As a graduate student in the English department specializing in nature poetry of the Victorian period and the early 20th-century, Isaac Cates often does research that overlaps into the sciences. He'd love to talk to a graduate student in the sciences whose academic work focuses on the influence of Charles Darwin.
Donnasue Graesser, a graduate student in immunology, is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys woodland hiking or rock-climbing excursions on Connecticut's many peaks. She is always seeking other graduate students who share her interests.
The new McDougal Graduate Student Center, both students say, is just the place to lead them to the people they are searching for. In fact, McDougal Center director Lisa Brandes recently told Ms. Graesser about a graduate student in physics who was interested in forming an Outing Club for graduate students. On Oct. 24, the same day that the McDougal Center marked its formal opening, the Outing Club held its first meeting there.
Providing opportunities for students from the Graduate School to meet and join together informally or through formal programs and events was the primary goal of Alfred McDougal '53 and his wife, Nancy Lauter, whose gift funded the renovation of space in the Hall of Graduate Studies for the center and endowed the position of center director. In addition, their gift supports ongoing programming at the center.
"The opening of the McDougal Center is an exciting eventfor all of us in the Graduate School," says its dean, Thomas Appelquist. "The generosity of Fred McDougal and Nancy Lauter, and the dedication of so many students, faculty and staff, have provided us with a center that will play an important role in the lives of graduate students for years to come."
Enhancing graduate student life
Mr. McDougal says he made his gift to allow graduate students, most of whom live off-campus, to have some of the same opportunities afforded to undergraduates through the residential college system.
"I have been greatly enriched by my undergraduate experience at Yale," he says. "But as I talked to graduate students at a number of campuses, I realized how isolated -- and even lonely -- the world of graduate students can be. The graduate years are a time when students pursue a more narrow specialization, but a student of French literature, for example, doesn't cease to be someone who loves to play the cello or soccer or have career concerns. I sensed a real possibility and a need at the University to create a center that could support graduate students in the variety of endeavors that encourage them to be the well-rounded people they are."
At the newly completed center, graduate students can participate in activities ranging from attending talks by visiting speakers, watching films, holding meetings, participating in career workshops, celebrating cultural holidays or simply catching breaks between classes. According to Andrew Moore, associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, administrators at the school had long been discussing possibilities for such a center, but Mr. McDougal's "generous gift made that goal a reality for us."
Of particular interest to Mr. McDougal and Graduate School administrators was to provide a space where students could pursue their varied intellectual interests. Even before all of the finishing touches were made to the renovated space, graduate students from across the campus gathered at the center for such events as a conference exploring the topic sociology and public life, a forum on "Language Teaching and the Academic Job Market," weekly Bible study sessions, and a festival featuring song and dance, native foods and karaoke sponsored by the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Yale.
The space
As a member of the McDougal Center Planning Group -- a committee of graduate students, administrators, alumni and faculty members -- Dean Moore helped oversee the construction aspects of the project. Several offices in the Hall of Graduate Studies, including the offices of the registrar and admissions, were relocated to make space for the center.
The space is designed to meet what the many graduate students serving on the planning committee said were their three greatest needs: career advice and planning, a teacher training program and a space in which to hold social, intellectual and cultural events, according to psychology professor Peter Salovey, who chaired the planning group.
On the first floor-level of the new center are the administrative offices, including those of Ms. Brandes and Gene Policelli, who was recently named director of Graduate Career Services at the McDougal Center. Also on the first floor is the Program Room with a mobile stage and state-of-the art video and sound projection equipment; a service area with a copy machine, a "take-one, leave-one" book library and information kiosk; a computer cluster with Macintosh computers and PC's as well as a laser printer; and a large Common Room, which will feature a student buttery serving coffee and light food. The room is furnished with couches and chairs, a television, a supply of up-to-date newspapers and general-interest magazines, and internet ports for laptop computer hookup. An office on the first floor is also reserved for the yet-to-be hired director of the Graduate School's programs in teacher training. That person is expected to be hired in the coming year.
The 70-year-old Common Room, which was primarily used by dormitory students in the Hall of Graduate Studies, has been restored to its "former glory," says Dean Moore. In fact, this summer, a colorful, intricately painted mosaic ceiling depicting the history of Western civilization was "rediscovered" as the Common Room was being restored by interior renovators from John Canning & Co., Ltd. The ceiling is believed to have been created under the supervision of architect and artist James Gambel Rogers, who designed a number of interior art works at the University, including some in Sterling Memorial Library.
"Over many years' use of the room, the ceiling and the stonework in this magnificent room became covered with smoke and grime from the fireplace and student parties, and it wasn't until the ceiling was being cleaned that anyone noticed the wonderful artwork on it," explains Dean Moore. The ceiling has served as a conversation piece uniting the graduate students who enter the center, says Ms. Brandes, adding, "Everyone is awestruck when they see how beautiful this room has become."
The basement level of the McDougal Center houses the Resource Library for Fellowships, Careers and Teaching; the office for the peer-teaching program called Working at Teaching; several offices which can be used by teaching fellows to hold their meetings; a room where graduate student organizations can meet and store files; an office for the Assembly of Graduate Students; and a locker area.
A resource and service center
The McDougal Center's goal is to support the academic mission of the Graduate School through intellectual, cultural and social activities, while also serving as a resource in the areas of professional development, teacher training and fellowships. "For the first time ever, graduate students have a centrally located place of their own, where they can just sit and chat, use the pay phone, make copies, check their e-mail or a web site on the computer, explore fellowship or career options, or hold meetings and other events," explains Ms. Brandes, who earned her Ph.D. in political science at the University in 1994. "It's almost like one-stop shopping."
Many graduate students are excited to have their own lounge area and a cafe. "I think the lounge and cafe concept are great because it can be a place to just come and hang out and meet people from other departments, which has been difficult to do without a gathering place for graduate students," says Stacey Irizarry, a third-year student in pharmacology. "I look forward to meeting people from entirely different fields, such as history, for example."
Ms. Brandes says students have also praised the new center for its potential to create a sense of community among graduate students. "Graduate students are here for as many as six years, and so for most of them, it's important to have a life beyond their own disciplines. I really went out of my way to take advantage of the rich offerings on campus, but I know from my own experience that for many graduate students, Yale can be a seemingly difficult place to navigate without some support or readily available resources."
McDougal Fellows
Ms. Graesser, along with Mr. Cates, is one of four newly appointed McDougal Fellows, who receive an honorarium to initiate and plan programs and events at the center. They and the two other fellows -- Alex Yang, a graduate student in the French department, and Darlene Gabeau, an M.D./Ph.D. student in neuroscience -- have been soliciting suggestions from other graduate students about the programs they'd be most interested in. Mr. Cates has already organized "McDougal Movies on the Big Screen," weekly Friday and Sunday night showings of popular films, and is making plans for a series of informal monthly presentations in which graduate students can share their research with their peers in other departments.
"I think the McDougal Center can help give graduate students a sense of the academy as a whole and the connections between the practices of different disciplines," says Mr. Cates. "Informal student presentations are a nice way for us to be able to talk about our work with other students without feeling that we're putting our ego on the line, but instead can just learn from each other."
Ms. Gabeau is attempting to create a more formal channel through which graduate students can volunteer in community service projects in New Haven. She and Ms. Brandes are working with Dwight Hall and Yale's Office of New Haven Affairs to help the center become a resource for such volunteer opportunities.
As the McDougal Fellows' e-mail lists of graduate students from across the campus grow, so do the number of suggestions they receive for possible programs and events at the center, says Ms. Graesser. "We're really hearing a lot from other students, who are excited about the opportunities the center creates for us that we wouldn't otherwise have had."
Student enthusiasm, coupled with the staff's eagerness to try out many student suggestions, has made the McDougal Center a "very welcoming place," says Professor Salovey.
Although Mr. McDougal was very impressed with the physical attributes of the new center when he saw it in its completed state during a dedication ceremony on Oct. 25, the alumnus says he is even more gratified by graduate students' enthusiasm and their acknowledgment of the center's many possibilities.
"I've always felt that it isn't the space that makes for a student center but the spirit behind it," he says. "Already I've seen a lot happening in the new center, and it's that spirit, I believe, that can make possible a whole new dimension of life for graduate students."
Further information on the center and a calendar of events taking place there are available at the center's website at www.yale.edu/mcdougal.
-- By Susan Gonzalez