Chapter 4 - Academic Goals and Strategies to Build Distinction
Goal 3: Attract the Best Graduate and Professional Students and Fully Engage Them in the Creation and Transmission of Knowledge
Graduate and professional students play critical roles in the generation of new knowledge in cutting-edge fields. They also play an important role in our institutional priority of increasing the "vertical integration" of research, a model by which faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates collaboratively interact in research teams on pressing problems. For these reasons, we seek to integrate and support these students more fully in the academic community.
Because of differences between the needs and demands of the different professions (e.g., Law, Business, Medicine), there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to achieve our goals for graduate student recruitment, training, and development. We do, however, affirm the commonality of purpose in research-based Ph.D. programs: to educate the future intellectual leaders of society, develop new knowledge, build bridges between different fields of knowledge, and enhance the intellectual life of university faculty and students. Accordingly, we will pursue three strategies to enhance the role and development of graduate students:
- Increase our distinction by attracting the best students to our signature programs
- Train future leaders in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies
- Continue to strengthen the infrastructure for graduate and professional student development
Increase our distinction by attracting the best students to our signature programs
The quality of the faculty and graduate students are inextricably intertwined, and we must not overlook strengthening our graduate programs if we are to realize our institutional aspirations. The best students seek universities that have an excellent faculty and cutting-edge programs, and the best faculty are drawn to universities where they can work with the brightest and most motivated students. In addition, graduate students play an important role in undergraduate teaching, as teaching assistants, partners in independent research, and role models and personal mentors. Thus, increasing the vibrancy and vitality of our graduate programs enhances the quality of all facets of our academic community.
We have made strides in developing a rich array of graduate programs. The quality of our programs, however, varies considerably. Moreover, our stipend levels have fallen below the median of our peer institutions. As we move forward, we must continue our efforts to enhance graduate student diversity. We must also redress the financial situation, raising stipend levels at least to median levels, doubling the number of James B. Duke fellowship awards for incoming graduate students, and significantly increasing the number of summer research awards in the humanities and social sciences. It will not be possible to enhance all programs simultaneously; thus, we must use a strategic eye to build or create programs that take advantage of our strengths and leverage our differential advantages. For our strategic academic initiatives to flourish, we must make targeted efforts to attract graduate students of exceptional intellectual promise.
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