University holds annual Graduate School Fair

Utah State’s 2006 Graduate School Fair, designed to inform students of graduate programs offered nationwide, was held Wednesday in the Taggart Student Center.

Forty-seven different programs were represented from universities from as far away as Vermont. This number includes 15 USU programs that were on display.

Shelley Lindauer, associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies, said she was pleased with the turnout and response of USU students.

“I feel like it was a real success,” she said. “There was a constant flow of students going through.”

She said the purpose of hosting the Graduate School Fair is to inform students of programs available after graduation and the advantages of furthering one’s education.

Associate Director of Career Services Randy Jensen said, “It is to give students the opportunity to find out about graduate school programs, not only at USU, but as many national programs as possible.”

Jensen also said it is very important for students to begin seriously considering whether or not graduate school would be an advantage to them in their field of choice.

Rosa Elena Luna, one of many recruiters at the graduate fair, traveled from New Mexico to participate.

Luna is recruitment coordinator for New Mexico State University and said she had received a lot of interest from students and was impressed with how well prepared they were.

“I’ve had quite a bit of positive response from students up here that are mostly looking for sunshine,” Luna said.

Luna said getting a master’s degree is important and opens many more opportunities when entering the work force.

“Undergraduate degrees get you a position, but a master’s degree will get you promotions,” she said.

NMSU students are also Aggies and Luna said a lot of USU students had expressed interest in further investigating the university and its programs because of it.

“We are both Aggies, so they can definitely feel at home in Aggieland further south,” Luna said.

Many students said the fair had been helpful in finding schools and programs offered. Robyn Harper, a senior studying social work, attended the fair. While she did not find any specific program that was applicable to her, she said she found the Peace Corps display very interesting.

“The Peace Corps, which I definitely will check into, might be something I want to do,” she said. “It looked like a good program. It would give me a lot of good experience all over the world. It would be good backup for a social work career.”

Jensen said this is the sixth year USU has had a graduate fair. He said the university decided to hold a graduate school fair because so many students were interested in graduate school, they thought they ought to do something to help.

-ariek@cc.usu.edu