Purpose
The Physics Pride Campaign was initiated to spark student interest and involvement in fostering community among our graduate students. Prior to this grant, the department was limited due to the natural cycle of student interest > disinterest > interest. Further, community building efforts are challenging given the physical proximity of physics graduate students. Physics research is conducted in at least 8 buildings on campus, 5 labs/centers, and numerous off-campus locations such as Virginia, Illionois, California and New York. The campaign solicited student involvement, engaged first year students, and attempted to incorporate our off campus students.
Impact
The Physics Pride Grant funded bi-weekly lunches with first year students during the Fall term featuring short research presentations from faculty, and bi-weekly lunches during the Spring term for all students featuring short research presentations from peers. The initial calls for community that the grant generated resulted in a reincarnation of the Physics Graduate Student Council, increased participation in the Institute Graduate Student Council, formation of Physics REFS, and an increase in the social programs organized and facilitated by students. Continuous feedback has been received from current students suggesting that the department's support for graduate student community has increased in recent years. In reality, the support has always been present. But, the reignition of graduate student involvement has increased the student life within Physics.
Back to Graduate Student Life Grants 2006 Index page
