11:43 a.m., March 12, 2010----Debra Hess Norris, vice provost for graduate and professional education, updated members of the University of Delaware Association of Retired Faculty (UDARF) on the new directions in graduate and professional education at UD during the group's regular luncheon meeting held March 2 in Clayton Hall.

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Norris, who also serves as chairperson of the Department of Art Conservation and Henry F. du Pont Chair in Fine Arts at the University of Delaware, said that a guiding principle during the past two years in the Office of Graduate and Professional Education has been to enrich and strengthen the graduate education experience at UD by collaborating with various campus units, as well as with other partners off campus in creating new initiatives.

“We have a strategic plan for graduate and professional education and advancing and sustaining the highest quality programs,” Norris said. “We also have been working with colleges and departments to try and benchmark funding for graduate student education, and to offer 12-month packages over multiple years.”

Norris said that the Office of Graduate and Professional Education also is working with the Graduate Student Senate to better understand the needs of graduate students.

“We completed the first ever graduate student satisfaction survey to find out what the primary needs of graduate students are,” Norris said. “Their concerns include better housing choices and the need for a family leave policy.”

New initiatives in graduate education, Norris said, reflect the goals of the University's Path to Prominence^TM strategic plan and are grounded within core principles and goals, including strengthening diversity and promoting visibility.

Norris also noted that the Office of Graduate and Professional Education also is working to share dissertation defense dates and topics campus-wide to build audiences, interdisciplinary knowledge and new connections.

“In cooperation with the Writing Center we have established a dissertation boot camp,” Norris said. “The camp has turned out to be enormously popular, and three of the two-week dissertation boot camps are scheduled for summer 2010.”

Another initiative, Norris said, has been the establishment of a series of half-day workshops designed to help students become better grant writers. The workshops have been held in disciplines ranging from the humanities to engineering.

“We are trying to ensure that our graduate students have the skills and knowledge to identify and pursue external funding opportunities and to write compelling and engaging grant proposals. We want them to seek external funding with confidence,” Norris said. “We are excited about our progress to date.”

The office's new Web site highlights funding opportunities and offers grant writing advice.

Additional new programs include a museum studies initiative that provides eight funded summer internships for graduate students in Delaware museums and cultural institutions, Norris said.

“This is all part of our focus within the strategic plan on Delaware First,” Norris said. “Recognizing that Delaware museums are in urgent need of expertise, this initiative connects skilled graduate students and provides them with practical training.”

Norris also noted that the Department of Art Conservation conducts a free conservation clinic at which individuals can bring objects to Winterthur for program faculty and graduate students to examine and analyze.

“It's kind of an Antiques Roadshow but we don't do appraisals,” Norris said. “One of the reasons we do this is to identify interesting conservation treatment projects, but more importantly, to ensure that our graduate students have the opportunity to work, one-on-one, with the public. They need to be able to answer questions and to address preservation questions as they arise.”

Strengthening diversity in the graduate and professional student experience also remains a primary and central initiative in connection with the University's overall strategic plan, Norris said.

“There are a number of summer programs on campus for underrepresented undergraduate students who are committed to graduate education in engineering, the humanities and agricultural sciences,” Norris said. “We aim to work closely with these programs and assist as needed.”

The Office of Graduate and Professional Education also has partnered with the Institute for Global Studies to offer global competitive research travel grants that are supported by the Unidel and other foundations.

As its reach becomes more global, Norris said it is important for UD to enhance orientation for incoming international graduate students and increase efforts to promote the accomplishments of its graduate students and programs.

“We established a new graduate student convocation to enhance networking and connections across campus, promoted opportunities for national award nominations for our graduate students,” Norris said. “We also have partnered closely with the Office of Communications and Marketing to ensure broader coverage in UDaily, the Messenger, and beyond, and to raise the bar in graduate education across campus.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson