FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact

Katherine Hazelrigg, CGS: (202) 462-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, D.C. – Leaders of graduate institutions from 16 countries across six continents recently agreed on a set of principles and practical actions supporting graduate student mental health and wellbeing.

The statement was released at the conclusion of the 13th Annual Global Summit on Graduate Education, “Cultural Contexts of Health and Well-being in Graduate Education,” co-hosted by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the University of Manchester, with support from Educational Testing Service (ETS) and ProQuest. The Global Summit is an annual event designed to promote international best practices in master’s and doctoral education.

This year’s theme was chosen by an international steering committee to recognize the critical importance of graduate student mental health and wellbeing in a global context, a focus that can’t be answered using a single method or approach. Addressing these concerns while working to destigmatize mental health treatment has become a priority in the graduate education community, but to date, there has been no coordinated global effort to address this issue.

Summit participants shared examples and background on the national and international context of graduate student mental health and wellbeing in their countries and institutions.

Session topics addressed the organizational and administrative challenges to supporting graduate student mental health and wellbeing, including:

• Addressing national trends and perspectives in cultural attitudes, differences in terminology, current research, legal contexts, demographic differences, and health care systems;
• Creating a Campus Culture that Proactively Supports Wellness;
• Addressing the Role of Mentors and Advisors;
• Supporting “At-Risk” Student Populations; and,
• Prioritizing Professional Development and Career Counseling.  

Professor Luke Georghiou, deputy president and deputy vice-chancellor at The University of Manchester, commented that, “Well-being and mental health issues among postgraduate researchers are high on the agenda at The University of Manchester. It has been immensely useful to have learned that this is a shared problem in all parts of the world, and most importantly to share experience on approaches to prevention and early detection of issues, and how to support students and staff in addressing them.”  

CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega noted, “One of our shared goals is to foster learning environments that provide all current and future graduate students with the tools and support to succeed. Our discussions over the last two days brought to light new ideas and strategies to take back to our campuses.”

Participants in the summit included deans and other leaders of graduate schools and representatives of national and international associations devoted to graduate education. Along with the United Kingdom and the United States, the countries represented were: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Malta, New Zealand, Rwanda, and South Africa.

The consensus statement and practical actions are attached. 

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EMBARGOED UNTIL:                                                                                                                                        

Tuesday, August 20, 2019 10:00am EDT

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

JED Contact: Meg Woodworth – (212) 303-2306 / JEDmedia@yr.com

Washington, D.C. — The Council of Graduate Schools, (CGS) an association of universities that grant master’s and doctoral degrees, and The Jed Foundation (JED), a non-profit that exists to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults, today announced a new initiative to support the mental health and wellness of master’s and doctoral students. The 22-month project will create a foundation for evidence-based policies and resources to support graduate student mental health and well-being, prevent psychological distress, and address barriers to effective support and care. CGS and JED will give particular attention to the experiences of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities pursuing graduate education.

A growing body of evidence indicates that mental health challenges are common among graduate students. However, many barriers exist to effective support and care. These may include campus services that do not necessarily recognize the unique needs of graduate students, and a lack of evidence about what types of support are best suited to them. Students of different backgrounds may also face different sources of stress and may experience different levels of comfort in seeking help.

The new initiative, Supporting Mental Health and Wellness of Graduate Students will address these and other concerns across all broad fields of graduate study. A grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will support the council’s focus on issues specific to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, while a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the council’s work in the humanities.

“Compared with the undergraduate education context, there has been relatively little attention to supporting the mental health and wellness of master’s and doctoral students,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “This is a high-priority issue for CGS and the graduate education community more broadly, and we are grateful to our funders for supporting our work on this issue in a coordinated, thoughtful way, and to JED for contributing their expertise.”

The project will convene an advisory committee of experts and graduate education leaders (listed below), who will counsel CGS on its research and action plan. In addition, CGS will survey its member institutions to better understand existing policies and practices for supporting graduate student mental health and factors that may impact the design and delivery of services. In 2020, graduate deans, graduate students, mental health researchers, and other experts will convene in Washington, D.C., for a one-and-half-day workshop. The final project outcome will include a report and a statement of common principles for supporting graduate student mental health.

“In our work with colleges and universities across the country, we hear time and again the increasing concern for graduate and professional students’ mental health and how best to support them," said Nance Roy, Chief Clinical Officer at The Jed Foundation.  “To date, there is no framework focused specifically on the unique challenges and needs of graduate students.  JED is excited to be part of this initiative that will not only identify those needs, but also provide recommended practices for addressing them.”

The report resulting from the project will be released by December 2020.

Advisory Committee:

• Dr. Hollie Chessman, Research Fellow, Center for Policy Research and Strategy, American Council on Education
• Dr. Jan Collins-Eaglin, Scientific Advisor, The Steve Fund
• Dr. Michael Cunningham, Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research, Tulane University
• Dr. Daniel Eisenberg, S.J. Axelrod Collegiate Professor in Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan
• Dr. Andres Gil, Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School, Florida International University 
• Ms. Susanna Harris, CEO Founder, PhD Balance and doctoral student in microbiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Dr. Paula McClain, Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education, Duke University
• Dr. Suzanne Ortega (Ex-Officio), President, Council of Graduate Schools
• Dr. Susan Porter, Dean and Vice-Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of British Columbia and President, Canadian Association for Graduate Studies
• Dr. Sally Pratt, Vice Provost for Graduate Programs, University of Southern California
• Dr. Nance Roy (Ex-Officio), Chief Clinical Officer, The Jed Foundation and Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry
• Dr. Barry Schreier, Director of the University Counseling Service and Professor of Counseling Psychology, The University of Iowa
• Dr. Tammi Vacha-Haase, Dean of the Graduate College, Boise State University and President-Elect, Western Association of Graduate Schools

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools applauds the bipartisan introduction of the Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act (H.R. 3334), introduced by Representatives Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), Fred Upton (R-MI), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Tim Burchett (R-TN), and Harley Rouda (D-CA). H.R. 3334 would provide graduate students who received Pell Grant support as undergraduates and who remain income-eligible the ability to apply remaining semesters of Pell support towards a graduate degree. CGS has long supported this proposal to modernize the Pell program, thereby improving access and diversity within graduate education and strengthening the workforce.

Currently, Pell is only available to undergraduate students, and eligible individuals can receive up to 12 semesters’ worth of grant awards. However, a growing number of graduate students are former Pell recipients. According to the Department of Education, in Academic Year 2015-2016, nearly 46 percent of first-year graduate and professional students received some level of Pell support during their undergraduate education -- an encouraging indicator that a greater number of students from lower socio-economic means are pursuing graduate degrees. If enacted, the legislation would potentially assist nearly 387,600 students, according to CGS estimates.

“This legislation upholds the primary mission of the Pell Grant program, which is to help ensure that individuals with exceptional financial need are able to pursue higher levels of education,” said Suzanne T. Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “Our nation is becoming increasingly diverse, and it is imperative that our graduate student population reflects that diversity by including more students from low-income and underrepresented communities.”

Moreover, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in high-demand fields such as education, health care, and STEM often require at least a master’s degree. "As occupations requiring a master's degree continue to grow, we need to make sure those who wish to fill these jobs are not prevented from doing so because of the high cost of graduate school," said Congresswoman Kuster. "This legislation will help remove some of the barriers that many Americans face in their pursuit of post-graduate opportunities, reduce student debt, and ensure workers have the skills they need to help fill the jobs of the future-this bill is a win-win for students and our economy."

"The bottom line is this legislation will help make a graduate degree more affordable for the nearly 5,000 graduate students who attend Western Michigan University and the millions of graduate students across the country," Congressman Upton said. "Countless good-paying jobs today require a graduate degree, but earning one can be expensive-especially after already paying for an undergraduate degree. The bipartisan legislation we introduced today would help reduce the debt burden of these students."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Charles Ambler, currently associate provost and dean of the Graduate School at The University of Texas at El Paso, has been named the CGS Dean-in-Residence for 2019-2020.  Ambler has long been an advocate for diversity in graduate education, serving as a director of the McNair Scholars program at El Paso and leading a National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant in collaboration with Howard University. He is a member of the boards of CGS and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

The CGS Dean-in-Residence program was created to infuse a campus-based perspective across a variety of the Council’s initiatives. The program offers an opportunity for graduate deans, associate, or assistant deans at member institutions to spend an academic year at CGS’s Washington D.C. office. Each year the CGS president selects one applicant to pursue projects aligned with the dean’s interests and the Council’s needs.

Dr. Ambler, a historian of Africa who has had visiting scholar appointments at universities in Africa and the United Kingdom, will help the Council build strategic relationships with graduate education leaders in sub-Saharan Africa. This work will support CGS’s broader goals of supporting diversity and inclusion and helping CGS members internationalize their campuses.

“Dr. Ambler has spent his academic career dedicated to student success, mentoring, and ensuring access to quality graduate education,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “His expertise and leadership in African studies will help CGS members better understand the evolving place of sub-Saharan Africa in the global graduate education landscape.”

In accepting the appointment, Ambler noted that working at CGS represents “an exciting opportunity to combine my deep interests in both graduate studies and international education. The Council is an essential resource for anyone interested in graduate education, and I look forward to contributing to its mission.”

Ambler received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is author or editor of four books. In 2010, he served as president of the African Studies Association, the major professional organization for scholars, teachers, and practitioners with interests in Africa. He has served as dean at El Paso for fifteen years, during a period when UT El Paso reached R1 status. He will step down from the dean’s role and the CGS board in July; his Dean-in-Residence position begins on August 1.

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

Master’s and Certificate Programs Remain Most Affected

Washington, DC —New data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reveal that for the second consecutive year, international graduate application and first-time enrollment rates declined at U.S. universities. For Fall 2018, the final application counts from prospective international students declined by 4%, while the first-time enrollment of international graduate students declined by 1%.

The overall decline is primarily driven by a 6% decrease in applications and a 2% decrease in first-time enrollment to master’s and certificate programs. In contrast, first-time international doctoral enrollment grew by 3%. The discrepancy by degree objective is notable given the proportion of first-time international graduate enrollment in master’s and certificate programs (77%) vs. doctoral programs (23%).

 “This is the first time we’ve seen declines across two consecutive years, and while we think it’s too soon to consider this a trend, it is troubling,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “We continue to monitor issues, including changes in immigration and visa policy, with growing concern over the possible negative impact to the U.S.’s image as a welcoming destination for international students and scholars.”

Highlights by Country of Origin

China and India continue to represent the largest shares of international graduate applications, first-time international graduate enrollment, and total international graduate enrollment. However, the final application and first-time graduate enrollment of Indian students experienced large decreases again (-12%, -2% respectively) during the Fall 2017 to Fall 2018 admission cycle. This is the second consecutive year the number of applications and first-time enrollment from India has declined.

Graduate applications from Middle Eastern & North African students to U.S. graduate schools fell by 14% between the Fall 2017 and Fall 2018 admission cycles. Graduate applications and first-time enrollment of Iranian (-27%, -8%) and Saudi Arabian (-6%, -21%) graduate students also decreased. Conversely, applications and first-time enrollment of Sub-Saharan African graduate students increased by 28% and 5% respectively.

Ortega noted that overall, admission yield rates are comparable to last year. “This suggests that prospective international graduate students remain highly likely to accept offers of admission to U.S. graduate schools.”

Highlights by Field of Study

Across broad fields of study, international graduate applications increased in health sciences (5%), mathematics and computer sciences (6%), and other fields (8%) between Fall 2017 to Fall 2018. By contrast, engineering (-16%), physical & earth sciences (-9%), and business (-8%) experienced decreases in international graduate applications during this period. Business (95%), public administration & services (86%), and mathematics & computer sciences (85%) had high concentrations of first-time international students in master’s and certificate programs in Fall 2018, while first-time doctoral students accounted for 77% of international graduate students in physical & earth sciences and 50% in biological & agricultural sciences.

About the survey and report

Conducted since 2004, the CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey tracks the applications and enrollments of international students seeking U.S. master’s and doctoral degrees. As the only report of its kind to offer data on the current academic year, International Graduate Applications and Enrollment: Fall 2018 reports applications, admissions, and enrollments of international master’s, certificate, and doctoral students at U.S. colleges and universities. In Fall 2016 the survey was redesigned to collect data by degree objective (master’s and graduate certificate vs. doctorate), and for all seven regions of origin, eight countries of origin, and all eleven broad fields of study, yielding the only degree-level data currently available for graduate admissions and enrollments. 369 U.S. graduate institutions who are members of CGS or its regional affiliates responded to the 2018 survey.

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Contacts:

Katherine Hazelrigg, Council of Graduate Schools

(202) 461-3888 | khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Beth Dempsey, ProQuest

(248) 349-7810 | beth.dempsey@proquest.com

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Mohamed S. Ibrahim and Eiko Strader during the Council’s award ceremony during the 58th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Dr. Ibrahim completed his PhD in 2018 at Duke University in electrical and computer engineering, and Dr. Strader received her PhD in 2017 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in sociology.

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

“The Distinguished Dissertation Awards recognize the significant contributions young scholars make in their disciplines,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “Dr. Ibrahim and Dr. Strader’s work demonstrates the value and impact of graduate education to the world.”

“These are exceptional scholars who have contributed important insights to their fields,” said Allan Lu, ProQuest Vice President, Research Tools, Services & Platforms. “We’re proud to recognize their work and are confident these dissertations significantly move forward their fields of study.”

The 2018 Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering was presented to Dr. Ibrahim for his dissertation, Optimization of Trustworthy Biomolecular Quantitative Analysis Using Cyber-Physical Microfluidic Platforms. Ibrahim’s work involves microfluidic biochips, or lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technology. These devices integrate one or more laboratory functions on a single integrated circuit, commonly called a chip, and operate using quantitative analysis protocols, including things like blood glucose testing, DNA forensics, pathogen detection, and cancer research. Ibrahim’s dissertation addresses the challenges associated with design optimization and security threats that exist in the development of microfluidic technology and bridges the fields of molecular biology, computing, and electrical engineering. Through his research, Ibrahim hopes to, “streamline design methodologies related to the miniaturization of quantitative-analysis protocols.” Dr. Ibrahim is currently a research and development engineer at the Intel Corporation.

Dr. Strader received the 2018 Award in Social Sciences for her dissertation, Immigration and Within-Group Wage Inequality: How Queuing, Competition, and Care Outsourcing Exacerbate and Erode Earnings Inequalities. In response to the policy rhetoric regarding the economic threat of increased immigration to low-educated, native-born men in the labor market, Strader analyzes 100 metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2007 to better understand the regional differences in the way immigration affects wages. She concludes that, “the wage effects of immigration are the result of gendered, raced and classed queuing processes, as well as changes in household production decisions.” Dr. Strader is currently as assistant professor of public policy and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at The George Washington University.

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

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Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Steven W. Matson, dean of The Graduate School and professor of biology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the 2018 recipient of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Matson received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 58th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

For his invaluable contributions to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate community, Dr. Matson becomes the third Debra W. Stewart Award recipient. A passionate advocate for graduate education, Dr. Matson developed a number of professional development programs aimed at preparing the next generation of academics as well as the next generation of business, non-profit, and civic leaders. Under Matson’s tenure, UNC launched several Professional Science Master’s degrees, designed to meet the needs of today’s professionals who want to expand their technical and business knowledge and apply it to emerging professional fields within science and health.

During his years as dean, the Diversity and Student Success program was established within The Graduate School, providing programming to support first-generation, international, underrepresented minority, military-affiliated and LGBTQIA graduate students.

Matson has been involved in many CGS projects, including PhD Career Pathways, Professional Development for Graduate Students in STEM Fields, and the Future of the PhD Dissertation. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, the Board of Directors of the Graduate Record Exam (Chair, 2016-17), and on the Board of Directors for the TOEFL Exam. He also served as President (2016-17) of the North Carolina Council of Graduate Schools.

“Steve Matson works for our graduate students in every possible way. From encouraging their research and teaching at Carolina to preparing them for the rapidly changing global job market, he has tirelessly served as Dean of The Graduate School since 2008,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt. “Dr. Matson has led the creation of powerful initiatives that encouraged community, diversity and academic accomplishment, expanding interdisciplinary funding and professional development. Our graduate students have benefited greatly from his leadership, and our university is indebted to him for his outstanding service.”

“Providing programming and resources to support first-generation, international, underrepresented minority, military-affiliated and LGBTQIA graduate students by establishing the Diversity and Student Success program within The Graduate School at UNC demonstrates Steve’s dedication and commitment to establishing an inclusive graduate school community,” said Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost for graduate and professional studies at Texas A&M University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors. “Steve has always been generous with his time and willing to share his invaluable experience and advice mentoring new graduate deans.”

The award was created in 2016 by the CGS Board of Directors to recognize outstanding leadership in graduate education, and particularly those leadership qualities exemplified by the Council’s fifth President, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee considers nominees with a strong reputation for ethics and integrity, a history of active participation in the graduate community, and a record of strategic vision and actions resulting in meaningful impacts. Areas of special consideration include evidence-based innovation, program development, diversity and inclusion, student learning and career outcomes, personnel management, policy advocacy in support of graduate education and research, and fiscal responsibility.

Nominees for the award must be a current senior, graduate dean at a CGS member institution (Regular or Associate) and cannot be an active member of the CGS Board of Directors. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a selection committee of former graduate deans in the CGS community. The winner receives a $4,000 prize to support continuing innovations at the awardee’s institution.

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Contacts:

Katherine Hazelrigg, CGS

(202) 461-3888 | khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Jason Baran, ETS

(609) 683-2428 | jbaran@ets.org

Washington, DC – Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ETS presented Vanderbilt University with the 2018 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Mark Wallace, dean of the Graduate School and Louise B. McGavock Endowed Chair, accepted the co-sponsored award on Vanderbilt’s behalf during the award ceremony at CGS’s 58^th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

The ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s and doctoral levels while promoting inclusiveness. The winning institution is selected on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools. The winner receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

The proposal for Vanderbilt University’s Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Development Institute, Supporting the Transformation from Students to Leaders promotes graduate student leadership development through three innovative interventions. “FirstGen Success” will provide graduate students who self-identify as first-generation students with three avenues of support: discussion groups and social events, formal training events, and experiential learning of professional norms. “Training Tomorrow’s Mentors” aims to improve the quality of mentoring by providing training to mentees that will prepare them to be the mentors of tomorrow. Lastly, through “Managing Conflict and Difficult Conversations,” external mediation skills trainers will conduct workshops to teach students, postdocs, faculty, and staff how to confront and successfully navigate conflict.

“We are honored and delighted to be the recipient of this generous award from ETS and CGS. Establishing the Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Institute is among several bold strategic investments that Vanderbilt University is making in Ph.D. education, so we are deeply honored with this recognition” said Mark Wallace, dean of the Graduate School and Louise B. McGavock Endowed Chair, Vanderbilt University. “The support provided through this award will allow us to build innovative new programming to provide the tools for our graduate students to become society’s future leaders--through robust career development support, a collaborative culture that encourages interdisciplinary discovery, and much more.”

“We are grateful to ETS, whose support makes possible this innovative way to promote best practices among graduate schools. Vanderbilt’s Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Development Institute is a model that addresses the needs of all graduate students, with particular attention to first-generation students, underrepresented minorities, and women in the academy and is one that could be replicated on other campuses,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

“Vanderbilt deserves this honor in recognition of the school’s approach to advancing graduate education by holistically supporting the graduate student lifecycle,” said David G. Payne, vice president and COO of ETS’s Global Education Division. “Their system not only includes an integrated set of supports that help students to be successful on their academic and career journeys, but it also successfully promotes diversity and inclusivity.”

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Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2018 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Carrie Hyde, associate professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 58th 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. Hyde becomes the award’s 48^th recipient for her book, Civic Longing: The Speculative Origins of US Citizenship (Harvard UP, 2018). She received her PhD in English from the Rutgers University, New Brunswick in 2011.

In Civic Longing: The Speculative Origins of US Citizenship, Hyde examines the evolution of the way citizenship was conceptualized in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War. No Constitutional definition of citizenship existed until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, which led politicians and writers to seek a construct of citizenship in fiction, religion, political philosophy, law, and literature imparted with moral and/or ethical guidance. Through Civic Longing, Hyde provides, “a powerful critique of originalism, and challenges anachronistic assumptions that read the definition of citizenship backward from its consolidation in the mid-nineteenth century as jus soli or birthright citizenship.”

“The Council of Graduate Schools is delighted to present this year’s Arlt award to Dr. Hyde for the outstanding scholarship in her recent book Civic Longing. The Arlt award recognizes exceptional work by early-career humanities faculty, and Dr. Hyde’s work is an invaluable contribution to understanding the history of U.S. citizenship and its complexities,” said Dr. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools.

Created in 1971, the Arlt Award honors the first president of CGS, Gustave O. Arlt. The winner must have earned a doctorate within the past seven years, 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.

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CGS Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg                                                                  ETS Contact: Jason Baran

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu                                                (609) 683-2428 / jbaran@ets.org

In Master’s Degree Programs, Admissions Processes Prioritize Retention

CGS Study Highlights Goals and Limitations of Current Master’s Admissions Processes

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released findings from a year-long study designed to better understand the processes and criteria used to evaluate applicants to master’s degree programs. Supported in part by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the project sheds new light on the way master’s programs select their future students.

Among the project’s key findings is that both master’s program faculty and graduate deans consider the ability to successfully complete coursework to be an important criterion for evaluating candidates for admission. In a survey conducted by CGS, 79% of research-focused master’s program directors and 84% of professionally-focused master’s program directors identified the potential to complete coursework as a very important consideration during the admissions process. This finding suggests that universities place higher value on the likelihood of a student’s retention relative to their potential to contribute to the program environment and other factors.

The findings also shed light on the various weight given to common elements in a student’s application package. According to the survey, letters of recommendation are used to evaluate a wide range of cognitive and non-cognitive attributes. For example, letters of recommendation were used by 90 to 92% of the graduate program directors as evidence of an applicant’s non-cognitive qualities, such as persistence, dependability, and collegiality/collaboration/cooperation. Because letters of recommendation can introduce biases into the admissions process, however, this finding suggests that it is very important for programs to develop consistent ways of evaluating a letter’s contribution to the admissions package.

“There is quite a bit of agreement about the evaluation criteria and processes used in master’s admissions, and the apparent focus given to student retention is good news,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “However, this study also uncovered opportunities to help master’s admissions committees and deans achieve their admissions goals more effectively. We need better resources, such as rubrics, to help universities consider candidates consistently and with attention to the full range of attributes they are seeking for their programs.”

David Payne, ETS vice president of global education, said, “The programs and deans surveyed consistently identified critical thinking as a key attribute they consider when evaluating an applicant’s potential to achieve desired outcomes, such as degree completion and post-graduate success. The GRE® General Test measures aspects of critical thinking in each of the test’s three sections, and it continues to provide value as a common, objective measure to compare applicants with various backgrounds and educational experiences. The report recommends that those involved in the admissions process receive more training around evaluating submitted materials, including score interpretation and avoiding bias. This may include how reviewers should weight GRE scores — as part of a holistic admissions process that places appropriate value on all submitted materials — to achieve their program’s enrollment goals.”

The study’s authors outline five recommendations aimed at master’s education leaders interested in improving the master’s admissions process. The recommendations include providing greater transparency in master’s admissions procedures, providing information and support to help admissions committees avoid biases, offering training to increase faculty and staff involvement in the process, and developing tools to evaluate non-cognitive attributes. The report also calls for additional research to clarify best practices in this area.

More information about the report, including data tables from the surveys, can be found on the CGS website.

About the report

Master’s Admissions: Transparency, Guidance, and Training is the final report of the CGS/ETS Master’s Admissions Attributes project, which was conducted in three stages: regional focus groups to develop survey tools; two surveys, one for graduate school staff and for master’s program directors; and a colloquium to discuss the results from the two surveys and their implications. Three research questions were developed to guide the conversation: 1) What is success in a master’s program? 2) What attributes are currently used in admissions decisions to predict success? 3) What evidence is currently used to evaluate the attributes? The report outlines and summarizes the project findings.

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