But enrollments in associate and master’s degree programs each sank by 21 percent. Enyu Zhou, a senior analyst at the Council of Graduate Schools, said her organization’s research found that first-time master’s students were more likely than doctoral students to defer admission last fall rather than begin their studies online.

“It’s clear to me that the increase in the number of students pursuing part-time degrees is an indicator of folks looking for flexibility in when and how they access graduate education,” said CGS president Dr. Suzanne Ortega. “We don’t have the data specifically on enrollment in online programs, but we know that the areas where there’s growth in master’s and part-time are often delivered virtually.” 

"One of the positive aspects of the pandemic and our age of uncertainty is that graduate programs have gotten much better at flexibility and capacity to accommodate working adults on a part-time basis and online," said Suzanne Ortega, CGS’s president. "That had been starting to happen over time, but I think it has really accelerated over the past year."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced a cooperative agreement with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF# 2105723) to lead the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Innovation Acceleration Hub, which is designed to foster learning and collaboration among awardees of NSF’s IGE program and the broader STEM graduate education community. The Hub aims to amplify the impact of the NSF IGE grantees’ projects by providing mechanisms to support creative, widespread, and sustainable change across U.S. graduate institutions.

Over the five-year project, CGS will work with IGE grantees to design Hub activities, develop strategies for greater visibility for the grantees’ work, and engage a broader audience of stakeholders. By creating opportunities for IGE project teams to communicate regularly, the IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub will provide a platform for participants to share lessons learned, promoting scalable, successful practices within and across grantee institutions. Increasing the number and competitiveness of proposals from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), other minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and other institutions serving underrepresented populations will be a core component of the project.

“The goals of NSF’s Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program are closely aligned with CGS’s core mission of advancing master’s and doctoral education and research, and we’re well positioned to leverage our role as a membership organization to broaden awareness for the wonderfully innovative work developed by IGE awardees,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “We’re dedicated to facilitating the development and implementation of bold, transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training.”

The range of Hub activities will include assessment of needs and interests among Hub participants, the development of a dedicated website, workshops, and a range of activities that engage disciplinary societies and other organizations with a strong commitment to graduate education. An external evaluation will help CGS to continuously refine Hub activities to support participants’ needs and advance the goals of the IGE program.

“This cooperative agreement with the Council of Graduate Schools will accelerate national innovation in graduate education in STEM and broaden participation in the IGE program,” said Sylvia Butterfield, acting assistant director for NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate.  “The IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub will strengthen and expand the community of researchers, educators and administrative leaders engaged in identifying and implementing evidence-based best practices in graduate education.”

The Hub Advisory Committee members include:

• Lisa Amini, Director, IBM Research Cambridge; Member, CGS Employer Roundtable
• David Asai, Senior Director, Science Education, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
• Lorelle Espinosa, Program Director, DEI in STEM Education, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Norman Fortenberry, Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
• Cynthia Fuhrmann, Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UMASS Medical School; Principal Investigator, pd|hub
• LaTrease Garrison, Senior Vice President, Education and Membership, American Chemical Society
• Ann Quiroz Gates, Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs and Director, CAHSI INCLUDES Alliance, University of Texas at El Paso
• Juan Gonzalez, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Texas at Dallas
• Clay Gloster, Vice Provost of Graduate Research and Dean of the Graduate College, North Carolina A&T State University
• Sara Hernández, Associate Dean, Inclusion and Student Engagement, Cornell University; Chair, CGS Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee
• Maureen Hoyler, President, Council of Opportunity in Education (COE)
• David Kieda, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Utah
• Christine Ortiz, Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT; Founder, Social Entrepreneur, Station1
• Michelle Penn-Marshall, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, Hampton University
• Talitha Washington, Director, Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) Data Science Initiative

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

August 18, 2021                                                                           (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced grant funding from The National Science Foundation (NSF# 2100343) to explore the role of master’s education in preparing, upskilling, and reskilling the STEM workforce. The project will expand our understanding of how master’s education across all fields prepares the STEM workforce, examining the extent to which skills, expertise, and competencies instilled through master’s education align with rapidly evolving jobs and industries of the future.

Understanding Roles of Masters Education in Entry Into, and Upskilling and Reskilling for, the STEM Workforce, will contribute to the development of a data infrastructure for future research on master’s education while providing more nuanced insights into labor market outcomes of master’s degrees by various fields of study, gender, race/ethnicity, and career stages. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveal that many of the fastest-growing fields will require master’s degrees, but little information exists about professional pathways. This research will shed light on how master’s education may facilitate transitions to STEM careers for non-STEM undergraduate majors.

“This project has the potential to bolster institutional capacities to gather comprehensive outcomes data on master’s education at the program level. This is critically important for graduate programs seeking to better align their curricula with core competencies and to make career outcomes more transparent to prospective students,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. Ortega noted that the project will also address the role of master’s programs in creating a more diverse STEM workforce. “By illuminating the role of master’s education in entering and advancing in STEM careers--- not to mention building bridges to STEM doctoral education— the project has the potential to inform efforts to broaden the participation of women and persons of color in advanced scientific and engineering occupations.”

The value of this project is echoed by members of the CGS Employer Roundtable. “As a leading government contractor, Peraton’s ability to support national security missions of consequence relies on employing a diverse group of people who have the deep technical knowledge demanded in the space, cyber, defense, homeland security, and citizen services markets,” said Chris Valentino, chief strategy officer, Peraton. “I support this new CGS project because it will help us better understand the role of master's education in preparing students for careers in critical STEM fields.”

Over the three-year project, a census of all master’s degree recipients will be conducted through an exit survey at ten CGS institutions, serving as a complement to the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The ten universities will be chosen through an RFP process that will assess applications based on the number of master’s programs offered and degrees conferred. The RFP will be issued in fall 2021.

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That leaves deferral as the only option. More Iranian doctoral students deferred admission last year than students from any other country, a survey by the Council of Graduate Schools found.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

August 12, 2021                                                                           (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced awards designed to catalyze innovation in the preparation of humanities PhDs for diverse careers. Through a competitive sub-award process, a committee selected ten U.S. doctoral-granting institutions to join The Humanities Coalition, which will develop and assess initiatives for better supporting humanities PhD students transitioning from graduate programs into the workforce.

Universities will be working in one of two areas: grant-writing and resource development, and building professional networks. One set of universities will prepare current humanities doctoral students to identify and cultivate funders of research, scholarship, and programs and to develop successful proposals for financial support. This area of focus, which will support Howard University; Loyola University; Purdue University; Southern Mississippi University; University of California, Irvine; and University of Texas at El Paso, is designed to prepare doctoral students for careers in areas such as university sponsored programming, non-profit leadership, and corporate relations. 

A parallel group of awardees—City University of New York, University of Arizona, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University— will develop programs to help current humanities doctoral students build professional networks and relationships. Activities will include building programs that connect current doctoral students with PhD alumni in a broad range of careers, developing opportunities for doctoral students to build networks that inform and advance their career goals, and piloting modules that help humanities PhD students develop their professional networks. 

This latest project is an expansion of prior work that included developing and supporting a network of 75 U.S. doctoral institutions as they collect data from STEM and Humanities PhD students and alumni about their professional aspirations, career pathways, and career preparation. In general, data from the project yield a positive picture of humanities doctoral education. Most alumni reported that they are engaged in meaningful work and believe their doctoral work prepared them for their current job responsibilities. However, data also indicate that humanities PhDs who were employed in business, non-profit, or government, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, feel less prepared than their peers working at universities.

“Building on the extraordinary work of the PhD Career Pathways project, The Humanities Coalition will develop, expand, and scale up a suite of programs and practices in key areas of need. We’ve been conducting research in career diversity for nearly a decade, and this work will take the next logical step from better understanding aspirations to preparing for successful careers,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “We know that humanities PhDs have many possible career paths in front of them. We need to make sure they know their options, how to access them, and that they’ve developed the skillsets necessary for success.”

The Humanities Coalition includes grantees as well as universities that submitted competitive proposals to participate. The full list of participating organizations, includes: Arizona State University; CUNY Graduate Center; Howard University; Indiana University Bloomington; Loyola University Chicago; Michigan State University; Purdue University; Texas A&M University; The University of Southern Mississippi; The University of Texas at El Paso; University of Arizona; University of Arkansas; University of California, Irvine; University of Missouri; University of Rochester; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Wayne State University.

The current project builds upon three earlier phases of CGS research: a feasibility study supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; a survey development phase supported by the Mellon, Sloan, and National Science Foundations (NSF #1534620); a survey implementation phase supported by the Mellon Foundation and NSF (#1661272); and an examination of factors likely to impact retention and persistence in STEM careers, particularly for underrepresented students, supported by NSF (#2000750).

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The CGS–JED report identifies challenges faced by graduate students, such as poor mentorship, the inability to access counselling services and a lack of training for non-academic careers. It also urges university administrators and members of campus communities to improve mental-health support services, revise leave-of-absence policies, and provide mentorship training for faculty members.

However, many universities and physics departments lack comprehensive resources and infrastructure to help their students make that transition. A 2017 report by the Council of Graduate Schools found that only around 60% of institutions had formal professional development programs designed to help prepare graduate students for nonacademic careers.

Appeals for improved diversity and inclusion in higher education are often rooted in moral and political terms: We must expand access to college for underrepresented groups so that they have equal opportunities to benefit from postsecondary degrees. These claims are important. Often overlooked, however, is the economic value of diversifying colleges and universities. According to McKinsey’s Diversity Matters report, “Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.”