Today's graduate students actively seek opportunities to interact and share knowledge and experiences with fellow scholars both within and outside their departments, and across cultural boundaries. MIT has made considerable strides in providing a vibrant environment for living and learning. However, the transformation of our graduate studies from a collection of individual labs and academic programs into a true "community of citizen-scholars" is still very much a work in progress.
As with work in the areas of recruitment and inclusion, the ODGE's approach is to enhance our partnerships across the entire MIT community. Given the maturity of many of our graduate students and the small size of the ODGE staff, the strategy in the area of building a vibrant graduate community is to tap into student talent and creativity. For example, we fund most of the graduate student orientation that takes place each fall, but almost all the planning and execution is done by the Graduate Student Council; our office provides some staff support to the Graduate Student Council to deal with financial matters and contracts with outside vendors, but the programs are designed and implemented by student volunteers.
Another way we support student-led initiatives is through the Graduate Student Life Grants program, now in its eighth year. In the fall, we issue a request for proposals, and a selection committee recommends specific projects for funding to the Dean. We continue to evaluate each funded program, and for some projects that stand the test of time, commit ongoing budget resources from the ODGE. We envision expanding this proven approach over the coming years.
The recent expansion of the residential graduate community represents a significant strategic opportunity that we have not fully exploited. We need to build a coherent sense of MIT identity within the northwest area. This will involve further physical changes in the northwest area, a dining program that draws students together, and the development of programs that attract graduate students who may not live there. Our longer term vision is to create a graduate community center somewhere in the northwest area that would house graduate student activities such as the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and elements of the ODGE's office operations.
The opening of three graduate residences in the last eight years has vastly expanded housing options for single graduate students. However, we have not added any capacity in family housing, most of which serves graduate students and their families. We need to continue to look for options to expand family housing and support services such as affordable day care so that these graduate students can pursue their studies as effectively as possible.
Another element of the vision for enhancing a true community of citizen-scholars is the Graduate Community Fellows Program. This program funds graduate students who work with senior staff members to undertake projects in service of the graduate community, such as supporting diversity efforts for women and underrepresented minorities, the grants program, or international students. We anticipate expanding this program from a pilot of five students in 2007-08 to at least 20 fellows in the next year or two. Approximately half of these fellows will work as partners with Schools and departments on recruitment and inclusion; the remainder will undertake various projects in areas known to be of importance to graduate students.
Goals and objectives to enhance graduate community in the next one to two years include the following:
Communicate the ODGE's vision of graduate community to the Institute at large.
Use experience with the Graduate Student Life Grants and other ODGE activities to identify programs that stand the test of time and plan for permanency.
Develop plans for phase #2 of the Graduate Community Fellows program based on key learnings from the pilot year.
Gather data on best practices for community support from peer institutions.
March 2009