Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 23, 2007|Volume 35, Number 22

Changes to enrich 'middle
years' for Ph.D. candidates

In response to feedback from doctoral students, academic departments in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences have instituted some programmatic changes to support Ph.D. candidates in the "middle years" of their graduate education -- the time when they move from formal class work to independent scholarship.

Last semester, as part of an initiative called the "2-4 Project," all academic departments in the Graduate School were asked to evaluate the second, third and fourth years of their doctoral program. In addition, current Ph.D. students were invited to participate in a 2-4 Project survey to provide anonymous feedback about their programs.

In a memo outlining the project, Graduate School Dean Jon Butler described the initiative by saying, "We want our Ph.D. programs to show greater flexibility, imagination and responsiveness to shifting intellectual needs, student aspirations and broadening professional opportunities and demands." He added that students should be able to advance "to [doctoral] candidacy efficiently and with confidence, so that the researching and writing of the dissertation is neither unduly delayed nor fraught with anxiety."

Across the disciplines, the middle years of doctoral education mark a transition from course work to independent research in preparation for dissertations. Students in the humanities and social sciences finish their courses, take field exams, write a prospectus and begin teaching in these years, while students in the sciences generally complete their lab rotations and exams, choose an adviser and a laboratory in which to conduct research and write their dissertation prospectus. Butler asked academic departments and doctoral students themselves to assess this period of transition. Departmental reports and recommendations were submitted to the dean in December.

Departments were asked to consider various aspects of their programs. In the humanities and the social sciences, for example, departments were asked to look over the course offerings, among other issues, and to answer such questions as: Do required courses help students move toward their field exams efficiently, encourage them to formulate a dissertation topic and begin independent research? Does the current configuration of exams, prospectus-writing and first-time teaching enable students to make optimal progress, or should changes be adopted?

Similarly, in the sciences -- where students tend to advance relatively quickly to dissertation research -- departments were asked to examine the ways they mentor, evaluate and communicate expectations to their students.

Butler encouraged student participation in the process, telling them in the survey: "No one at Yale is better placed than you are to offer candid, constructive feedback about our academic programs. ... Your insights will be crucial to helping faculty members and deans address a range of issues necessary to enhancing graduate education at Yale."

Specific programmatic changes resulting from the departmental self-studies and student feedback vary from department to department. In response to its students' desire for more adequate preparation for the oral exams, prospectus-writing (and sometimes grant-writing), research writing and teaching that occurs in year three, the Department of History recommended changes that were approved by its faculty in January. These include reconfiguring the second year by adding two new required courses: a field tutorial to prepare for one of the oral exams taken in the third year and a prospectus tutorial. Both of these courses are designed to help students and advisers get to know one another before dissertation work begins.

In addition, a new non-required "Methods by Example" seminar on how to do historical research will be offered every year -- a course particularly desired by students working on research outside of the United States. The director of graduate studies will also assemble a handbook for students about course work, oral examinations, the prospectus, research and writing.

"The guiding principle adopted here is that relatively small changes in the outline of the program would be sufficient to make a major difference in students' understanding of the program and use of their time," notes Timothy Snyder, director of graduate studies in history.

The Department of Physics used the 2-4 Project to examine its entire program and, as a result, has reorganized sections of the curriculum, introduced an option that allows students to "test out" of required first-year courses, and added more advanced topics to some introductory-level classes. In the future, the first-year lab requirement will have a structured independent research alternative for students who have had significant prior laboratory experience. This innovation "propels them into a real research environment earlier than previously" and "permits a wider range of potential advisers to get to know the student," the departmental report noted.

In response to student concern that there is a "mismatch" between what is taught in the core courses and what is tested on the qualifying exam, the physics department will now specify for its students the basic, essential concepts of physics at the graduate level. Furthermore, to encourage mentorship and improve faculty-student communication, a core thesis committee will be appointed for each student by the first semester of the third year. Students will meet at least once a year with their committee in a closed session to discuss their progress, and the core committee will review a student's dissertation prospectus both orally and in writing, instead of the current system in which the director of graduate studies posts each prospectus online for the entire faculty to review. The 2-4 Project Report explains that individual meetings with the core thesis committee, in combination with public presentations that the committee attends, will more closely monitor a student's research progress and "provide ample opportunities to determine that a student has a sufficiently broad knowledge of the subfield." To further improve communication, after admission to candidacy every student will get yearly written feedback from his or her adviser which will be reviewed by the core committee.

The Department of Political Science will implement changes this fall designed to enhance faculty/student mentoring, "provide all incoming students with a clearer road map to the study of politics both in the larger discipline and at Yale," help advanced students prepare for the job market and recognize new subfields. The department determined that some basic subjects needed to be added to the curriculum: As of this year, all entering students will be required to take 16 courses, instead of the 14 previously mandated. All first-year students must now take "Introduction to the Study of Politics" and every field that offers regularly comprehensive examinations offers at least one introductory course.

The department will also hold a special session every fall semester for third-year students titled "What Is a Prospectus and How Do I Write One?" Each third-year student will choose a dissertation committee before the end of September. The student and the dissertation committee will convene at least once as a group during the fall semester of the third year to discuss the student's prospectus plans. The intended effect is a smoother, speedier transition from course work to dissertation research.

The self-study undertaken by each department generated an analysis of both strengths and weaknesses, according to Butler, and all graduate students -- not just those in their middle years -- will benefit from the programmatic changes. The overall goal, he says, is to educate "Ph.D.s who are competitive in tough job markets, intellectually resilient and even more fascinated by research and teaching as they begin independent professional life than they were when they entered graduate school."

-- By Gila Reinstein

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