Minneapolis and Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is pleased to name Henning Schroeder as the CGS/NSF Dean in Residence for 2013‐14. Dr. Schroeder is currently Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Schroeder will join CGS on September 1.

The Dean in Residence program was created by CGS and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support communications between senior graduate education leaders and the NSF. In this role, Dr. Schroeder will share with CGS and NSF the insights, perspectives, and practical experience of a senior administrator at a research university, while collaborating with program officers and senior administrators across NSF to help plan future NSF programs and activities.

“I am delighted that Henning will be joining us,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart. “His leadership and expertise will help CGS build on the strong relationships we have developed among graduate deans, the NSF, and the science and engineering community.”

In accepting the 12‐month appointment, Dr. Schroeder looks forward to advancing the NSF mission of supporting graduate students.

“I am very interested in being part of the broader national discussion on how federal agencies contribute to the support of graduate students,” said Schroeder. “In order to remain globally competitive, graduate programs in the United States may need to revisit their overall curricular structure as well as current modes of educational content delivery.”

“At the University of Minnesota, we have begun to explore incentives and disincentives of existing tuition models in the United States and abroad with the goal of identifying fiscal mechanisms that best support educational goals in graduate education,” continued Schroeder. “Although graduate programs in the U.S. are still providing the highest quality education, other countries are catching up fast. I look forward to exploring these issues further during my time as Dean‐in‐Residence.”

Dr. Schroeder assumed his current position at the University of Minnesota in 2010, and previously served as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Pharmacy. He holds a faculty appointment as professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics.

After receiving his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, Dr. Schroeder worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel laureate Ferid Murad at Stanford. His research and teaching has been recognized with numerous awards, including a Heisenberg fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the 1997 Innovation Prize from the Martin Luther University of Halle‐Wittenberg.

Contacts:

Julia Kent, CGS: (202) 223‐3791 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu
Molly Schwartz, University of Minnesota, Graduate School: (612) 626‐3314 / haug0068@umn.edu

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

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today released the results of its pilot study of completion and attrition trends in master’s programs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The CGS study, which was made possible by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is the largest of its kind, using data from five institutions to describe completion and attrition rates in STEM master’s programs and MBA programs, and investigating the factors that contribute to the successful completion of the degree. The findings of the project are documented in a new CGS publication, Completion and Attrition in STEM Master’s Programs: Pilot Study Findings.

According to the study, 41 percent of STEM master’s students completed their program of study within two years, while 60 percent completed within three years, and 66 percent completed within four years. With respect to attrition rates, 10 percent of STEM master’s students left their program of study after six months; 17 percent left after one year; and 23 percent left after two years. The median time-to-degree for students in STEM programs was 23 months, and median time-to-attrition was eight months.

Completion rates are on the rise

Completion rates in STEM master’s programs improved gradually between the academic years of 2003-04 and 2006-07. As shown in Figure 1 below, cumulative rates of completion by individual student cohorts increased by six to eight percentage points during the period studied.

According to CGS President Debra W. Stewart, the steady climb in completion rates should be applauded by graduate education stakeholders, but she cautioned that work remains to be done. “Students are investing several years of their lives in graduate programs in order to develop their potential and become leaders in the workforce,” Stewart said. “In turn, graduate schools are making commitments to support their students with academic and career advising programs; employers are providing incentives and financial resources to develop their human capital; and family members are offering emotional support to keep their students on track throughout the rigors of graduate coursework. And yet completion rates in STEM fields, as they appear in this pilot study, are far from optimal, as compared, for example, to MBA completion rates.”

Figure 1. Cumulative Completion Rates by Student Cohort, STEM

Comparisons between STEM, MBA

STEM fields were chosen as the focus of the study due to their close association with innovation, job creation, and positive employment outcomes for degree holders. Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs were also included in the study as a basis of comparison.

According to the study, 67 percent of MBA students completed their program after two years, compared with 41 percent of STEM students. By years three and four, STEM students continued to trail behind the MBA students, completing at the rates of 60 percent by year three (as compared to 81 percent for the MBA), and 66 percent by year four (compared to 86 percent). The median time-to-degree is almost identical for both types of programs: 23 months for STEM master’s programs and 21 months for MBA programs.

Factors contributing to completion and attrition

The most important factor identified as contributing to the successful completion of a master’s program were motivation and determination, cited by 92 percent of graduating students surveyed. Non-financial family support and pursuing graduate study full-time were tied for second at 82 percent each.

The factor most likely to lead to the inability of a student to earn a master’s degree was interference from employment, cited by 40 percent of respondents. When asked about their future plans, 62 percent of students who had stopped out or dropped out of their programs said they intended to continue working in their current jobs.

Among students who reported having concerns about their ability to complete the degree, the most frequently mentioned source of concern was finding the time required to manage school, work and family commitments. Eighteen percent of first-year students cited concerns with their school/work/life balance. With respect to employment in particular, respondents were worried about balancing work priorities with the demands of schoolwork, noting that job responsibilities received the highest priority.

About the Master’s Completion Project

CGS began an exploratory study on the topic of master’s completion and attrition in 2009 and launched the current pilot study in November 2010 with funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  Elizabeth Boylan, Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation commented, “This pilot study is a milestone in understanding master’s education in STEM fields. It represents the Foundation’s commitment to assisting institutions to better understand the progress of students to their degrees, and then into the STEM workforce that is essential to America’s economic and scientific competitiveness.”

Five institutions were selected through a competitive process to participate as research partners for the study: Loyola University Chicago, Purdue University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Texas A&M University, and Wright State University. For more about the Master’s Completion Project, please visit http://www.cgsnet.org/masters-completion-project.

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

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is reporting that the number of applications from prospective international students to U.S. graduate schools increased a mere 1% in 2013, following a 9% gain in 2012 and an 11% increase in 2011.

The initial snapshot of international graduate applications for fall 2013, released today, marks the smallest growth in applications over the past eight years. The slowdown in international applications was driven primarily by the decline in applications from China that was offset, in part, by an increase in applications from India. Chinese students constitute roughly one-third of all international graduate students in the United States, and their large numbers have helped to mitigate recent declines in first-time enrollment among all graduate students attending U.S.-based institutions.

The survey collects data on all international graduate applications, and detailed information on international applications from seven countries (China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil) and three regions (the Middle East, Africa and Europe). China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada are the top five countries of origin for international graduate students in the United States. Altogether, the seven countries and three regions highlighted in the CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey are home countries to about 86% of all international graduate students in the United States.

This reduced growth in overall international applications was primarily the result of the five percent decline in applications from China, the source country of 29% of international graduate students at U.S. institutions. Chinese applicant declines were offset by a 20% increase in applications from India, which accounts for 20% of all international graduate students at U.S. institutions. Applications from Brazil, having increased by 9% in 2012, grew markedly this year, by 24%. Applications in 2013 also increased from Africa (6%), which saw a 3% decline last year, and the Middle East (2%), whose increase follows a more substantial jump of 11% last year. Applications across the other countries and regions covered by this survey (i.e., South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, and Europe) decreased between fall 2012 and fall 2013. 

Just over half (52%) of institutions reported an increase in applications over last year with an average increase of 9% at these institutions, while 48% of responding institutions reported a decrease, averaging 7%. 

“The overall slowed growth in international applications merits serious attention from policymakers as well as universities,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart. “While the large increases in applications from India and Brazil are encouraging, the decrease in Chinese applicants needs attention. As a country, we simply can’t afford to maintain obstacles to international graduate study, especially as other countries are decreasing these barriers for highly qualified students.”

Application trends by field of study

Increases in applications were minimal (1% to 4%) in all broad fields, with the exception of education and the life sciences, which saw declines (3% and 7%, respectively). The three most popular fields of study—engineering, physical and earth sciences, and business—experienced increases in international applications of 2% to 3%. The arts and humanities and social sciences and psychology, fields in which few international students enroll, saw the largest increases in applications at 4%.

Application trends by institutional characteristics

CGS also analyzed changes in international applications by various institutional characteristics. On average, applications increased in public institutions (3%), but declined at private, not-for-profit institutions (-4%) in 2013. Additionally, applications from prospective international graduate students increased 18% on average at master’s-focused institutions in 2013, a sharp jump from the 5% decline that occurred in 2012, while international applications remained flat at doctoral institutions in 2013, following a 10% increase in 2012.

Application trends by region

Applications from international students increased minimally in all regions of the U.S., except for the Northeast. Increases were largest in the West (2%) and South (2%), while the Midwest increased only by 1%, and the Northeast declined by 1%.

About the report

Findings from the 2013 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, Phase I: Applications is based on the first phase of a three-part annual survey of international graduate student applications, admissions, and enrollment among CGS U.S. member institutions. The analysis includes responses from 276 schools, including 80% of the 25 institutions that award the largest number of degrees to international graduate students, and 88% of the top 50 institutions. Collectively, the 276 respondents to this year’s survey award about 64% of the degrees granted to international graduate students in the U.S.  The report is available at www.cgsnet.org.

Washington, DC, and New York, NY– The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), the only national association of universities devoted to graduate education and research, and TIAA‐CREF, a leading financial services provider, today rolled out the first phase of a three‐year best practice program designed to improve the financial acumen of graduate and undergraduate students, including debt management skills. Marking the launch of the project announced last fall, CGS released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to all U.S.‐based CGS member institutions.

Through the RFP process, universities and colleges will compete for funding to design financial education programs that prepare students to play an active role in managing their personal finances and make better and more informed decisions about saving, spending, investing and borrowing. Together with CGS and TIAA‐CREF, the selected institutions will develop, assess, promote and share tools and resources for enhancing student financial literacy.

The program will address the diverse needs of students while considering factors such as their socioeconomic backgrounds, fields of study, degree levels and chosen career pathways, each of which has significant financial ramifications. It will also provide students with basic financial education skills to help them plan how to fund their college educations and align students with career paths that could ultimately enable them to repay their college loans. Tools and resources will be made available to all CGS member institutions over the course of the three‐year project, and CGS will publish a best practice guide at the end of the three years.

“Student loan debt is a complex problem, and there are no easy solutions. But we know that increased financial education must be part of the solution,” said Debra W. Stewart, president of CGS. “Today’s students are financially dissimilar to any previous generation. As family income has dropped and public funding for student support has declined, the costs associated with higher education have risen. At both the graduate and undergraduate levels, students carry unprecedented debt burdens. This collaboration among CGS, TIAA‐CREF and universities and colleges aims to confront head on the growing student debt crisis.”

Starting this spring, a selection committee will begin the review process, evaluating proposals based on various criteria, including institutional commitment, the potential of the project to successfully engage students and the quality of the institution’s action plan. All U.S. CGS member institutions are eligible to apply for awards. Priority will be given to proposals from institutions that can provide evidence of the project’s potential to have a direct impact on a significant number of graduate and undergraduate students. Institutions not selected to receive awards will be invited to participate as program affiliates. Affiliate institutions will have access to tools and resources developed by the program and will be invited to share information about their activities.

Applications must be received by CGS no later than May 31, 2013. Awards will be announced by June 30, 2013, for projects that will be implemented in fall 2013 and conclude by June 30, 2015.

More information is available on the CGS website, www.cgsnet.org.

Contacts: Julia Kent, CGS: (202) 223‐3791 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu
John McCool, TIAA‐CREF: (888) 200‐4062 / media@tiaa‐cref.org

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

Washington, DC — Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) President Debra W. Stewart today released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on February 12, 2013. CGS is the only national organization dedicated solely to the advancement of graduate education and research. The organization draws its institutional members from colleges and universities significantly engaged in graduate education, research, and scholarship culminating in the award of the master's or doctoral degree.

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) applauds President Obama’s continued focus on increasing American competitiveness in the world economy and appreciates the recognition that access to higher education will play a major role in that effort.

CGS stands strongly behind the President’s commitment to strengthen our economy through investments in research and innovation, expanded access to advanced education opportunities, and increased support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training. To summarize the President’s point, “To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require.”

While calling for investments in these critical areas, the President also warned of the impact of looming sequester cuts on our recovering economy and on our ability to compete globally. CGS shares the President’s concerns when he said, “These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would … devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

CGS also supports the President’s call for immigration reform and urges the Administration and Congress to recognize the importance of retaining talented international students and their role in keeping our economy competitive. To harness this talent and maximize our economy’s dynamism, CGS calls on the Administration and Congress to reduce visa barriers that discourage the most talented international students from attending U.S. graduate schools and creating jobs and businesses after they graduate.

With bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill already underway, President Obama spoke of the broader support for reform by stating, “Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Recent research on skilled immigration and innovation shows that domestic as well as international students make a significant, positive impact on U.S. university research productivity (Stuen et. al). Research from the fall of 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, indicate that domestic enrollment is now in a second year of decline, with decreases of first-time domestic enrollment in fields key to U.S. innovation: Engineering, Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science. With that in mind, CGS urges the President to support policies that seek to bolster enrollment for graduate education for both foreign and domestic talent. As other countries have already recognized through their investments in graduate education, innovation will require highly trained US citizens as well as foreign talent. Shrinking university budgets and rising student debt loads conspire to deny US employers access to this domestic talent.

As President Obama seeks to realize his most ambitious goals for our nation in his second term, CGS looks forward to playing a vital role in ensuring U.S. graduate schools are promoting a creative, innovative workforce that helps ready our country to meet the challenges of the 21st century global economy.

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

Washington, D.C. (February 7, 2013) – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today released the results of its third 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.

Total Enrollment:

• Total enrollment in PSM programs topped 5,800 students in 2012.
• Total enrollment increased by 22% overall between 2010 and 2012 and by 10% at the PSM programs that responded to the 2010, 2011, and the 2012 surveys.
• Men comprised 55% of all PSM students and women made up 45%.
• 15% of total PSM students enrolled in U.S.-based institutions were temporary residents.
• Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 25% of enrollees in the fall of 2012 were underrepresented minorities.
• Total PSM enrollment in fall 2012 was dominated by four fields of study: computer/information sciences (21%), biotechnology (16%), environmental sciences and natural resources (14%), or mathematics and statistics (14%).

• Just over 1,750 PSM degrees were awarded in academic year 2011/12.
• 52% of PSM degrees awarded by respondents in academic year 2011/12 were awarded to men and 48% to women.
• 17% of graduates of U.S.-based PSM programs were international students.
• Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 23% of PSM graduates in 2011/12 were underrepresented minorities.
• Biotechnology and computer/information sciences awarded 42% of all PSM degrees awarded: 22% and 20%, respectively.
• Men earned the majority of the PSM degrees awarded in chemistry and physics, geosciences and GIS, other interdisciplinary sciences, bioinformatics/computational biology, and mathematics and statistics.
• Women earned the majority of the degrees granted in medical-related sciences, biology/biotechnology, and “other interdisciplinary” fields.

The report is available in pdf format at cgsnet.org and at sciencemasters.com.

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

Washington, DC – 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). Dr. Karen Colley, Dean of the Graduate College, accepted the award on behalf of UIC.

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 based on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools; it receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

UIC’s winning proposal seeks to fill gaps in the efforts of its Graduate College to promote the retention and success of underrepresented minority graduate students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Existing efforts that prepare minority students at UIC to enter graduate programs will be enhanced through a new program, “Promoting Success in STEM Graduate Education” (PaSSaGE) Scholars. PaSSaGE will provide ongoing mentoring, professional skills development opportunities, and financial incentives to promote retention and timely degree completion. 

Grant funds will be used to provide stipends to minority STEM students  as they transition into their graduate degree program, as well as later in a student’s course of study, when it will make available additional funding to each recipient who completes his or her preliminary/qualifying examination and advances to PhD candidacy within the timeframe appropriate for the student’s discipline. Scholars will receive funding to present their work at academic meetings or conferences. As they complete their PhD and move toward the next stage of their careers, PaSSaGE scholars will be eligible to receive an additional award for travel to interview for postgraduate job opportunities.

[Photo caption: The 2012 CGS/ETS Award. From left to right: David Payne, Nasser Zawia, Barbara Wilcots, Karen Jackson-Weaver, Karen Colley, Lunaire Ford, Samuel Attoh, Patricia Mooney-Melvin, Ralph Ferguson.]

“ETS is pleased to support UIC in developing new resources to help close the degree completion gap for many minority STEM graduate students,” said David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “Providing graduate students with the resources they need to navigate and complete their graduate study is an essential step toward student success, and ETS is happy to contribute to this effort.”

“The UIC proposal stood out among a very strong field by creating a financial incentive for minority STEM students to achieve the key academic milestones that are essential to degree progress,” said Debra W. Stewart, CGS President. “We are proud to support the students – at UIC and graduate schools everywhere – who will benefit from the implementation and evaluation of programs like the PaSSaGE Scholars.”

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

Washington, DC – 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 awards ceremony was held on December 6, during the CGS 52nd 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. Popescu becomes the award’s 41st recipient for her dissertation and book, South African Literature beyond the Cold War (Palgrave, 2010). She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Popescu’s book studies the ways in which contemporary South African literature imagines Eastern Europe during and following apartheid. Examining South African writers’ interest in Russian and Eastern European stories of revolution against state oppression, South African Literature beyond the Cold War offers a new account of the evolution and aims of postcolonial studies in relation to the Cold War and South African history. ” The chair of the selection committee for the award, Dr. Carolyn R. Hodges, Vice Provost & Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, noted, “Dr. Popescu’s dissertation and book make an outstanding contribution to research in her field in addition to demonstrating impressive interdisciplinary breadth.”
 

[Photo caption: The 2012 Gustave O. Arlt Award. From left to right; Noreen Golfman, Sally Pratt, Carolyn Hodges, Monica Popescu, John Stevenson, Philip Cohen.]

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 World Language and Literature, Comparative Literature, Drama/Theater Arts. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.

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

Washington, DC – 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. Dr. Brandenburg completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last year. Dr. Chen earned his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011.

Bestowed annually since 1982, the awards recognize recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, the world’s premier dissertation publisher, 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 $2000 honorarium, and travel to the awards ceremony.

“The work of these two extraordinary scholars represent the highest standards of intellectual rigor and indisputably, represent significant contributions to their respective fields,” said Mary Sauer-Games, ProQuest Vice President of Information Solutions.

The 2012 Award in mathematics, physical sciences and engineering was presented to Dr. Brandenburg for “Scheduling and Locking in Multiprocessor Real-Time Operating Systems.” His dissertation research addresses real-time and embedded systems that individuals use on an everyday basis, as in cars and computers, often without the awareness that these systems exist. The dissertation addresses questions key to resource-allocation for real-time operating systems (RTOSs), a project that allowed Dr. Brandenburg to develop a new multicore RTOS called LITMUS (LInux Testbed for MUltiprocessor Scheduling in Real-Time Systems).  Dr. Brandenburg is currently a tenure-track faculty member at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, where he is Head of the institute’s real-time systems group.
 

[Photo caption: The 2012 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards. From left to right; Mary Sauer-Games, Sheryl Tucker, Bonnie Melhart, Steve Matson, Bjorn Brandenburg, David Holger, Venkat Allada, John Roberts.]

Dr. Chen received the 2012 Award in social sciences for his dissertation, “When the State Claims the Intimate: Population Control Policy and the Makings of Chinese Modernity.” His research, an ethnographic study, examines the “human experience of China’s post-socialism and associated globalizing efforts as they are reconfigured in the seemingly intimate space of reproduction.” More specifically, Dr. Chen’s work explores the reproductive practices of peasants in northeast China, analyzing the ways in which these practices “intersect with the politics and policies of biomedicine and technology, as well as with those of gender, class, kinship, and ethnic identities.”  Dr. Chen is currently a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University as well as a research affiliate at Columbia’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

[Photo caption: The 2012 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards. From left to right; William Buttlar, Larry Lyon, Zhen Chen, Junjie Chen, Isaac Chen, Lynne Pepall, Marlene Coles, Mary Sauer-Games, John Roberts.]

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

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

Washington, DC – 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. His achievements in this role include the establishment of criteria for assessing the quality of graduate programs and applying these criteria to increase program quality, enhance enrollments, develop new degree programs, and link funding to program quality. Additional accomplishments include the creation of the first graduate fellowships at EIU funded through alumni philanthropy, the creation of new assistantships in almost every graduate program, and the guarantee of yearly stipend increases for graduate assistants. Dr. Augustine earned his PhD from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and his B.S.E and M.S degrees from Illinois State University in communication sciences and disorders.

“In his role as graduate dean, Dr. Augustine has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and innovation in graduate education,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart, “particularly in the areas of master’s education and promoting diversity.  We are honored that he will serve as the 2013 CGS board chair.”

The new Chair-elect is James Wimbush, Dean of The University Graduate School and Professor of Business Administration at Indiana University (IU). Prior to his appointment as dean in 2006, Dr. Wimbush served in multiple administrative positions including Chair of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Chair of Doctoral Programs in Business, Chair of the Kelley MBA Program, and Associate Dean of the Faculties for the Bloomington campus. Dr. Wimbush is an acknowledged national authority on business ethics as they relate to human resource practices.

Beginning three-year terms on the board are Nancy Marcus of Florida State University, Steven Matson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and John Stevenson of the University of Colorado, Boulder. George Justice, the University of Missouri, and Allison Sekuler, McMaster University, will serve one-year terms on the board.

CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions. Board members serve for set terms. Lisa Tedesco of Emory University will remain on CGS’s Executive Committee for one year as immediate past chair.