Task Force on Graduate Education

Task force on graduate education

The task force on graduate education is a strategic planning group working to develop a comprehensive analysis of graduate and professional education at IU Bloomington. The task force and its working groups will ultimately craft a vision for the ideal graduate experience, and will make recommendations for both long- and short-term actions, some of which will be implemented during the Fall 2022 semester. In addition to sharing progress on this website, Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav will continue to send regular emails on updates and action steps.

Feedback submission form

Do you have constructive feedback to share with the Graduate Education Task Force? Share your thoughts here.

July 29, 2022 Update

The Financial Support Working Group delivered its initial recommendations to the Task Force Coordinating Committee, which then forwarded them to the Provost and to the BFC. These initial recommendations focus on Student Academic Appointees:

Overall

To ensure that prospective graduate students are making decisions based upon full information about their financial support package, departments will provide prospective students with detailed, transparent information about SAA positions, stipend and other support amounts, years of support, tuition and fee remission, and health insurance. Departments should also provide students with the recent, average time to degree, number of credit hours required to complete degree, and the number of years the financial support package is intended to support.
For recommendations that require additional financial investment by academic units, the campus should provide one to two years of cash funding to allow units time to adjust budgets and assume responsibility for ongoing costs.

Fees

Starting Fall 2022, the campus should require the College and schools to remit "Tuition and Fees" for SAAs to ensure that mandatory fees are also regularly covered. Course-related fees connected to graduate programs of study should be covered for SAAs as part of their Tuition and Fee Remission.

Stipends

Stipends should be tied to the median, by discipline, of R1 public Big Ten Midwestern universities to ensure IUB’s competitive position for recruiting and retaining top graduate students. Departments may propose a different peer group based on their top competitors.
The minimum campus stipend for 0.5 FTE SAAs should be increased to $21,000 by Fall 2022 (FY23). VPR should provide transitional financial support for principal investigators of federal research projects where needed.
A mandatory review process for SAA stipends should be conducted every two years to ensure that a) all schools and departments remain competitive, and b) that no unit falls below the campus minimum.
For IU’s next fundraising campaign, the campus should identify graduate fellowships and other forms of graduate support as high priorities.

Appointments

The SAA FTE standard should be regularized to 0.5 FTE to avoid reductions in FTE levels as a budgetary cost savings measure. Appointments lower than 0.5 FTE should require approval by VPFAA.
Further research should be conducted to understand fully the differential workloads of SAAs and to develop recommendations to address inequities.

The working group will continue their consideration of long-term recommendations for financial support for all graduate and professional students. These recommendations will be included in the final strategic plan.

Finally, the Health & Wellness Working Group has been constituted and will begin meeting next week. Initial recommendations of this group are expected by the end of August.

Previous updates

The working group on financial support has met a third time, and membership for the health and wellness working group has been finalized. The task force will continue to review all comments submitted through this form, including those related to SAA compensation and workload, graduate student well-being, and other ideas for improving the educational experience for all graduate students. The task force plans to submit several recommendations to the provost and Bloomington Faculty Council to consider for Fall 2022 implementation and will continue to work through the coming year on many other issues of concern to our graduate students and faculty. In addition to the recommendations for immediate action, the task force will deliver long-term objectives and actions as a new strategic plan for graduate education at IU Bloomington, sometime during the 2022-23 academic year.

This past week, a new SAA Council in the College—which is home to more than half of all IU Bloomington SAAs—hosted its first meeting, co-chaired by history professor Padraic Kenny. This work will complement the work of the BFC’s re-constituted campuswide SAA Affairs Committee. An open, unfilled seat remains available for representation from the IU Graduate & Professional Student Government (on all committees). We have received over 150 feedback forms on the task force on topics ranging from increased funding to mental health support to ensuring that undergraduate courses continue, uninterrupted, this academic year.

As of July 8, 2022, the working group on financial support had met twice as a full group and once in breakout groups that discussed SAAs, fees, and stipends. Membership for the working group on health & wellness will soon be finalized. Committees will also discuss graduate student housing; curriculum and academics; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and career and professional development. The coordinating committee has met seven times since May 18. An open, unfilled seat remains available for representation from the IU Graduate & Professional Student Government (on all committees).

Task Force Committees and Members

Co-chair David Daleke, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of Medicine and Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Health Sciences
Co-chair Marietta Simpson, Distinguished Rudy Professor of Music, Voice, Jacobs School of Music and Past President of the Bloomington Faculty Council
Michael Adams, Department Chair and Provost Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Kay Connelly, Professor of Informatics and Associate Dean for Research, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering
Michael Kaganovich, Department Chair and Professor of Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Sarah Lubienski, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, School of Education
Rebecca Slotegraaf, Professor of Marketing, and Associate Dean for Research, Kelley School of Business
Graduate and Professional Student Government president (currently not participating)

Co-chair Michael Adams, Department Chair and Provost Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Co-chair Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Iman Alramadan, Senior Lecturer of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Hamilton Lugar School, College of Arts and Sciences
Matt Bochman, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Nayah Boucaud, PhD student, Informatics, Luddy School
Jarrod Burgh, PhD student, Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Kim Geeslin, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs
Krista Glazewski, Department Chair and Professor of Instructional Systems Technology, School of Education
Paul Graf, Teaching Professor of Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Aimee Heeter, Vice Provost for Finance and Administration
Desiree Ippolito, PhD student, Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education
Richard Nash, Professor Emeritus of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Noah Stoffman, Professor of Finance, and Chair of Doctoral Programs, Kelley School
Kevin Zumbrun, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences

Co-chair David Daleke, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of Medicine and Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Health Sciences
Co-chair Bernice Pescosolido, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences
Dana Anderson, Associate Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Loukisha Anderson, PhD student, Higher Education and Student Affairs, School of Education
Yoosoon Chang, Professor of Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Ellie Cothren, PhD student, Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Jacob Emery, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature, Hamilton Lugar School, College of Arts and Sciences
Lynn Gilman, Clinical Associate Professor of Counseling and Educational Psychology, School of Education
John Keesler, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, IUB Program
Eddie Mony, Doctor of Music Education student, Jacobs School of Music
Tuli Mukhopadhyay, Professor of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
Kathleen Myers, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Arts and Sciences
Bill Ramos, Associate Professor of Health and Wellness Design, School of Public Health
Christan Royer, Director of Benefits, IU Human Resources
Marcy Shepardson, Associate Professor of Accounting, Kelley School of Business
Brad Stepp, Interim Director, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Tislam Swift, Doctor of Music student, Jacobs School of Music
Marcey Tidwell, Registered Nurse, IU Student Health Center
Louis van der Elst, PhD student, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Luddy School

In the news

Coordinating committee members named to task force on future of graduate education

May 17, 2022

Eight people have been named to the coordinating committee of the task force on the future of graduate education.

Task force on future of graduate education at IU Bloomington established

April 18, 2022

The IU Bloomington provost has directed the creation of a task force focused on the future of graduate education.

August 11, 2022: Further steps on task force reccomendations
August 2, 2022: President Whitten and Provost Shrivastav act on task force recommendations for graduate students
July 27, 2022: Updates coming from financial support committee
June 16, 2022: Updates regarding the task force on graduate education
June 9, 2022: Next Steps and Key Principles for the Task Force on Graduate Education
March 28, 2022: Graduate Student Listening Sessions: Three Important Updates

Office of the Provost & Executive Vice President

Task Force on Graduate Education