More grad student programs offered
For the second year in a row, faculty members may apply for grants of up to $500 to defray the cost of bringing prospective graduate students for campus visits under a program designed to increase ethnic and gender diversity.
"I hope we get even wider participation this year," said Gail Mahood, associate vice provost for graduate education. "The Vice Provost for Graduate Education Office has set aside $30,000 for this purpose. I hope every penny is spent by April."
Last year, the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department used the grants to pay travel expenses for three women. They came from East Coast universities, and none would have been able to make the trip without financial help, said Lynn Kaiser, the department's student services manager.
Kaiser said the department organized a "visit day" that included a panel of current students describing "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Stanford and Aero/Astro (But Were Afraid to Ask Faculty and Staff)!"
Faculty members may request money for applicants whom they or their departments are interested in recruiting. The applicants may include members of an ethnicity that is underrepresented in an academic field; women who are underrepresented in a field, such as the physical sciences and engineering; or people who would be the first members of their family to attend graduate school. The money can be used to help pay applicants for travel and lodging.
Graduate Recruitment and Diversity DayIn a related effort, Stanford hopes to attract more than 100 applicants and admitted students to Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Day on Feb. 23, sponsored by the schools of Earth Sciences, Engineering, and Humanities and Sciences.
The event will give prospective students the chance to meet faculty, current students and administrators, and to attend a mixer sponsored by graduate student groups representing Asian American, black, Latino and American Indian students.
New fellowship program for Mexican doctoral studentsThe university is finalizing details of an agreement signed last summer with the Mexican National Science and Technology Council—Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología—to provide five-year fellowships to Mexicans admitted to Stanford for doctoral study in degree-granting programs. The first group of fellows is expected to begin their studies in the autumn quarter of 2007-08.
Graduate Student InstituteThis summer, the Stanford Graduate Student Institute, an initiative launched last year to give students the chance to interact with fellow graduate students from all seven schools while learning cross-disciplinary career and life skills, will offer its second round of classes.
The classes announced so far are:
