For IUB’s more than 10,000 graduate and professional students, IUB is a place not only to pursue a disciplinary passion, but often to advance a career, build professional and mentoring skills, and develop a network of colleagues and friends across the broader campus community.
Connecting to the needs and interests of our graduate students is a critical mission for IUB, particularly the new IU Graduate School Bloomington and David Daleke, our inaugural dean. Building on last year’s Task Force for Graduate Education, David and his team, along with academic schools and campus partners, are leading efforts through the IUB 2030 strategic plan to significantly enhance campus support for graduate students.
Key areas of attention include creating stronger career resources and pathways, improving time to degree, addressing workload challenges, creating a stronger community and sense of belonging, promoting health and wellbeing, enhancing mentoring, and more.
A holistic approach to support graduate students
A distinctly holistic approach, ensuring graduate students are empowered to develop as scholars, professionals, and individuals, animates this work.
In support of the efforts of Sean Nicholson-Crotty, director of the Graduate Mentoring Center; Trevor Verrot, assistant dean for student development; and Brandi Smith, who was recently hired as director of graduate career coaching, we will soon launch conversations to expand resources for career development across graduate programs. We will also consider new opportunities for curricular innovation, career-based support, and workforce opportunities, as well as a new graduate advising team for prospective graduate students considering IUB.
In the Office of Student Life, with the leadership of the new vice provost, Lamar Hylton, we are advancing efforts on health and wellbeing, including 24/7 access to counseling, and further developing a sense of community for graduate students across campus. A new dedicated team will focus specifically on student involvement, inclusion, and belonging. Vicka Bell-Robinson, who will begin in January in the new role of associate vice provost for involvement and belonging, will play a formative role in these important efforts.
Meanwhile, Faculty and Academic Affairs, led by new vice provost Carrie Docherty, continues to enhance training and resources for faculty to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to optimally mentor graduate students. Carrie and her team are also working to better define workload and expectations for our student academic appointees to better balance life and study with teaching and research responsibilities.
Our commitment to benchmark SAA stipends against peers
We also know that financial security continues to be an essential concern among graduate students. Following up on our commitment to regularly benchmark SAA stipends — to ensure minimum stipends and discipline-specific stipend rates remain in the top half of the Big Ten — Dean Daleke will collaborate with the SAA Affairs Committee of the Bloomington Faculty Council in the upcoming spring semester to introduce this discipline-attentive benchmarking process.
Graduate student experience and success will also be a central area of focus in our upcoming campus-wide conversations about updating the budget model.
In all, I am proud of the efforts we have underway to improve graduate education, but there is always more listening, more ideating, and more work to be done. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to these efforts so far and encourage continued engagement across campus to ensure our graduate students at IUB have a great experience here and are set up for success on whatever trail they blaze.
