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.

The president emphasized innovation, saying, “Innovation also demands basic research.  Today, the discoveries taking place in our federally financed labs and universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones untouched…Don’t gut these investments in our budget.  Don’t let other countries win the race for the future.  Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.”  This commitment to scientific discovery is a crucial part of building a stronger American economy.

In order to continue the research President Obama mentioned, we must invest in education at all levels or we will lack the talented workforce that will drive innovation in the future.  The president said, “Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job.” 

Many of the creators and innovators these companies seek will be trained in our graduate schools.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2018 more jobs will require people with graduate degrees, specifically an 18% increase in jobs requiring a master’s degree and a 17% increase for people with doctoral degrees.  

It is vital, given workforce needs, that careers and the requisite skills needed to pursue those careers are clearly shared with students throughout the education pipeline.  To that end, the Commission on Pathways through Graduate School and into Careers was launched jointly by CGS and Educational Testing Service last year.  The Commission’s report, which will be released in April, will offer concrete recommendations for universities, business leaders, and policymakers designed to address these challenges and ensure America has the highly skilled talent needed.

We also applaud President Obama’s call to retain international students who study in the U.S. but who face challenges when they wish to remain and work after graduation.  About 40% of international students studying at our colleges and universities are pursuing graduate degrees and it is in our collective best interest to permit those who want to stay and contribute to our economy following completion of their degrees to do so.

We look forward to working with the Administration to ensure that U.S. graduate schools can continue their vital role in ensuring our populace is creative, innovative, and ready to meet the challenges of the 21^st century global economy.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Lisa Tedesco of Emory University became the 2012 Chair of the Council of Graduate Schools’ (CGS) Board of Directors at CGS’s 51^st Annual Meeting last week.  Since 2006, Dr. Tedesco has served as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs  ̶  Graduate Studies and Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies.  She is a professor in the Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education.  Dr. Tedesco began her service on the CGS Board of Directors in 2010. 

Prior to joining Emory University, Dr. Tedesco spent fourteen years at the University of Michigan, first as professor and associate dean in the School of Dentistry and later served as vice president and secretary of the university, and in 2001 as interim provost. Throughout her academic and administrative career, Dr. Tedesco has been involved with programs to increase student and faculty diversity on campus, with emphasis on minority youth access to and preparation for careers in the health care professions.  She earned her doctorate in educational psychology from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

“Dr. Tedesco has a deep commitment to ensuring graduate schools, employers, and policymakers work together to enhance U.S. graduate education and maintain its status as the gold standard around the world,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart.  “CGS is honored to have her as our board chair.”

The new Chair-elect is Robert Augustine, Dean of the Graduate School, Research and International Programs at Eastern Illinois University. He is also a professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences.

Beginning three-year terms on the board are Maureen Grasso of the University of Georgia, Mark J. T. Smith of Purdue University, and Pamela C. Stacks of San Jose State University.  Barbara A. Knuth of Cornell University was elected for a two-year term and Ramona Mellott, of Northern Arizona University was elected for a one-year term.

CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions.  Board members are nominated and elected by the full membership for set terms.  Patrick Osmer of The Ohio State University will remain on CGS’s Executive Committee for one year as immediate past chair.

Contact:
Belle Woods, Council of Graduate Schools
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Beth Dempsey, for ProQuest
beth.dempsey@proquest.com
(248) 349-7810

Scottsdale, AZ  – The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honor for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Nathaniel Adam Sowa and Kirsten A. Weld at an awards ceremony during the CGS 51^st Annual Meeting.  Dr. Sowa completed his Ph.D. in Neurobiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last year.  Dr. Weld earned her doctorate in History from Yale University in 2010. 

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.

“ProQuest is proud to join CGS in honoring these two graduates,” said Austin McLean, ProQuest Director of Scholarly Publishing and Dissertations.  “Their works show the important contribution dissertations make to the advancement of scholarly research.  We’re particularly impressed with the creative approaches they each took in completing and presenting their research.” 

The 2011 Award in Biological and Life Sciences was presented to Dr. Sowa for “Characterization of Ectonucleotidases in Nociceptive Circuits.”  His dissertation describes his identification and characterization of two new proteins (ectonucleotidases) that inhibit pain signaling and offer new areas for research in pain therapy as well as the potential to affect other health conditions such as stroke and sleep disorders.  Dr. Sowa is currently a student at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Dr. Weld received the 2011 Award in Humanities and Fine Arts for her dissertation, “Reading the Politics of History in Guatemala’s National Police Archives.”  Her research uses the discovery of long-hidden police records in an examination of Guatemala’s postwar politics and seeks to illuminate the impact of historical knowledge, such as that documented in archives, on people’s lives.  Dr. Weld is currently the Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Latin American History at Brandeis University. 

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

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

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

Scottsdale, AZ – The third annual “ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion” was presented to Eastern Illinois University during the 51^st Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).  The award is sponsored by CGS and Educational Testing Service (ETS).  Dr. Robert Augustine, Dean of the Graduate School, accepted the award on behalf of Eastern Illinois University (EIU).

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.

The winning proposal from Eastern Illinois University, “The Integrative Graduate Studies Institute” will offer a full-range of services designed to promote success in graduate education, including five integrative graduate mentoring programs.  The programs will focus on distinct audiences, both undergraduate and graduate students, and will be evaluated on outcomes related to diversity, retention and completion rates, and other metrics.

“From pre-admission through to degree completion graduate students face many challenges and hurdles to success,” says David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “Eastern Illinois’ comprehensive proposal specifically addresses these challenges in a positive way and we congratulate them for their efforts on behalf of students.”

“Eastern Illinois University was the best of a very strong set of proposals, all of which showed the commitment that graduate schools have to promote student success in graduate programs through creative approaches” said Debra W. Stewart, CGS President.  “CGS is exceptionally grateful for ETS’s continued support for graduate education as exemplified by this award.”

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Scottsdale, AZ – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2011 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. George C. Grinnell, Assistant Professor of English at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.  The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 51st 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. Grinnell becomes the award’s 40th recipient for The Age of Hypochondria:  Interpreting Romantic Health and Illness (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).  He received a Ph.D. in English from McMaster University in 2005.

The Age of Hypochondria is a result of interdisciplinary research; by examining medical and literary writings from the Romantic period, Dr. Grinnell offers readers insight into hypochondria, “a disorder of the very ability to distinguish between illness and health.”  Hermione de Almeida, Pauline Water Chair in Comparative Literature at the University of Tulsa noted that the book’s “choice of subject and authors treated will give it a distinct and original place among the roster of good books on Romantic medicine published in recent years.” 

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 English and North American Language and Literature.  The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced a new three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the integration of research ethics education into graduate international collaborations. The project will focus on the needs of graduate students enrolled in science and engineering programs at U.S. institutions of higher education.

The ability to resolve complex ethical issues that arise in international research is critical not only to the success of U.S.-trained scientists and engineers, but also to the integrity of U.S. research with international partners.  Graduate schools are increasingly recognizing the need to prepare students to navigate different policies and cultural expectations related to ethical research practice.

Through pilot projects at U.S. universities and nationally coordinated activities, the CGS project will identify model approaches to assessing the learning of students who participate in collaborations such as joint and dual degree programs and research collaborations and exchanges. Guided by an assessment framework that will be developed by graduate deans and experts on international issues in research integrity, CGS will coordinate the testing and development of learning outcomes at five universities. This project builds upon earlier CGS research that identified gaps in the preparation for graduate students for international collaboration and research. 

“Whether students are engaged in research abroad, collaborating with international scholars on joint projects, or studying in programs that have an international dimension, they are likely to face unique ethical questions that most are unprepared to answer,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart.  She continued, “By helping universities to identify what questions matter most and strategies that work best for educating graduate students, CGS will be contributing to an area of graduate education where there is tremendous growth and opportunity.”

The project is funded by NSF’s Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) program through the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).  In addition to identifying general research ethics skills and abilities needed for successful international collaboration, the project will examine how best to teach those skills.  The collaborative work of CGS and awardees will also result in case studies based on successful program strategies as well as an online repository of graduate learning outcomes for international collaborations.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reported today that enrollment of new students at U.S. graduate schools fell 1.1% from 2009 to 2010, compared to a 5.5% increase the previous year.  This marks the first decrease in first-time graduate enrollment since fall 2003.  This decline occurred despite an 8.4% increase in applications to U.S. graduate schools.  Total graduate enrollment grew 1.1%. 

Differences were seen in first-time enrollment of domestic students (down 1.2%) versus international students (up 4.7% after a decline last year).  This is contrary to trends seen over the past decade when the average annual rate of increase for U.S. citizens and permanent residents was 4.4% vs. 2.3% for international students.  According to the survey, 84% of first-time graduate students in fall 2010 were U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and 16% were temporary residents. One-quarter of all first-time graduate students were members of U.S. citizen and permanent resident racial/ethnic minority groups.

A 4.9% gain in first-time enrollment for Hispanics/Latinos between fall 2009 and fall 2010 was countered with declines for American Indians/Alaskan Natives (-20.6%), Blacks/African Americans (-8.4%), Whites (-0.6%), and Asians/Pacific Islanders (-0.1%). 

“The decline in first-time enrollment, particularly across most ethnic groups, is a concern given changing demographics and the need for more students from all groups to pursue graduate degrees so that America will have the talent needed to remain competitive,” said Debra W. Stewart, CGS President.  She continued, “We saw decreases in first-time graduate enrollment in broad fields such as business, education, and public administration in particular. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2018, 2.5 million more jobs will require advanced degrees and unfortunately, our numbers are going in the wrong direction.  Strategic investments are needed now to support graduate students and the development of highly skilled talent.” 

Institutions responding to the survey received nearly 1.77 million applications; the fields seeing the largest numbers of applications were business, engineering, and social and behavioral sciences.

The report presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for fall 2010, degrees conferred in 2009-10, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods.  Data are disaggregated for a number of student demographic and institutional characteristics.  Other findings include: 

First-time enrollment:

• More than 445,000 students enrolled for the first time in graduate certificate, education specialist, master’s, or doctoral programs for the fall term in 2010 at the institutions responding to the survey.
• Over 60% of first-time graduate students were enrolled at public institutions.
• About 58% of all first-time graduate students in fall 2010 were women.
• Between fall 2009 and fall 2010, first-time graduate enrollment increased 1.5% at the doctoral level, but fell 1.6% at the master’s degree and graduate certificate level.

Total graduate enrollment:

• There were nearly 1.75 million students enrolled in graduate programs in fall 2010 at the responding institutions.
• More than half of all graduate students in fall 2010 were enrolled in programs in education, business, or health sciences.
• About three-quarters of all graduate students were enrolled in programs leading to a master’s degree or a graduate certificate.
• About 59% of all graduate students in fall 2010 were women.
• Total graduate enrollment fell 10.3% for American Indians/Alaskan Natives and 0.6% for Asians/Pacific Islander between fall 2009 and fall 2010.  Over the same time period other groups saw gains:  Hispanic/Latinos (4.5%), Blacks/African Americans (1.6%), and Whites (0.6%).
• Total graduate enrollment decreased in four broad fields between fall 2009 and fall 2010: education, ‘other’ fields, business, and public administration and services.
• Between fall 2009 and fall 2010, total enrollment increased faster at the doctoral level than at the master’s degree and graduate certificate level—3.3% vs. 0.5%.

Graduate certificates and degrees awarded:

• About 42% of all doctoral degrees awarded were in health sciences, biological and agricultural sciences, and social and behavioral sciences while about 51% of all master’s degrees were awarded in education and business.
• Women earned about two-thirds of the graduate certificates awarded in 2009-10, 60% of the master’s degrees, and 52% of the doctorates.
• Academic year 2009-10 marked the second consecutive year in which women earned the majority of the degrees awarded at the doctoral level.

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2000 to 2010 presents the findings of an annual survey of U.S. graduate schools, co-sponsored by CGS and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board.  It is the only annual national survey that covers enrollment in all fields of graduate study and is the only source of national data on graduate applications.  The report includes responses from 655 institutions, which collectively confer about 75% of the master’s degrees and 88% of the doctorates awarded each year.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, D.C. (April 5, 2011) – This morning, policymakers, business leaders, and higher education stakeholders shared their perspectives on the importance of graduate education to U.S. innovation and competitiveness and discussed the impact of last year’s landmark report “The Path Forward:  The Future of Graduate Education in the United States.”

The Path Forward report, a joint effort of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and Educational Testing Service (ETS), called on the federal government, universities and industry to work together to ensure that graduate education remains a viable option for a growing number of students.  

At this year’s forum, a new paper “Steps Taken on the Path Forward” was released; the document reviews the impact of The Path Forward one year later and outlines issues and challenges confronting graduate education now and into the future.  On campuses, the report has:

• Influenced critical decision processes by helping to shape institutional strategic plans and goals for graduate education programs;
• Changed institutional priorities by highlighting the importance of graduate education, the report resulted in making graduate fellowships the top priority for one institution’s fundraising;
• Created new communication channels, such as catalyzing new online discussions between deans and faculty about graduate education issues and development of a video aimed at clarifying career pathways for students;
• Shaped evaluation metrics and affirming the commitment of graduate deans to developing and using outcome measures and offering more information to prospective and current students;
• Introduced new programs, particularly professional development programs for graduate students.

“The report’s findings and recommendations have had an impact on a number of fronts - from federal policy to new university based strategic directions. They have facilitated a national conversation about the role and value of graduate education and its centrality to our quality of life.” said Debra Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools.  “While challenges remain, stakeholders across the country have taken the report’s findings to heart and are working to strengthen the graduate education enterprise,” she added.

Among the featured speakers were several policymakers as well as business leaders and graduate deans.  Kurt Landgraf, President and CEO of ETS, Stan Litow, VP of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, IBM and President of IBM's Foundation, and Ronald Townsend, Executive VP for Global Laboratory Operations, Battelle Memorial Institute, discussed the importance of human talent to innovation and competitiveness. 

A panel of graduate deans followed, made up of Robert Augustine, Dean of the Graduate School, Eastern Illinois University; Lisa Tedesco, Vice Provost & Dean, Laney Graduate School, Emory University; and James Wimbush, Dean, The University Graduate School, Indiana University.  Each dean shared examples of the ways they used the report at the local and state level. 

The event underscored the role of graduate education in maintaining and enhancing U.S. competitiveness and the need to support this strategic national asset.  

About The Path Forward report

The report, The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States, was guided by the Commission on the Future of Graduate Education ─ a group jointly formed by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) in 2009 to study how graduate education can meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Commission is comprised of 18 university presidents and chancellors, provosts, graduate school deans, corporate leaders and higher education scholars. The report and additional information is available at www.fgereport.org.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, D.C. (May 17, 2011) – Today, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released a new report, Preparing Future Faculty to Assess Student Learning, which describes the need for greater faculty engagement in the assessment of undergraduate student learning and outlines a strategy for achieving this goal through enhanced preparation of graduate students.  The report examines how model programs introduce graduate students to assessment concepts and approaches and identifies promising practices for scaling up these efforts within and across institutions of higher education.  The report is the result of a grant to CGS from the Teagle Foundation to explore the potential for an expanded national network of universities to improve the preparation of graduate students in the assessment of undergraduate learning.

Most higher education faculty in the US are now expected to assess undergraduate student learning in ways that would have been unfamiliar to their predecessors and were rare just a decade ago. Heightened expectations for well-defined learning outcomes and evidence that those outcomes are being used to improve teaching and learning are coming from all sides: regional accrediting bodies, state boards, federal agencies, and senior college and university leaders. Yet, while many of today’s graduate students will soon move into faculty positions, most graduate programs do not currently expose their graduate students to learning assessment strategies they can use when they join the ranks of faculty.

“The key to effective assessment is not only faculty understanding of key principles and approaches, but also strong faculty input on and championship of these principles and approaches,” said CGS President Debra Stewart.  She continued, “We are grateful for Teagle’s leadership in recognizing the importance of preparing graduate students to embrace these roles.”  

Along with highlighting model programs, the report also discusses shortcomings of current approaches, persistent challenges, and ways of more widely disseminating promising practices to ensure that a larger portion of US faculty begin their careers with the skills and understanding needed to enhance the quality of undergraduate learning in US higher education.

Dr. Stewart added, “This project has identified where the biggest opportunities lie in the graduate community for enhancing the quality of undergraduate education. If we can coordinate and scale up enhancements of efforts already underway, Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) and PFF-type programs provide a great opportunity to improve the quality of undergraduate learning through the enhanced training of graduate students.”

Between 1993 and 2003, CGS, in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities, funded and coordinated the development of PFF programs at 45 doctoral universities. These PFF programs prepared graduate students for the full range of faculty roles and responsibilities, with an emphasis on teaching, through collaborations with nearly 300 other US colleges and universities. While seed funding ended in 2003, CGS has continued to assist the development of new programs, and many of the original programs have continued to evolve, though some have scaled back their activities.

Preparing Future Faculty to Assess Student Learning reviews recent literature on trends in assessment and learning, discusses the national and institutional contexts for assessment, and reports findings from a national survey of 37 institutions with PFF and other, similar programs as well as a workshop that convened national assessment experts, graduate deans with model programs, and recent student participants. Key findings include:

• The majority of respondents (78%) reported that, over the past decade, requirements for faculty at their university in the assessment of student learning increased. Only 14% reported that such requirements stayed about the same, and none reported a decrease in such requirements.
• About two-thirds (68%) of PFF or similar programs currently integrate some form of learning assessment, but these programs reach small numbers of graduate students and only a fraction of the future faculty.
• More evidence about what works, more active forums for best practice exchange, and more discussion about the assessment of learning in the disciplines are needed to strengthen faculty support for learning assessment.

More information, about the project and ordering the publication, is available here.

Contact:
Belle Woods
bwoods@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, D.C. (August 9, 2011) – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released the results of its first Professional Science Master’s Enrollment and Degrees Survey, an annual survey documenting applications,  enrollments, and degrees awarded.  The Professional Science Master’s (PSM) is an innovative, new graduate degree designed to allow students to pursue advanced training in science or mathematics, while simultaneously developing workplace skills highly valued by employers.

“This report shows that nationally, PSM programs appeal to a diverse talent pool,” said Debra Stewart, CGS president.  She added, “Through the PSM, U.S. citizens, minorities, and women are being drawn to advanced study in STEM fields.  Clearly this helps meet U.S. workforce needs.”

This new report includes data on applications received and accepted for fall 2010, as well as enrollment data for fall 2010 and degrees awarded during the 2009-10 academic year, from nearly 90% of all PSM programs worldwide.  Over 98% of respondents were based in the United States and of those U.S. programs, about 74% were located at public institutions.  Key findings include:

Applications:

• Nearly 4,400 applications were received for fall 2010 admission and 48% were accepted.
• PSM programs in biology/biotechnology received more applications than programs in other fields of study, constituting 34.1% of all applications received.

First-Time Enrollment:

• 55.5% of first-time enrollees were men, and 44.5% were women
• 58.9% of all first-time PSM students were enrolled full-time while the remainder were part-time students.
• 16.8% of first-time enrollees in U.S.-based PSM programs were temporary residents (i.e., international students).
• Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 22.2% of first-time enrollees were underrepresented minorities (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, or American Indian/Alaska Native).

Total Enrollment:

• Total enrollment was divided more evenly than first-time enrollment between men (51.1%) and women (48.9%).
• Roughly one in every eight (13.4%) PSM students enrolled in U.S.-based institutions were temporary residents.
• Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 29.2% of enrollees in the fall of 2010 were underrepresented minorities.
• Nearly three-quarters (73.3%) of all PSM students were pursuing degrees in computational sciences, biology/biotechnology, or environmental sciences.

Degrees awarded:

• Precisely half of the 1,102 PSM degrees awarded by respondents in academic year 2009/10 were awarded to men and half to women.
• One in four (24.1%) graduates of U.S.-based PSM programs were international students.
• Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 22.4% of PSM graduates in 2009/10 were underrepresented minorities.
• Nearly six in ten (57.7%) PSM degrees awarded in 2009/10 were in biology/biotechnology and computational sciences.
• Men earned the majority of the PSM degrees granted in mathematics and statistics, physics and geological sciences, and computational sciences.
• Women earned the majority of the degrees granted in “other” fields (which includes chemistry, forensic science, nanoscience, and national defense), medical-related sciences, and biology/biotechnology.

The 2011 PSM applications, enrollments and degrees data will be released in December and will allow CGS to begin comparing year-to-year changes in the PSM data.

The report is available in pdf format at sciencemasters.com.