To: University of Chicago Graduate Students and Faculty
From: Committee on Graduate Education
Subject: Update from the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: March 25, 2019
Dear Graduate Student and Faculty Colleagues,
As members of the joint student and faculty Committee on Graduate Education, we are writing with an update on our work since last spring, when the Provost charged us with providing an assessment of graduate education at the University of Chicago. We have spent the past eleven months on this project and are pleased to report that we have submitted a comprehensive report to the Provost. We will be meeting with him at the beginning of spring quarter to discuss our process, findings, and recommendations in person, and we look forward to the publication of our report and the Provost’s response, which we hope will include clear action steps to fortify and improve the experience of graduate students.
Working together as a faculty and student committee was a richly rewarding experience. Our report identifies important issues that many members of the committee care deeply about and found common cause over, even as we come from different fields of study and life experiences. Although the diversity of our perspectives made the enterprise challenging at times, we fully recognize that the dissent in our discussions was also crucial. Our final committee report was strengthened by the conversations that led to the agreement that co-authorship demands.
We are, at the end of the day, a committee of individuals speaking from our understanding of data, which we were pleased to have access to on a wide scale; observations gleaned from conversations with students, faculty, and staff; survey responses from students, faculty, and directors of graduate studies; national reports and studies on graduate education; and many, many hours spent in conversation with each other.
We wish to thank the Provost for the opportunity to examine what is working well at the University of Chicago and to identify areas in need of improvement. We also must thank the hundreds of students, faculty, and staff who answered surveys, attended open meetings and town halls, met with us individually and in small groups, and emailed us with questions and concerns. The enterprise of graduate education is at a critical point right now, and we are cautiously optimistic about its future in general and at the University of Chicago specifically. As a community, we all—students, faculty, and administrators—have a role to play in moving the needle. As a committee, we are grateful to have had the chance to provide our thoughts, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of our effort in the coming months and years.
The Committee on Graduate Education
- Jordan Johansen, co-chair, Humanities Division
- Victoria Prince, co-chair, Biological Sciences Division
- Erin Adams, Biological Sciences Division
- Clifford Ando, Humanities Division
- Rita Biagioli, Social Sciences Division
- Dan Black, Harris School of Public Policy
- Sean Blackwell, School of Social Service Administration
- Kevin Corlette, Physical Sciences Division
- Blaize Gervais, Divinity School
- Taylor Gray, Institute for Molecular Engineering
- Julia Henly, School of Social Service Administration
- Joseph Mastron, Physical Sciences Division
- Kenneth Pomeranz, Social Sciences Division
- Jeffrey Russell, Booth School of Business
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To: University of Chicago Graduate Students
From: Committee on Graduate Education
Subject: Update from the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: Friday, January 11, 2019
Dear Graduate Student and Faculty Colleagues,
As members of the joint student and faculty Committee on Graduate Education charged last spring by Provost Diermeier with providing a comprehensive assessment of graduate education at the University, we are writing with an update. In addition to the student survey, which we shared with you in Autumn Quarter, we are able to share faculty survey results, which are now available online. There was a 39% response rate, with 523 faculty participating across the divisions and schools, and our committee is currently analyzing the data to inform our discussions and report.
The Provost had asked that we submit a written report to him by January 11, 2019, and although we have been working diligently over the course of the last eight months, we will not be able to meet that deadline. We have requested and been granted an extension to allow us to continue the data analysis, stakeholder conversations, committee discussions and writing in which we are currently immersed. Our goal is to submit a report to the Provost before the end of Winter Quarter.
In the meantime, as a group we can already report that we wholeheartedly endorse student participation in university initiatives such as this committee. The variety of perspectives and experiences has been tremendously informative, and each and every one of us agrees that our final product will be stronger because of the makeup of our committee. Without having to wait for our final report, we hope moving forward that the leadership of the university, the divisions and schools, and the departments and programs will consider involving students in faculty and administrator working groups and committees.
Sincerely,
The Members of the Committee on Graduate Education
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To: University of Chicago Graduate Students
From: Committee on Graduate Education
Subject: Update from the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: November 20, 2018
Dear Graduate Student and Faculty Colleagues,
We are writing with an update on the work of the Committee on Graduate Education, charged in the spring with providing a comprehensive assessment of graduate education at UChicago.
Since our last message at the end of October, we have held three open meetings to solicit ideas and concerns from the community on graduate education: we presented to Graduate Council and, just last week, held two Town Hall meetings. Thank you to those who attended and participated in constructive conversations.
Our survey of faculty closed last month, with a 39 percent participation rate across the graduate divisions and schools. We anticipate being able to share those survey results next month, similar to how we shared the results of the student survey.
In light of David Nirenberg’s stepping down from his position as Executive Vice Provost (and chair of the committee) to focus efforts on the Divinity School where he is currently the dean, we will move forward with our faculty and student co-chairs, Vicky Prince and Jordan Johansen, taking over leadership of the committee. We are grateful for David’s leadership of the committee and his contributions to its work, which have been invaluable.
Sincerely, The Members of the Committee on Graduate Education
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To: University of Chicago Graduate Students
From: Committee on Graduate Education
Subject: Update from the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: October 25, 2018
Dear Graduate Student and Faculty Colleagues,
As members of the joint student and faculty Committee on Graduate Education we are writing with an update on our work, as well as to share the results of this summer’s graduate student survey. Composed of graduate students and faculty from across programs and fields of study the Committee was charged last spring by Provost Diermeier with providing a comprehensive assessment of graduate education at the University.
The Committee set to work in the spring, collecting information from many sources across the University, as well as material related to the national landscape of graduate education and efforts at peer institutions. The Committee collected large amounts of data from many campus offices and detailed information from graduate programs across the University. It also held–and will continue to hold¬–“town halls” and less formal meetings with representatives of many different groups of students, faculty, and administrators. We welcome input and engagement from any and all graduate students, faculty, and staff. You can email the Committee at gradexperience@uchicago.edu.
To date the student and faculty members have met over 40 times. We are organizing our work of information gathering and analysis across four broad and inter-related themes. These are
- Academics,
- Student life and campus climate,
- Administrative and financial aspects of graduate education, and
- Evolving roles of graduate education in the University.
Among our many sources of information and attempts to gather input, the Committee has also designed and implemented two surveys—in collaboration with the University’s Survey Lab—one of graduate students, administered over the summer, and one of faculty, closing this week. (We urge faculty members to respond if they have not already done so.)
Thank you to the 2,261 graduate students who participated in the student survey: 40 percent of all enrolled doctoral students and 24 percent of students in other graduate degree programs. Respondents provided their views on many subjects, including faculty engagement and mentoring, academic resources, professional development, career planning, financial support, and health services, and housing and safety on campus and in Hyde Park.
You can find highlights as well as the aggregate responses to the questions on the survey here. The Committee will be segmenting and analyzing the data more deeply in order to evaluate specific issues across our diverse programs, cohorts, and demographics.
We encourage you to review the full survey, and we invite you to attend one of three upcoming meetings to discuss the survey results and the work of the Committee on Graduate Education with its student and faculty members:
Graduate Council
October 29, 7:30 p.m.
Harper C07 (Booth School, 5807 S. Woodlawn Ave.)
Town Hall Meeting
November 13, 2:00–3:00 p.m.
UChicagoGRAD (Bookstore 3rd floor, 970 E. 58th St.)
Town Hall Meeting
November 14, 6:30–7:30 p.m.
UChicagoGRAD (Bookstore 3rd floor, 970 E. 58th St.)
Sincerely,
The Members of the Committee on Graduate Education
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To: UChicago Faculty and Other Academic Appointees
From: David Nirenberg, Executive Vice Provost
Subject: Update on the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: May 15, 2018
I write to update you about the Committee on Graduate Education recently charged by Provost Diermeier to carry out a broad assessment—with some focus on doctoral education—of graduate life, education, and professional training at the University. The last University-wide committee convened with such a mandate was the Commission on Graduate Education in 1980, which produced the Baker Report of 1982. Unlike that commission, our Committee includes eight graduate students (appointed through a selection process run by the Graduate Council) in addition to eight faculty, chosen from across Divisions and Schools. The members of the Committee are
- Erin Adams, Faculty, Biological Sciences Division
- Clifford Ando, Faculty, Humanities Division
- Rita Biagioli, Graduate Student, Social Sciences Division
- Dan Black, Faculty, Harris School of Public Policy
- Hannah Burnett, Graduate Student, Social Sciences Division
- Kevin Corlette, Faculty, Physical Sciences Division
- Eric Gauchat, Graduate Student, Biological/Physical Sciences Divisions
- Blaize Gervais, PhD Student, Divinity School
- Taylor Gray, Graduate Student, Institute for Molecular Engineering
- Julia Henly, Faculty, School of Social Service Administration
- Jordan Johansen, Graduate Student, Humanities Division
- Joseph Mastron, Graduate Student, Physical Sciences Division
- David Nirenberg, Committee Chair and Executive Vice Provost
- Ken Pomeranz, Faculty, Social Sciences Division
- Victoria Prince, Faculty, Biological Sciences Division
- Elise Putnam, Graduate Student, Humanities Division
- Pietro Veronesi, Faculty, Booth School of Business
The Committee will be seeking your sense—as well as that of your students, and of staff, administrators, and many others—of the state of your graduate programs in particular, and of graduate education at the University more generally. We are acutely aware that our programs are diverse and have different needs, and that each of our areas, departments, Divisions, and Schools are constantly evaluating those needs, assessing and improving their particular programs. We are eager to learn from those efforts and incorporate them in our own. To that end we will be communicating with many of you, both individually and collectively, as we work to complete our assessment in January of the coming year. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact any of us.
In case you are interested in the Committee’s communication with students, I am forwarding below a message sent by the students on the committee to their fellow graduate students, introducing themselves and outlining some initial steps the Committee is taking to solicit their perspectives.
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To: UChicago Graduate Students
From: The Graduate Students of the Committee on Graduate Education
Subject: Update on the Committee on Graduate Education
Date: May 15, 2018
We are writing to introduce ourselves as the graduate student representatives on the Provost’s newly-convened Committee on Graduate Education. The provost has charged the committee with assessing graduate education, life, and professional training at UChicago. Such a committee has not been convened at the university since 1980, which resulted in the Baker Report of 1982. While that committee was solely made up of faculty and administrators, our committee was designed to include equal graduate student representation. This ensures that graduate student perspectives will be pivotal in informing the future directions of graduate education at the University of Chicago.
The Committee on Graduate Education is comprised of eight faculty members, appointed in consultation with the Provost and Deans, and eight graduate students, appointed by the Graduate Council in consultation with student representative bodies, such as the Deans’ Councils. The committee will be chaired by David Nirenberg and supported by executive staff of UChicagoGRAD and the Office of the Provost. The full committee membership is listed below.
At the first meeting of the committee, we discussed ways to engage a broad cross-section of faculty, students, and staff. By the end of the Spring quarter, the committee will launch a comprehensive survey of graduate students to gauge your experiences and the issues you think we should address. This is an opportunity to share your perspectives and guide our discussions. We will also hold a town hall meeting to introduce ourselves, our charge, and to get your feedback. We will continue to update you on our efforts and opportunities to get involved as we move forward. In the meantime, please note that we welcome conversation with you, and we look forward to the opportunity to learn from you through formal and informal discussions in the coming months. If you would like to know more about our involvement with the committee or share your experiences with us, we would be glad for you to reach out to us at gradexperience@uchicago.edu.
To learn more about the committee and read the complete charge, you can visit our page on the UChicagoGRAD website: https://staging-uchicagograd.lndo.site/page/committee-graduate-education.
We look forward to serving in order to improve the graduate student experience at the University of Chicago.
Respectfully,
Rita, Hannah, Eric, Blaize, Taylor, Jordan, Joseph, and Elise
Committee on Graduate Education
- Erin Adams, Faculty, Biological Sciences Division
- Clifford Ando, Faculty, Humanities Division
- Rita Biagioli, Graduate Student, Social Sciences Division
- Dan Black, Faculty, Harris School of Public Policy
- Hannah Burnett, Graduate Student, Social Sciences Division
- Kevin Corlette, Faculty, Physical Sciences Division
- Eric Gauchat, Graduate Student, Biological/Physical Sciences Divisions
- Blaize Gervais, PhD Student, Divinity School
- Taylor Gray, Graduate Student, Institute for Molecular Engineering
- Julia Henly, Faculty, School of Social Service Administration
- Jordan Johansen, Graduate Student, Humanities Division
- Joseph Mastron, Graduate Student, Physical Sciences Division
- David Nirenberg, Committee Chair and Executive Vice Provost
- Ken Pomeranz, Faculty, Social Sciences Division
- Victoria Prince, Faculty, Biological Sciences Division
- Elise Putnam, Graduate Student, Humanities Division
- Pietro Veronesi, Faculty, Booth School of Business
Support Staff
- Beth Niestat, Executive Director, UChicagoGRAD
- Tamara Smith, Executive Assistant and Project Director, Provost Office