COLUMN: Have you hugged a grad student lately?
Graduate Students make up one of the most important community of scholars, innovators and teachers at Utah State University. There are approximately 3,000 post-baccalaureate students who attend USU and about 2,000 of these students are matriculated in one of 42 departments.
Because of the unique environment and hands-on experience, the graduate population has representatives from all 50 states, as well as students from more than 80 countries worldwide. They are not only students, but they are future professors, authors, genetic engineers, limnologists, computer programmers, politicians, economists, musicians, graphic designers, agribusiness managers, counselors, special educators, microbiologists, range mangers, and the list goes on and on.
Even though these students play an integral role in our local, state and national communities, their contributions are often overlooked. As a part of Graduate Appreciation Week sponsored by the Graduate Student Senate, it is my hope that every student realizes how much each master’s and doctorate candidate contributes to the university.
Did you know … without more than 1,000 graduate assistants teaching the majority of bottleneck and depth courses across campus, it would be virtually impossible for undergraduates to fulfill their general education requirements?
Did you know … without the countless hours of research of graduate students, Utah State University would not be known for sending more experiments into space than any other university in the world?
Did you know … without the assistance of graduate students, many of the land grant initiatives, including USU Extension, would not be successful?
Did you know … without the dedication of graduate students, many of the laboratories on campus, like the USDA Forestry Science Lab and the Utah Water Research Lab, could not conduct the level of research required to produce sound science?
Did you know … without research assistants, individual professors would not be able to continue their own research agendas at the current innovative level?
In order to give something back to all of the graduate students, the GSS has organized a Starving Graduate Student Day Wednesday night at the White Owl and an International Student Forum on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the Taggart Student Center.
Additionally, we have also composed a survey on our Web site to let us know what is important to graduate students at USU. By filling out our survey you will be entered to win a bookstore gift certificate. Also, for those grad students who need funding for their individual research projects, the GSS is sponsoring a Grant Writing Competition with an award of $500. Please visit our Web site for more information http://www.usu.edu/usugss/index.html.
Stephanie Kukic is the ASUSU graduate studies vice president. Comments can be sent to spkukic@cc.usu.edu.