sTrATeGy 2.1
bring the best graduate students to
Washington university.
AcTIoNs
A.
Increase the applicant pool by adopting
a coordinated approach to graduate recruiting.
1. Create and maintain professional,
content-rich departmental web sites.
2. Create an integrated program of high quality
printed promotional material.
3. Provide increased funds for visits by
prospective students.
4. Give special attention to recruitment of
international graduate students and to their
particular needs while on campus.
5. target selected universities and liberal arts
colleges for recruiting efforts.
6. aggressively pursue applications from
underrepresented students.
b.
Offer excellent graduate student support to
compete with top-tier research universities.
1. Increase stipends.
2. Introduce funds for graduate student re-
search and travel domestically and abroad.
3. Enhance summer support.
sTrATeGy 2.2
better prepare graduate students
for academic careers.
AcTIoNs
A.
add quality graduate courses to ensure
coverage in key areas.
b.
Develop cross-school graduate programs
(recent example: Cognitive, Computational
and Systems Neuroscience).
c.
Provide excellent facilities.
1. Ensure that every graduate student has
dedicated work space in proximity to his
or her home department.
2. Improve facilities that encourage interaction
and the development of a community for
graduate students.
d.
Improve mentoring.
1. Improve consistency and quality of graduate
student training in teaching.
2. Counsel Ph.D. students about academic
and other careers.
3. Continue to enhance the Career Center
resources for graduate students.
4. Carefully monitor graduate student progress.
a StrONGEr GraDUatE EDUCatION
Graduate education and research are the cornerstones of every great university, and
recent studies have highlighted arts & Sciences' outstanding successes here. We
have initiated a large number of new programs that have improved the lives of gradu-
ate students, and these have been widely copied by some of the nation's top research
universities. however, the task Force on Graduate Education concluded that while
many arts & Sciences graduate programs are outstanding, others need to be enhanced
to achieve top standards of quality for both faculty and students. We seek uniformly
excellent Ph.D. programs throughout arts & Sciences as well as tangible enhancements
to benefit our graduate students.
We have gained a significant improvement and competitive advantage following
our Project 21 plan in the area of undergraduate education. there has been a marked
increase in the number and quality of our applications, in our selectivity and yield, in
the strength of our programs, and in the satisfaction of our students. much of our current
visibility and reputation results from the attention paid to our undergraduate curriculum
and experience. adding a comparable emphasis to our graduate education in the next
decade will yield similar dividends for arts & Sciences and our University.
Core Initiative
Foster improvements in graduate education in the next decade that match our
efforts in undergraduate education in the last decade. Create an endowment that
supports this effort.
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StratEGIES aND aCtIONS
mEaSUrES aND EvaLUatIONS
Profile of entering graduate students
Completion rates and median time to degree
job placement
Graduate student satisfaction
Goal 2
GraDUatE