Strategy: Advance the role of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the research enterprise

Point People: Jeffery Gibeling and Enrique Lavernia

Narrative Summary of First Year Implementation Efforts:

Over the past year, graduate student support has emerged as a high priority for the campus as a result of two factors -- the pre-eminence of many of our research programs and the preparations for the comprehensive campaign. This is in keeping with the importance of graduate education in a research university. University of California Office of the President surveys have shown that UC generally lags in the competitiveness of the support offered to graduate students. UC Davis has been and remains near the bottom of the list of UC campuses in the amount of fellowship funding available, but teaching and research support on this campus are both relatively strong. Graduate programs report that their efforts to recruit talented and diverse cohorts of students are constrained by financial resources and that we consequently lose some applicants to peer institutions. Accordingly, the financial aspect of our UC Davis strategy has been and remains our top priority.

During the past year, we have also focused attention on the services that are available to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The Review of Student Affairs Services for Graduate and Professional Students was completed and we discussed implementation strategies. As the diversity of the graduate student population increases, additional efforts to support students from underrepresented backgrounds are critical to their academic success. We need to implement additional career and professional development programs, retention programs, and strategies to strengthen community.

The campus does not have all of the information systems needed to measure progress using the proposed metrics. A portion of the first year has been devoted to planning for these systems in order to facilitate our future actions and monitor our progress.

Advances and Ongoing Programs Consistent with Strategy:

• Increased central campus investment in graduate block grants.
• Campus implementation of nonresident tuition remission policy for Graduate Student Researchers.
• Comprehensive Graduate Student Support plan was developed and is under revision; will guide investments over next five years.
• Faculty Assistant to the Dean of Graduate Studies appointed to assist faculty in developing training grant programs.
• Graduate Studies sponsored grant writing workshop for students in the humanities and social sciences.
• Center for Engineering Professionalism writing and professionalism workshops open to graduate students (http://cep.engineering.ucdavis.edu).
• Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award offered by Academic Senate.
• Graduate and Professional Student Services Workgroup to be formed jointly by Graduate Studies and Student Affairs.
• Graduate Studies has helped support the formation of the Black Graduate and Professional Association for African-American graduate and professional students.
• The Graduate Student Assistant to the Dean and Chancellor is conducting a mentoring survey of faculty to better understand their graduate student mentoring strategies and needs. This survey complements an earlier mentoring survey of graduate students.
• Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar career services and professional development workshops provided through collaboration between Graduate Studies and the Internship and Career Center; programs expanded in 2003-04 through hire of new staff member (http://icc.ucdavis.edu/iccdocs/gradpost.htm).
• Pathways Career Symposium sponsored by Internship and Career Center and Graduate Studies for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars (http://icc.ucdavis.edu/areas/phd/symposium.htm).
• Quarterly Dean’s Social for graduate students and Postdoctoral Scholars Reception to strengthen community among these groups.
• Travel grant funding for Postdoctoral Scholars Association were increased.
• Campus implementation of APM 390, Appointment and Promotion of Postdoctoral Scholars (http://www.gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/apm390/).

Short Statement of Plans for 2004-05:

• Finish collecting baseline data on mentoring and support services programs.
• Continue focus on increasing the amount of graduate student support funding from all sources (campus funds, gifts, extramural grants, extramural fellowships, etc.).
• Continue development and implementation of database systems to track all forms of graduate students support.
• Promote collaboration among units currently providing career and professional development services (e.g. Engineering and Graduate Studies). Identify mechanisms for increasing the availability of these services and for assessing their effectiveness.
• Develop and implement database systems to track graduate student and postdoctoral scholar placement. Ensure that historical information is available, at least for the past five years.
• Work with the Graduate Student Association and Postdoctoral Scholars Association to develop programming for a graduate and postdoctoral scholar research conference.
• Increase travel grant funds to enable graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to present their scholarly and creative works in appropriate venues.
• Charge and convene Graduate and Professional Student Services Workgroup.
• Provide additional administrative support to faculty preparing training grant proposals and students and postdoctoral scholars applying for extramural fellowship awards.