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.

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

Washington, DC and New York, NY– The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), a nonprofit organization devoted to graduate education and research, and TIAA‐CREF, a leading financial services provider, today 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.

The project is designed to spark university collaborations to hone students’ financial skills at a time when public funding for education is decreasing and student debt is rising. Colleges and universities will compete for funding to design programs that prepare students to play an active role in managing their personal finances and making informed decisions about saving, spending and borrowing. The project will work with institutions to address the needs of different groups of students while considering factors such as their fields of study, degree levels and chosen career pathways, each of which has significant financial ramifications.

Today’s graduate and undergraduate students are in a much different place financially than previous generations of students. Not only are more students in debt, the amount of debt students carry is considerably higher. Particular attention will be given to students who may be disproportionally burdened by debt, a well‐known barrier to degree completion and student success.

CGS President Debra Stewart remarked that the project takes on challenges faced by individual students and by the nation as a whole: “Colleges and universities are increasingly recognizing that student financial literacy can have a significant impact on whether a student decides to pursue graduate studies and, ultimately, benefit from the financial and career advantages afforded by a graduate degree. Ensuring a pipeline of highly educated graduate students is essential to the research enterprise and a U.S. economy that depends on high‐level skills.”

As a financial services organization with deep roots in education, TIAA‐CREF has a longstanding commitment to improving financial literacy in the United States. The company offers a variety of educational tools and resources to individuals through relevant educational content, seminars and one‐on‐one financial advice sessions.

Last year, TIAA‐CREF collaborated with Students in Free Enterprise (now known as Enactus) to challenge student teams from 25 colleges and universities, to develop financial literacy programs for their schools and local communities. More than 1,000 TIAA‐CREF employees also volunteer each year to provide financial literacy training to middle school children. “Many college students lack the basic financial education skills they need to appropriately fund their college education and align it with a career path that will ultimately enable them to repay college loans,” said Roger W. Ferguson Jr., president and chief executive officer of TIAA‐CREF. “TIAA‐CREF is honored to have this opportunity to work with CGS to give our nation’s students the financial education tools and resources they need.”

To ensure the sustainability of the project beyond its three‐year funding period, institutions competing for funding will be required to embed financial literacy programs for graduate students within Preparing Future Faculty programs or similar programs designed to prepare graduate student careers. CGS will announce a request for proposals to its member institutions in January 2013.

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

###

Citing data from the 2012 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, the Chronicle points to continued growth of international student enrollment.

Council of Graduate Schools invites media participation at 52nd Annual Meeting, December 6-8, 2012
“Creativity and Innovation in Graduate Education”

What: Over 700 leaders in graduate education from North America and overseas will convene at the Council of Graduate schools’ 52nd Annual Meeting.

Time and Location: December 6-8, 2012, Washington, DC, Grand Hyatt

Media Registration: Approved media registrants may attend the event's open sessions free of cost. To request media credentials, please register online by 5:00pm EST on December 4, 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.

Featured speakers include:

• David Brooks, New York Times Op-Ed columnist
• Michael Bérubé, President of the Modern Language Association
• Larry Bacow, President Emeritus of Tufts University
• Jeff Selingo, Editor at Large, Chronicle of Higher Education
• Anant Agarwal, President of edX and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
• Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and Visiting Professor, Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute
• Nancy Nersessian, Regents’ Professor and Professor of Cognitive Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Subra Suresh, Director of the National Science Foundation

Featured topics include:

• Online Learning in a Global Context and the Role of MOOCs
• Fostering Creativity and Innovation
• The Future of Graduate Education in the Humanities
• Advancing U.S. Competitiveness in Scientific Research and Education
• Practical Solutions for Tracking Graduate Student Careers
• Professional and Global Skills Development for Graduate Students
• Broadening Participation and Success of Underrepresented Minorities

Event Details

All events will take place at the Grand Hyatt, 1000 H Street, NW, Washington, DC. Sessions open to media guests begin Thursday, December 6.

Event home
Media agenda

About CGS

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. Current membership includes over 500 universities in the United States and Canada, and 25 universities outside the U.S. and Canada. Collectively, CGS institutions annually award more than 92 percent of all U.S. doctorates and over 81 percent of all U.S. master's degrees.

Contacts

Julia Kent, CGS Director of Global Communications and Best Practices
Mobile: (202) 740-5528 jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Nate Thompson, CGS Communications Associate
Mobile: (763) 229-8580
nthompson@cgs.nche.edu

Enrollments of new students from China increased by 22 percent, according to the latest report on international graduate admissions and enrollments by the Council of Graduate Schools.

Chinese citizens continue to pour onto U.S. college campuses, now comprising 37% of all international graduate students here, according to a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools.

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

 

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools today 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.

Where are graduate students coming from?

Growth was found in a broad range of sending countries and regions, with significant variations:

• China logged its seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth in first-time enrollment, adding another 22 percent for the 2011-2012 period. Chinese students now constitute 37 percent of all international graduate students in the United States, according to survey respondents.
• First-time graduate enrollment of students from Brazil grew a substantial 14 percent.
• Taken regionally, the Middle East accelerated growth in first-time enrollment to 18 percent, compared with its 14 percent increase from a year ago.
• First-time graduate enrollment of students from India increased 1%, an increase from previous years in which this number dropped by as much as 16% (between 2008 and 2009).
• Although total enrollment of South Korean students dipped 3% between 2011 and 2012, this period also marks the third year in which such decreases have become smaller.
• Similarly, total enrollment of students from India decreased by 3%, but this is an improvement from the 6% decreases in each of the two previous years.

These results corroborate findings from another recent CGS report, Graduate Enrollment & Degrees: 2001-2011, showing that international students now account for 14.5 percent of the nation’s total graduate enrollment.

CGS President Debra Stewart noted that the international survey results underscore the importance of international students to U.S. graduate schools. “The data show us that international students represent a growing percentage of overall graduate enrollment in the United States—a sign that graduate students, and in many cases, the countries that fund their studies, recognize the quality and return-on-investment provided by U.S. graduate degrees.” Stewart added, “The stabilizing rates of growth in first-time enrollments for India and South Korea are also good news for U.S. graduate institutions.”

All of the broad fields of study reported in the survey experienced growth in first-time enrollment of international graduate students. The two most popular fields among internationals are business and engineering: together they comprised 47 percent of all international graduate student enrollment in 2012, according to survey respondents. Changes in first-time enrollment by field are shown in the table below.

* Includes Mathematics and Computer Sciences

Locations of Study by Region and Institution Type

International first-time graduate enrollment increased in all four major regions of the United States in 2012: the Northeast saw the largest increase (11%), followed by the Midwest (8%), West (7 %), and South (5%).

In terms of first-time enrollment, gains at private, not-for-profit institutions (9%) outpaced those at public institutions (8%) between 2011 and 2012. Doctoral institutions, both public and private, not-for-profit, grew at 9 percent. Master’s-focused institutions reported negative rates of change in first-time international graduate enrollment; public master’s-focused institutions saw a decrease of 9 percent, and private, not-for-profit master’s-focused institutions increased by 9 percent.

Findings from the 2012 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, Phase III: Final Offers of Admissions and Enrollment is based on the final phase of a three-part annual survey of international graduate student applications, admissions, and enrollment among CGS U.S. member institutions. The survey had a response rate of 52%, including 79 of the 100 institutions that grant the largest numbers of graduate degrees to international students. Overall, the 265 institutions responding to the Phase III survey conferred about 64% of the nearly 97,000 graduate degrees awarded to international students in the United States in 2011/12.

There are many cultural differences scientists will experience as they cross borders for international research. Ethical norms in the lab may be among the most important of these differences, according to Science Careers magazine, CGS staff and principals on the EESE project.