The University of Georgia, a land-grant and sea-grant university with state-wide commitments and responsibilities, is the state’s oldest, most comprehensive, and most diversified institution of higher education. Its motto, “to teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things,” reflects the University’s integral and unique role in the conservation and enhancement of state’s and nation’s intellectual, cultural, and environmental heritage The University of Georgia shares with the other research universities of the University System of Georgia the following core characteristics:

• a statewide responsibility and commitment to excellence and academic achievements having national and international recognition; a commitment to excellence in a teaching/learning environment dedicated to serve a diverse and well-prepared study body, to promote high levels of student achievement, and to provide appropriate academic support services;
• a commitment to excellence in research, scholarship, and creative endeavors that are focused on organized programs to create, maintain, and apply new knowledge and theories; that promote instructional quality and effectiveness; and that enhance institutionally relevant faculty qualifications;
• a commitment to excellence in public service, economic development, and technical assistance activities designed to address the strategic needs of the State of Georgia along with a comprehensive offering of continuing education designed to meet the needs of Georgia’s citizens in life-long learning and professional education;
• a wide range of academic and professional programming at the baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral levels.

With its statewide mission and core characteristics, the University of Georgia endeavors to prepare the University community and the state for full participation in the global society of the twenty-first century. Through its programs and practices, it seeks to foster the understanding of and respect for cultural differences necessary for an enlightened and educated citizenry. It further provides for cultural, ethnic, gender, and racial diversity in the faculty, staff, and student body. The University is committed to preparing the University community to appreciate the critical importance of a quality environment to an interdependent global society. As a comprehensive land-grant and sea-grant institution, the University of Georgia offers baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral and professional degrees in the arts, humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, agricultural and environmental sciences, business, education, environmental design, family and consumer sciences, forest resources, journalism and mass communication, law, pharmacy, social work, and veterinary medicine. The University attracts students nationally and internationally as well as from within Georgia. It offers the state’s broadest array of possibilities in graduate and professional education, and thus a large minority of the student body is post-baccalaureate. The predominantly Georgian undergraduate student body is a mix of highly qualified students originally admitted as freshmen and selected transfer students principally from other University System institutions. With original scholarship, basic and applied research, and creative activities constituting an essential core from which to draw, the impact of the land-grant and sea-grant mission is reflected throughout the state. Cooperative extension, continuing education, public service, experiment stations, and technology transfer are all designed to enhance the well-being of the citizens of Georgia through their roles in economic, social, and community development. As it has been historically, the University of Georgia is responsive to the evolution of the state’s educational, social, and economic needs. It aspires through its strategic planning to even closer contact and interaction with public and private institutions throughout the state as well as with the citizens it serves.

Vision of the Graduate School

The Graduate School at the University of Georgia will be at the forefront of best practices in graduate education by providing the leadership for an exemplary learning environment in which to educate our next generation of scholars, professionals, and global leaders in a competitive, knowledge-based world. The Graduate School will focus on the following three goals over the next ten years to enhance and enrich graduate student learning. The strategies and action steps identified under each goal will assist in achieving the intended outcomes that support the growth and advancement of graduate education at the University of Georgia.

Mission of the Graduate School

• Enhance the quality of graduate education across all programs to protect the value of graduate degrees awarded by the University of Georgia.
• Assist faculty and administrators in building world-class graduate programs.
• Support graduate students beginning with recruitment and admission through graduation.

Graduate School Strategic Plan 2020

Goal 1: Recruit and retain highly competitive and outstanding graduate students

Strategy A: Increase our competitiveness in the recruitment of outstanding prospective graduate students.

• Work with senior administration to establish and maintain nationally competitive financial assistance and other benefits for graduate students.
• Continue our development efforts with alumni and friends to establish endowed fellowships for graduate students, working in conjunction with senior administration and other colleges and schools.
• Work collaboratively with faculty, programs, and colleges and schools to develop specific strategies for recruiting and retaining students in all areas of inquiry, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), the Humanities, and the Social Sciences.
• Develop and deliver workshops for faculty on best practices in the recruitment and retention of doctoral students.

Outcome: Competitiveness with aspirational and peer institutions for the recruitment and retention of high quality graduate students. Benchmarks: Increase in number of competitive assistantships; increase in number of endowed fellowships and sponsored assistantships; recruitment strategies implemented; faculty workshops offered.

Strategy B: Broaden the intellectual horizons of graduate students.

• Offer a range of professional development seminars and certificates that go beyond discipline-specific training to provide students with opportunities to develop skills that prepare them for future careers, both in and outside of the academy.
• Provide workshops and materials to support students in seeking national fellowships.
• Work to reduce institutional barriers to receiving benefits, such as health insurance, for student recipients of national fellowships.
• Work with faculty, programs, deans, and administrators to develop a graduate fellowship program that will allow mid-program students to sample and participate in academic and research activities beyond their program of study, much like the Study in a Second Discipline program for faculty.
• Explore opportunities with the graduate deans of Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and Emory University for graduate students to participate in joint academic endeavors and share academic resources, including encouraging faculty to co-teach seminars and graduate courses across institutions and participate in graduate committees, using distance technology as appropriate.
• Recognize and publicly acknowledge students receiving awards and national fellowships.

Outcome: Prepare graduate students for their future careers. Benchmarks: Number of professional development opportunities offered; number of students applying for external funding; number of collaborative efforts with Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Emory; record of public recognition of students receiving awards and national fellowships.

Strategy C: Work with programs to ensure retention and completion of enrolled graduate students.

• Work effectively with programs and departments to add value to the graduate experience and best prepare graduate students for the future.
• Organize best practices seminars for programs to share successful and innovative methods for improving the student experience.
• Collaborate with the Office of Public Service and Outreach and the Archway Partnership to seek new opportunities for students to engage with the community and demonstrate the impact of their research.
• Continue to examine and disseminate data for doctoral and master’s completion trends to identify areas of improvement and recognize and publicize best practices.

Outcome: Graduate students will have opportunities to develop skills and have experiences to enhance degree completion. Benchmarks: Retention, time-to-degree, and graduation rates; number of best practices seminars; dissemination of data.

Goal 2: Enhance the culture of innovation and interdisciplinarity in graduate education

Strategy A: Encourage and support efforts to offer innovative and interdisciplinary research and learning opportunities for graduate students.

• Work with other administrative units to remove obstacles and provide roadmaps for the development of innovative and interdisciplinary programs and degrees, including online and international educational opportunities.
• Provide leadership in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning to create an exemplary learning environment through developing and delivering seminars and workshops for faculty seeking to develop online or hybrid graduate education.
• Advocate for programs seeking to hire faculty for interdisciplinary positions or joint appointments.
• Dedicate a portion of new assistantship funding to support competitive assistantships in interdisciplinary programs.
• Develop a seminar series on innovation in graduate education.

Outcomes: An increased level of innovation, interdisciplinary research, and collaboration between academic departments, the Graduate School, and potential regional and international research consortia; better coordination among the Graduate School and faculty members, graduate coordinators, and program directors seeking assistance to advance innovative and interdisciplinary ideas; greater and more creative use of technology, including online learning opportunities, for graduate education; more competitive graduate education programs. Benchmarks: Number of assistantships provided for interdisciplinary programs; letters of support provided for interdisciplinary programs; establishment of an innovation in graduate education seminar; streamlined admissions and student support processes for dual-degree, online, and other innovative programs.

Strategy B: Increase the number of interdisciplinary certificates, interdisciplinary degrees, and dual-degrees awarded.

• Develop a generic Interdisciplinary Studies graduate degree within the Graduate School to allow faculty via a competitive, grass-roots approach to identify and explore new interdisciplinary areas that may lead to new Regents-approved graduate programs.
• Work with faculty to facilitate development of innovative, interdisciplinary, and dual-degree graduate programs and certificates.
• Provide support (summer funding, release time, seed grants for departments) for innovative and interdisciplinary curricula development.
• Identify and develop professional development and certificate programs that provide students the opportunity to gain interdisciplinary experience and expand their knowledge beyond their own discipline.

Outcomes: Broader graduate programs of study, including more coursework taken outside the home department; growth in interdisciplinary program enrollments; more dissertation research in interdisciplinary projects; increased enrollment in interdisciplinary/dual-degree and certificate programs; increased number of interdisciplinary/dual-degree graduate degrees awarded. Benchmarks: Number of new interdisciplinary courses, programs, and certificates developed/offered; number of faculty grants awarded for development of innovative and interdisciplinary programs; number of new dual-degree programs; interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students.

Strategy C: Support programs and faculty in seeking and receiving grants that support interdisciplinary graduate education.

• Encourage and participate in the development of Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) and other interdisciplinary grant proposals and provide support for interdisciplinary grants that are funded.
• Promote new faculty collaborations that will lead to the development of graduate research in interdisciplinary or emerging fields.
• Work with senior administrators to establish a university-wide seed grant program to stimulate and support opportunities for graduate students to conduct interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research.

Outcomes: Increased extramural funding in support of interdisciplinary research; increased participation of graduate students in interdisciplinary research. Benchmarks: Amount of funding received for interdisciplinary grants; faculty collaborations initiated with the assistance of the Graduate School; number of students conducting interdisciplinary or innovative research.

Strategy D: Work with campus administrators and faculty to provide space on campus to facilitate conversations about innovation and interdisciplinary research.

• Work with senior administrators to establish a Graduate Life Center that will provide a space for students, faculty, administrators, and alumni to interact in both formal and informal settings.
• Work with campus planners and deans of colleges and schools to encourage and establish multiple small spaces on campus to facilitate conversation about innovative and collaborative research among graduate students and faculty.

Outcomes: Open, communal spaces to provide opportunities to address broad-based questions of import, raise the intellectual climate of the university, and assist in attracting top graduate students from around the world to our programs. Benchmarks: Establishment and use of a graduate life center; establishment and use of collaborative spaces on campus.

Goal 3. Maintain leadership in diversity of underrepresented graduate students.

Strategy A: Seek to attain a graduate student body that reflects the people of our state and our nation.

• Conduct outreach and recruitment efforts with students, particularly among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic Serving Universities (HSU).
• Increase coordination with other UGA programs devoted to increased minority graduate student enrollment.
• Work collaboratively with faculty, departments, and colleges and schools to strengthen UGA’s marketing and recruitment programs to underrepresented groups.
• Support programs and administration in efforts to recruit faculty members from diverse backgrounds.

Outcomes: Greater UGA visibility on campuses of HBCUs and HSUs; networking established with the faculty from these institutions; increased number of qualified applicants to Graduate School from students at these institutions; a graduate student population representative of the diversity of Georgia. Benchmarks: Number of outreach activities; number of joint programs with other campus units; increase in enrollment of underrepresented students, particularly African American, Hispanic, and women in fields in which they are underrepresented.

Strategy B: Provide support to ensure retention and completion of underrepresented students.

• Continue to develop and refine programs that help underrepresented students succeed in their graduate programs from recruitment to degree completion.
• Encourage greater emphasis on diversity and inclusiveness in graduate education at the program and departmental levels.
• Create opportunities for students to interact with an increasingly diverse world as part of their graduate learning experience.

Outcomes: Improvements in diversity indicators across campus; equipping graduate students with the skills needed to interact effectively with diverse populations and cultures. Benchmarks: Enrollment of underrepresented students; number of agreements and outreach activities with HBCUs and HSUs institutions; number of activities supporting graduate programs in their recruitment of underrepresented students; participation in and yield from activities conducted by the Graduate School’s Outreach and Diversity Office.

Prior to the formal establishment of the Graduate School, courses of postgraduate status were offered under the control of a faculty committee on graduate studies. In 1910, the formal organization of graduate studies into a Graduate School was authorized. Dr. Willis H. Bocock served as the Graduate School’s first dean and was succeeded by R. P. Stephens, George H. Boyd, Gerald B. Huff, Thomas H. Whitehead, Hardy M. Edwards, Jr., John C. Dowling, Gordhan L. Patel, Maureen Grasso, and the present interim dean, Julie Coffield. The Graduate School coordinates the graduate programs of all schools and colleges of the University. Matters of policy and procedure are determined by the graduate faculty through the graduate council. The graduate faculty consists of faculty members appointed by the President on the basis of productive research, effective teaching, and other creative activities. The policies adopted by the graduate council are administered by the dean of the Graduate School. The Graduate School administers all graduate programs of the University. It offers the Master of Arts in 34 disciplines, the Master of Science in 47 disciplines and the Doctor of Philosophy in 80 disciplines. Professional master’s degrees are available in 28 areas, and professional doctoral degrees are offered in education and music. The University also awards the Master of Education in 21 areas, the Specialist in Education in 19 areas and the Doctor of Education in 14 areas.

University of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia…

• is the first public university & has the first Graduate School in the nation
• is the only land-grant & sea-grant university in Georgia
• was the 4^th highest ranked producer of Fulbright Scholars for 2011
• was the only public university in America in 2007 to have two recipients of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
• is 2^nd in the nation among all U.S. universities, hospitals, & research institutions for licenses
• is ranked 8^th nationally by Kiplinger on its list of 100 best public colleges
• is ranked 5^th on the Princeton Review’s “Best Bang for your Buck” list
• has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of 16 “Hot Schools” in the United States due to its cost, safety, & academic quality advantages
• is home of the Peabody Awards, Georgia’s State Botanical Garden, State Museum of Art, & State Museum of Natural History, and the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame
• has one of the largest & most comprehensive public service & outreach programs in the nation

Graduate Academic Programs

• The Master of Social Work program is ranked in the top 15% nationally
• The Master of Public Administration program is ranked 6^th in the nation & the specializations in public finance & budgeting as well as in public management & administration are ranked 3^rd and 2^nd
• The College of Pharmacy is ranked 25^th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
• The School of Law is ranked 10^th for public law schools in the nation
• The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication’s graduate programs rank among the top in the nation, including 4^th in public relations, 5^th in advertising, 12^th in radio/television & 17^th in print
• The School of Ecology is the first school of ecology in the world & is ranked 10^th in the nation
• The College of Education’s overall graduate programs are ranked 37^th among public universities & 4^th among public universities in the South
• Forbes magazine ranked the Terry College’s MBA program among business schools delivering the highest return on investment
• The Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources is among the top wildlife programs in the nation & the only to have a Center for Forest Business and a Wood Quality Consortium
• The Master of Landscape Architecture program is ranked in the top five programs in the nation
• The doctoral program in rhetoric in the speech communication department is ranked 1^st in the nation in a survey conducted by the National Communication Association
• The University of Georgia’s MFA program in printmaking is ranked 7^th in the nation
• The number theory program in the mathematics department is ranked 10^th in the nation
• The doctoral programs in microbiology & evolutionary biology are tied for 10^th nationally

Faculty

• UGA has approximately 1,600 graduate faculty who are highly regarded for their scholarship & research, with many receiving prestigious national & international honors, prizes & awards:
  • National Academy of Sciences members: 9 faculty
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences members: 10 faculty
  • National Academy of Engineering members: 2 faculty
  • Institute of Medicine members: 1 faculty
  • MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient: 1 faculty
  • Pulitzer Prize recipients: 1 faculty, 9 alumni
• UGA is 8^th in total number of African American faculty & has the 2^nd highest percentage of African American faculty among the nation’s major state universities
• UGA is ranked 3^rd in the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index
• The School of Law faculty includes authors of our country’s leading legal scholarship, Fulbright scholars, judicial clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court as well as trial & corporate attorneys

UGA’s graduate programs have high national diversity rankings, including

• 13^th for doctoral degrees awarded to African American students
• 29^th for all minorities for doctoral degrees in Education
• 4^th for African Americans in the Physical Sciences
• 7^th for African Americans & 40^th for all minorities in Psychology
• 12^th for all minorities in Literature, Foreign Languages & Linguistics
• 4^th for both African Americans & Asian Americans in Agriculture masters degrees
• 23^rd for African Americans & 43^rd for minorities in Communication & Journalism masters degrees

Facilities

• The $43 million Miller Learning Center is one of the largest & most technologically advanced facilities on an American university campus.
• UGA’s libraries are ranked 36^th among the nation’s best research libraries. The Libraries own over 4.6 million volumes & 6.6 million microform units, & we subscribe to 7,000 print journals. We provide online access to over 48,000 electronic full-text journals, & approximately 400,000 full-text e-books.
• UGA research facilities are exceptional. For example, the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center is the first facility in the world devoted specifically to the study of complex carbohydrates.
• In 2002, the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies opened in a new building that also houses the Georgia BioBusiness Center for start-up businesses in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
• The Coverdell Center for Biomedical & Health Sciences opened in 2006. The 200,000-square-foot, $40 million facility provides space for faculty to conduct research in biomedicine, agriculture, ecology & environmental sciences.
• Graduate students also conduct research in highly developed research centers at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, the Coastal Plain Sapelo Island, and the Institute of Oceanography in Savannah.
• The law library ranks 8^th nationally, with more than 390,000 titles.

• Annual Report 2002-2003
• Annual Report 2003-2004
• Annual Report 2004*
• Annual Report 2005
• Annual Report 2006
• Annual Report 2007

* In 2004 UGA changed from fiscal year reporting to calendar year reporting.