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| Martha Rice, a graduate admissions processor, checks paper admissions files. In a move to improve efficiency and speed the time to decision, the Graduate School has been emphasizing an electronic admissions process. |
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By Marty Doorey
David Payne, dean of the Graduate School, no longer conducts experiments as he once did in the Psychology Department, but he never strays far from his scientific training. Payne thrives on analysis as he pores over statistics on applicants on admitted applicants, when the applications were received, and when they were forwarded to departments for approvals.
Payne, who was named Graduate School dean in July 2001 after serving as interim for a year, has set ambitious goals for the school: increase enrollment, add new degree programs, increase stipend levels and add services for graduate students. Thus far Payne can claim a measure of success in every area.
Graduate enrollments have climbed slowly amid a mix of conflicting trends. The slow domestic economy helped convince many that graduate school is more attractive than the soft job market, but on the other hand, international applications — a major source of students for the University — declined following September 11.
But, as Payne notes, there is more to the story than just an increase in enrollments. Earlier this semester the number of applicants was down about 15 percent from a year ago, while the number of acceptances increased by more than 40 percent and the number of applicants who accepted offers nearly doubled. The difference, said Payne,
reflects a number of efficiencies instituted in the Graduate School. First, there is a noticeable shift in the number of electronic applications. As of February 1 last year, 25 percent of all applications were filed electronically. By the same date this year the percentage had risen to 50 percent.
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| David Payne | ||
Recruiting, which formerly was largely a departmental effort, is now supplemented by a Graduate School flyer and a re-designed Web page. The school is also actively attending graduate school fairs and similar events as part of its recruiting efforts. More recently the school began to recruit using targeted lists of high-scoring Graduate Record Exam takers. The school is also working with the Career Development Center to bolster professional development opportunities. Recently, for instance, the two offices co-sponsored a session to help students develop their teaching portfolios.
Beyond the operational efficiencies and service improvements, Payne is focusing heavily on strategies to insure that growth occurs in targeted areas. Payne has met with the graduate directors and department chairs in every department to review application and enrollment data — both current and historic, to set enrollment targets. In determining targets, Payne looked at application-enrollment trends and the number of funded positions.
As Payne explained, funding will drive much of the future of graduate education. If Binghamton intends to compete with other top-ranked schools, funding for research as well as tuition and stipends, must be part of the mix. Because the University cannot afford to fund all departments fully it must set funding priorities and enrollment targets strategically, Payne said.
Part of the strategic thinking is to strengthen programs where Binghamton already has strength and to develop new programs in response to market demand and external funding. For example, market demand helped generate a new master of social work program that will go online in the fall 2003 semester within the School of Education and Human Development.
Also in line with the interdisciplinary trend, the school has worked with several departments to create new master’s and doctoral programs in materials science and materials engineering. Both fields, which combine the disciplines of chemistry, physics, geology and engineering, tap into research trends where demand is growing. The recently created master in public administration, which features multiple specialty tracks, is also an example of how new programs are being created to meet marketplace demands.
The Graduate School, working with the Watson School, is also well on its way to establishing a new program in bioengineering. A program director was hired recently and is expected to arrive prior to the fall semester.
Other new programs are being created that are not tied to terminal degrees. Graduate certificate programs in education, global studies and advanced biology are up and running and others are planned. As a means of increasing graduate enrollments without expensive external recruiting, the Graduate School has also been working with several departments to create new combined degree programs, popularly known as 3-2 options.
In consultation with departments, the Graduate School is also working to match stipend levels with strong and growing programs. To insure that the University is able to continue attracting the best students, stipends for several selected programs increased last year. This year Payne used the Graduate Scholars Fellowship he created to fund other programs. As more money becomes available, stipends and fellowships for other departments will be increased as well, Payne said.
One area of graduate funding that has gotten special attention is the Clark Fellowship for Underrepresented Minorities. Rather than fund the program from a single pot of money, Payne now splits the funding between Clark funds and the University’s graduate assistantship-teaching assistantship funds. That raised the average award by nearly $2,000 and made the Clark scholars eligible to participate in the GA/TA health insurance plan. The school has also received a $275,000 five-year National Science Foundation grant to increase the number of underrepresented minority PhD candidates in science, math and engineering.
Another area that has also gotten Payne’s personal attention is the creation of graduate courses run by the school itself. Traditionally, the Graduate School has been an administrative arm of the school, coordinating admissions, policies and procedures, but leaving the teaching to the departments. Now for the first time, the Graduate School offers GRD-501, University Teaching, a course Payne initiated, to teach graduate students how to teach and prepare for a life in the classroom. Started in the fall, the course has attracted students from the hard sciences to the humanities. It covers a broad range of topics such as student-centered learning, theories of cognition and learning, and issues in higher education. Payne is also developing a professional development workshop series to introduce students interested in a higher education careers to issues in the field. “The whole idea is to help graduate students make informed decisions about how they teach and what is involved in choosing a career in higher education,” Payne said.
Payne is also working with Sue Repine, assistant dean, to find funding to coordinate a national survey of graduate stipends. “These data will allow us to compare stipend levels and other support on a discipline-by-discipline basis,” he said. “These data will be important to graduate deans across the country, helping them to be as strategic as possible when managing limited funds to support graduate education.”
Vol. 23, No. 27
OTHER RELATED LINKS:
Excellence in Teaching winners
Excellence in Research winners
3-2 options expanding
Graduate School
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