1. Graduate Education Strategy Group
Past three years have intensely focused on undergraduates at the U.
We are asking for feedback from faculty across campus
Strengths of the Graduate School
Areas for improvement
Strategic direction
Current resources
New resources
Survey at Graduate School webpage thru 4/1

2. Graduate student support & placement
Stipend
Is your program stipend competitive regionally and nationally?
Do you have peer or aspirational peer stipend data?
Should per-student stipend support be increased even if fewer assistantships?
Number of students trained vis placement opportunities
Are there shifts in post-graduate placement opportunities relevant to number of students we train and professional development activities the Graduate School supports?
What professional development training should be offered to graduate students to improve their career prospects?
writing support, academic integrity, public speaking,
networking, time management, career planning, leadership

3. Services provided by the Graduate School
What elements of the Graduate School support you successfully?
What services are missing or in need of expansion?

4. Fellowships, research, travel support
What is your opinion of the following ideas?
Strengthen the fellowship office to facilitate student applications to existing programs (e.g., NSF-GRFP, NSF-NRT, Fulbright, Hertz, Boren, Gates, etc.)
Develop summer term mid-candidacy fellowships for excellence in research
Are changes needed to Graduate School travel funding, its amount, and its implementation/timing?
How are students who participate in interdisciplinary training programs supported?
Are improvements needed?
How are students in your program affected candidacy limits on tuition and health insurance benefits?

5. Services provided by the Graduate School
Graduate student recruitment
Development of named University-wide (regardless of discipline) fellowships to improve the acceptance yield for the most talented and diverse applicants
Development of targeted fellowships for students recruited by Asst. Profs
Development of targeted fellowships for students co-advised by PIs from multiple colleges and multiple disciplines

6. Recruitment and retention of diverse graduate students
Do your programs have specific procedures in place for recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority graduate students?
What are they? Do they work? How could they be improved?
Please share examples!
What are specific barriers to recruiting an underrepresented minority students to Utah?
How are your programs addressing them?
How could the graduate school assist in these efforts?

7. Tracking post-graduate placements
What does your program do to track placement outcomes?
What could the graduate school do to support collection of placement outcomes?
What kinds of shifts are you seeing in post-graduate employment?
What changes have you implemented/are you considering implementing to support shifts in placement opportunities?
What can the graduate school do to help?

8. Time to degree
What are the trends in time to degree in your field and in your program at the U?
What recommendations could be implemented to improve time to degree?
improvements to the transition from coursework to research/scholarly activities
greater support for graduate student writing?

9. Development of fee-based Master’s programs
Should the U encourage the development of professional certificate or degree programs at Master's level ?
incentives via tuition return to program
support from Graduate School to set up the structure (budget, billing)
Would your program consider or is your program considering such efforts?
What are employment prospects for Master's level graduates in your field?

10. Ideas for additional resources to support graduate education at the U
Please discuss ideas for grants, donations, industry partnerships, state partnerships…
Any other ideas, suggestions, concerns?
Please remind your colleagues to complete the survey if they cannot attend a townhall meeting