Stanford Report, November 3, 2004

New commission studies graduate education ideas

BY RAY DELGADO

After 10 years, few would argue that the university's Campaign for Undergraduate Education has been anything but a glowing success that has made tremendous strides in the way that undergraduate students are educated at Stanford.

Now that the campaign is drawing to a close, the spotlight will be redirected on graduate students by way of the Commission on Graduate Education, a new group made up of scholars and a graduate student that will explore possible enhancements to graduate education.

"The purpose of the commission is to consider the question of how we might enhance and evolve graduate education at Stanford," President John Hennessy said in announcing the formation of the commission at the Faculty Senate meeting last week. "Our goal here is to ensure that Stanford stays in the forefront in thinking about evolving needs of its graduate students."

To help reach its goal of better educating graduate students in the future, the commission will spend this academic year gathering information about existing graduate programs, the expected career paths of graduate students and the general graduate student experience at Stanford. The commission will deliver a report on its findings to Hennessy in June, including a list of recommendations for enhancing current programs.

The commission is co-chaired by Professor Mark Horowitz of the School of Engineering and business Professor Emeritus Chuck Holloway of the Graduate School of Business, and includes faculty representatives from each of the university's seven schools, Dean of Research Arthur Bienenstock, former Board of Trustees Chair Isaac Stein, Associate Vice President of Strategic Planning Roberta Katz and Graduate Student Council Chair Moriah Thomason. The commission already has met with all of the deans and also will consult with additional graduate students, faculty, trustees, staff and alumni.

Both Horowitz and Holloway stressed the importance of additional faculty input on graduate education reforms, either through specific commission members or at future Faculty Senate meetings.

"We're certainly interested in more faculty involvement and feedback," Horowitz said. "In fact, in the next quarter, we think we're going to probably break up into smaller groups and try to have additional people join the committee to work on certain subtopics."

The commission's specific responsibilities include:

  • Articulate an overall vision of how graduate education at Stanford's various schools might be enhanced over the next five years.
  • Review the range and nature of educational programs that are currently available to the university's doctoral and professional degree students.
  • Consider the professional issues and career choices that graduate students are likely to encounter and the expertise and skill sets they are likely to need after receiving their degrees.
  • Consider the expressed desires of graduate students for educational opportunities beyond those now available to them, including those outside their own departments and schools
  • Consider the possibilities of additional cross-disciplinary graduate experiences and the modalities (classes, seminars, special programs and research projects) that might be the most effective vehicles for cross-disciplinary learning.
  • Address the purposes and goals discussed in the commission's charge and determine any adjustments to current practices and policies that would be necessary or desirable as a result.

    • Although graduate students typically find that they have more than enough subject matter to focus on for whatever degree they pursue, Katz said that the commission hoped to identify ways of broadening students' educational opportunities. For instance, an engineering student who might one day go into business as an entrepreneur could benefit from management, finance and law courses.

    "The idea is not to diffuse their core expertise but to add a little breadth to areas that they might not have a chance to study," Katz said. "There is such excellence at Stanford across the board, and students at any one school should have access to that."

    Katz said the commission members will consider a range of possibilities, including cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects and seminars, new courses, and accommodations to schedules to permit students from one school to take classes in another. The commission will seek extensive input from graduate students and hopes to analyze results from a graduate student survey that was conducted last year.

    Katz encouraged students, faculty and staff to seek out their departmental representatives on the commission or graduate student advisers to voice their opinions and give feedback.

    "This can be the next place that we excel at," Katz said. "People weren't really aware of the full impact that CUE [Commission on Undergraduate Education] would have at the time. Our hope is that this effort with graduate education will have a similar effect."