Our graduate degree programs are well-focused along traditional disciplinary lines. While this should be viewed as our strength in that we will continue to have a positive impact on those disciplines in which we excel, it can also be our weakness insofar as our ability to attract students is concerned. Changing demographics of potential students, especially with regard to those who are fully employed and those from underrepresented groups, suggest students are being attracted to degree programs which more clearly relate to today's societal needs. In addition, the currently strong job market in engineering is having a negative effect on our ability to attract students. New programs such as the non-departmental Ph.D. in Engineering, the MS in Environmental Policy, graduate programs in Rhetoric and Technical Communication, and the International option in the Forestry MS offered in cooperation with the Peace Corps are important initiatives with regard to the first concern.

New opportunities need to be developed, however, to address the second concern, especially the use of modern technologies such as satellite transmission and video-conferencing, which will help overcome the geographical remoteness that inhibits enrollment of fully employed students. An example in place (with Ford Motor Company, Dearborn) is the broadened opportunity to pursue graduate study by fulfilling residency requirements at qualified off-campus research facilities where adequate research supervision is available.

Primarily because of the geographical remoteness of our University and the lack of a local industry base, almost all of our graduate students are full-time resident students. While this is a strength of our program in that it tends to create an atmosphere conducive to healthy interactions among the students and between the students and the faculty, it also makes it difficult to attract students.

The Graduate School has taken several initiatives to improve its ability to recruit a high quality, diverse student body. In 1995, The Graduate School placed its Graduate Bulletin on its new web page; since then, information available via the web has been greatly expanded to include, for instance, opportunities for support, links to various research units within the University, information about graduate faculty, and e-mail links to staff in The Graduate School. Also in 1995, graduate student recruitment was included in the function of the full-time recruiting staff in the Office of Enrollment Management, and a new "search piece" was created to publicize our graduate program. The Graduate Office has increased its efforts to recruit fully-funded international students; for example, the Royal Thai Scholarship Program brought in two sponsored students for Fall 1995 and ten for Fall 1996. The active involvement of the Coordinator of Graduate Admissions in NAFSA facilitates efficient and accurate processing of international-student applications. A graduate student mentoring program was initiated in 1995; current graduate students make telephone contact with newly admitted graduate students to offer assistance in making the transition into our program. The Graduate School Doctoral Fellowship program, which provides full support for one academic year to new admits to our doctoral programs, has grown from nine when it was initiated in 1987 to twenty-two in 1996.

The Graduate School has made a great effort to insure high retention rates of graduate students by providing an enhanced quality of student life and greater levels of financial support. The GSC, which had been dormant for some time, was reactivated in 1989 and has become an active voice in campus life and planning. In 1990, a GSC representative was established as a voting member of the Graduate Council. The Graduate School provides the GSC with an annual budget of $10,000 which is used to provide travel support to graduate students who present papers at professional meetings, to partially fund a seminar series that brings in external speakers, and to fund quarterly social events. The GSC has also been provided funding to publish the Call of the Keweenaw [7.4C], a guidebook to graduate-student living.

In 1992, The Graduate School secured space in one of the campus buildings for a Graduate Student Center; the Center is used for meetings of the GSC, thesis and dissertation defenses, and seminars. The Graduate School has also provided support for an annual research poster session sponsored by the GSC. In 1993, a student health insurance program was initiated; all funded GRAs, TAs and GAs receive $100 toward the insurance premium. In addition, financial aid programs have been significantly increased across a range of University Ph.D. Fellowships, Graduate School Doctoral Fellowships, Graduate Assistantships, Teaching Assistantships, Exchange Fellowships, and several industry-sponsored fellowships; approximately 80% of our graduate students receive some form of financial assistance [see 2.6F6 attachments].

Because the University continues to value undergraduate education as well as effective undergraduate teaching, orientation programs for graduate teaching assistants are held through the Office of Teaching Excellence and also by a number of academic departments [see 2.6F6 attachments].

The Graduate School understands the importance of excellent faculty to a successful graduate program; it has made extensive efforts to attract, retain, and support new faculty. In order to encourage innovative, creative scholarship and research, the Vice Provost for Research and Dean of The Graduate School provided input to the Provost in the development of new tenure and promotion guidelines so as to give encouragement to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research efforts. Significantly increased funding has been given to the faculty start-up program initiated in 1993 and allocated by the Provost (increased to $200K with matching funds to $300–$400K). Other funding support for faculty includes a faculty-development grant program initiated in 1995 through which $70,000 is budgeted to assist faculty in engaging in scholarly or creative activities which contribute to their professional development but do not necessarily connect to external funding opportunities [see 2.6F6 attachments]. In 1988, the Century II Campaign Equipment Endowment Fund was initiated. This program provides partial funding support for equipment purchase [see 2.6F6 attachments]. And on an ad hoc basis, partial support to those faculty who are in critical need is being provided from the discretionary budget of the Vice Provost to supplement departmental support for various scholarly activities.

Staff of The Graduate School participate in the annual orientation program for new faculty to inform them of the services offered in each of the School's areas of responsibility, and to coach new faculty in how to take advantages of the services available. As with students, the geographical remoteness of the University affects faculty retention; particularly acute is the issue of suitable employment for partners. The efforts of the Presidential Commission for Women to facilitate the transfer of dual-career couples through the Partner Accommodation Program are thus important to the stability of the graduate program.

Structurally, The Graduate School has made changes to encourage faculty participation in the development of its policies. In 1994, the Graduate Council was restructured based on departmental representation, and the Council has established closer working relationships between each departmental graduate-program coordinator and The Graduate School staff.

At the present time, the only assessment of our graduate-student performance is that of outcomes—judged by the quality of theses and dissertations. The lack of in-process assessment before reaching the stage of completing theses and dissertations is a weakness which needs to be dealt with. An in-process assessment tool is being developed, modeled after the one used by the University of Colorado-Boulder. Several means of determining the effectiveness of The Graduate School and various individual programs have been initiated, however. External program reviews have been conducted for Rhetoric and Technical Communication, Forestry, Metallurgical Engineering and the Institute of Materials Processing, and Physics; the Council of Graduate Schools conducted a review of the functions of The Graduate School in December, 1996, at the request of the Vice Provost and Dean. The GSC assisted in a survey in 1995 to assess the general climate of the graduate program as perceived by the students [see 2.6F6 attachments]; it is currently conducting an extensive work-load survey; exit interviews collected in the recent past have been analyzed to better understand the experience of our graduate students [see 2.6F6 attachments]; and the President's Commission on Women included an analysis and recommendations specific to graduate students.

Research Support

Research at the University begins from our engineering base, but as recent issues of Michigan Tech Research suggest, the University's research is expanding in its outreach while it continues to be connected to undergraduate education. At the same time, research programs face a great challenge due to shrinking federal support for university research. Industry support has also decreased in recent years, but opportunities remain when our effort is directed toward the needs of sponsors. Historically, our faculty have been known to be more responsive to the needs of sponsors compared to those of most other universities; we can strengthen our competitive edge by further enhancing this characteristic. In order to provide appropriate support, Research and Intellectual Property Office staff are actively involved in external professional societies such as NCURA, SRA, AUTM, and LES.

Various steps have been taken internally to increase support for faculty research. The University has continued the State Research Excellence Fund at approximately $1.35 million annually; it has continued the MTU Faculty Research Award program; it has provided support under the Faculty Development Program to international scholarly activities in areas other than science and engineering (a member of the Fine Arts faculty held two watercolor workshops in Korean universities in 1996). Under existing cooperative agreements with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and with the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research of the University of Southampton, UK, we co-hosted an international symposium on Noise, Vibration, and Harshness in Korea in June–July 1996 under the financial sponsorship of Daewoo Group.

In addition, several programs have been put in place to increase faculty success in receiving grants:

• in 1993 an annual budget of $300,000 was initiated for grant and contract cost-share;
• proposal processing procedures have been streamlined and information disseminated to the campus-wide community;
• workshops were held in 1995 and 1996 on grantsmanship, intellectual properties, and entrepreneurial initiative;
• a quarterly Intellectual Property Newsletter is being published [7.4C];
• closer relationships have been established between each department contact responsible for handling grants and contracts and the research office staff; and
• a web page for the Research and Intellectual Properties Offices has been set up.

Finally, steps have been taken to insure efficiency and appropriate operation within the offices. Industry contracts have been standardized and internal and external procedures for subcontracting under a prime award have been developed. Policies and procedures on scientific misconduct and on conflict of interest, which conform to federal mandates, have been developed. Intellectual property administrative procedures have been strengthened, which have resulted in a firmer fiscal position for the Office of Intellectual Properties. The proposal and award tracking system was converted in 1994 so as to be more comprehensive and efficient in data handling and retrieval.

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