy as state-by-state divestment in higher education shows little sign of reversing.

Science magazine spoke with University of California System President Janet Napolitano following her presentation at the 2014 CGS Annual Meeting to delve deeper into how graduate leaders can make the case for graduate schools in an environment of declining state support and competing federal funding priorities.

Janet Napolitano, University of California System President, and other speakers at the Council of Graduate Schools 54th Annual Meeting provided a call-to-action for greater advocacy of graduate education issues.