Virginia Tech Selected As A Partner In Carnegie Initiative On The Doctorate
Virginia Tech's Chemistry Department has been chosen to participate in a multi-year research and action project aimed at improving doctoral education at American universities. The Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) has selected 33 partner departments in chemistry, education, English, and mathematics to analyze aspects of their doctoral programs and link specific activities to desired outcomes.
Carnegie senior scholar Chris Golde explained that the project goals were to support and study experiments in doctoral education, to document and analyze the character of those initiatives and to help disciplinary communities create models and evidence of success to inform others in the field.
Jim Tanko, a chemistry professor at Virginia Tech, described the CID as an opportunity for universities to participate in a discussion evaluating their goals for graduate education. Tech's Chemistry Department will have a seat at the table to participate in the group dialogue examining and assessing ideas pertaining to graduate education in chemistry.
"In addition to sharing ideas and experiences with other universities, we may implement some ideas presented by others if they remain consistent with our goals and objectives and if we think that they would work in our environment," Tanko said.
Tanko said he is hopeful that the environment and timing are right for substantive changes to occur in the graduate school, which he believes will help advance the university's objective of becoming a top-30 research institution.
In addition to the 33 Partner Departments, the CID has also selected 22 Allied Departments who will help form a network in each discipline to provide further information collection and dissemination about the study.
Funding for the project is provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered by an act of Congress in 1906. More information about the study and participants may be found at www.carnegiefoundation.org.
Written by Anna Kirsch, Intern in the Office of University Relations
