CSULB
Graduate program revamped by Senate
Academics:
The CSULB graduate program has been getting
progressively smaller. The administration
wished to reverse that trend.
By
Mari Shinkai
On-line Forty-Niner
The
number of graduate students has remained
unchanged at Cal State Long Beach for the
past 10 years and the problem has been finally
recognized as a campus-wide issue this year.
The
Academic Senate devoted a significant portion
of the agenda for their annual Academic
Senate Retreat this year to discussing graduate
studies.
"The
main purpose of our senate retreat was to
enlarge the proportion of graduate students
and to increase the awareness of the graduate
programs," said Wayne Dick, chair of
the Academic Senate and professor of computer
science. "We'd like to create a 'graduate
culture' at CSULB."
Traditionally,
there is a tendency for CSULB to focus more
on undergraduate programs rather than graduate
programs.
"But,
the realization has come in at a higher
level that graduate programs and graduate
students are very important and are core
of the mission of the university,"
chair of Graduate Council, Praveen Soni
said.
According
to Armando Contreras, executive assistant
to President Maxson, the Senate is interested
in studying the amount of graduate students
on campus in order to address issues such
as the size of the graduate studies program
in comparison to the undergraduate program.
Contreras said the Senate would also like
to develop a "graduate culture"
on campus to support and enhance the experience
of graduate students and held faculty to
teach them.
CSULB
provides a breadth of graduate offerings
and 66 master's degrees and a joint doctoral
degree. However, the number of graduate
students has been getting progressively
smaller because of many reasons.
"CSULB
currently has over 3,600 graduate students
who make up approximately 10 percent of
the total student population," said
Simon Kim, advisor for the graduate program
of College of Education. "While the
number of undergraduate students has increased
steadily, the number of graduate students
has remained unchanged for the past 10 years."
Dick
said he sees this number as "too small."
Kim
said that the implementation of a highly
selective admission process and a lack of
resources to support the mission of graduate
programs are the "obvious reasons"
for a limited growth in graduate education.
Wayne
Dick also mentioned another reason for the
tendency. "What happened about 10 years
ago is that the ability to restrict graduate
enrollment was granted to the departments
on a department basis," he said. "At
graduate levels, we could turn anybody down
who applied. Eventually, the graduate population
had shrunk to the point of 10.7 percent."
Barzan
Pourjamasb, senior chemical engineer major,
said he is planning to go to graduate school,
however, he is not satisfied with the current
CSULB services in the engineering department.
"I want to go to graduate school to
get a better education," he said. "But,
the politics in each department are hurting
students."
"These
politics should put aside," he said.
Pourjamasb said he believes that "a
better environment for graduate students
can help students to concentrate just on
their studies."
"The
solutions are hard to come by because of
the budget situation and fiscal crisis here,"
Soni said. "We want to make people
and the community aware that our campus
offers wonderful graduate programs for students
at this university."
"One
main thing that should be done," he
said, is "the marketing of the graduate
programs to the local community and the
community at large."
Besides,
according to Dick, the library will be getting
a new building for graduate students called
the Graduate Learning Center, which is part
of the creation of the "graduate culture"
on campus.
"I
just want all graduate students to feel
the 'beach pride' and feel as comfortable
as most of the undergraduate students do,"
Dick said.
John
Page, a senior chemical engineer major,
said that it is important for the university
to make students come back for graduate
programs and gave reasons for it.
"I
hope it will work out," Page said.
"If there will be developed and better
[graduate] programs, I'd be willing to come
back."
"One
of the nicest things about a master's degree
is that you can come back," Dick said.
"Just take a few moments to think about
graduate programs. Isn't it a great idea
for your future?"
"But,
the realization has come in at a higher
level that graduate programs and graduate
students are very important and are core
of the mission of the university."
-- Praveen Soni,
of Graduate Council
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