Quantcast Miami Student
College Media Network

Miami Student

Grad students voice concern over potential program changes

Catherine Couretas

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Front Page
  • Print
  • Email
Community members showed up before the university senate meeting Monday in support of Miami University students nervous about potential cuts in the graduate program.

With cuts being made across the university due to the university's budget crunch, many graduate students have become concerned with the reallocation of graduate assistantships across departments, according to Trey Orndorff, president of the graduate student association (GSA). Orndorff said one hundred fifty community members showed up Monday in support of graduate students.

Bruce Cochrane, dean of the graduate school, and Provost Jeffrey Herbst, began evaluating programs in the graduate school almost a year ago.

"It's not something me and the provost took on lightly," Cochrane said.

According to Orndorff, an ad-hoc committee was then created to sort out the graduate assistant (GA) reallocation process.

Evaluations by this committee had the university looking at reallocating graduate assistants as well as eliminating several positions, according to Orndorff.

Although there have been no written statements stating GA positions will be cut, Orndorff said it has been brought up verbally in graduate council and budget meetings.

According to Orndorff, the GSA agreed that the most important issue is looking at how cutting graduate assistants will affect undergraduates.

"Graduate students might have to teach larger class sizes," Brown said. "Other faculty are going to have to increase the size of introductory classes. It's going to ultimately decrease the quality of undergraduate education."

Sriram Devenathan, associate vice president of the GSA, agreed.

"The remaining graduate students will have to cover for the cuts," Devenathan said. "This will increase the working load of GAs and TAs (teaching assistants)."

Daniel Doty, benefits chair of the GSA, said that this could also have an effect on attracting faculty to Miami.

"We want faculty that are known and reputable," Doty said. "They won't come here without grad students. Grad students allow for faculty to do research."
Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

Disclaimer: Comments below do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Miami Student

Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4

roy

posted 11/21/08 @ 5:25 AM EST

"Faculty won't come here without graduate students"? Great news, because we don't want those kind of faculty to further degrade the priority, emphasis and quality of undergraduate education in the classroom. (Continued…)

zak

posted 11/21/08 @ 6:07 AM EST

Faculty are too busy to write recommendation letters for undergraduate students, so they have grad students write them instead?? If faculty are too busy or too important to do that, then they should refuse to allow their pay to be contaminated by any tuition dollars paid by our undergrads. (Continued…)

let me shirk

posted 11/21/08 @ 8:11 AM EST

But we can't pretend to be more like Ohio State if we don't have graduate programs.

Who do MY teaching if we don't have grad assistants?

How can I get away with teaching only 1 undergraduate class a semester if we don't have graduate students?

Who will program my clicker?

Who will do my Powerpont slides?

And most important of all, how can I play the Hodge-Herbst Miami game--you know, where we pretend to care about undergraduate education (snicker, snicker)--if I have to take extra time and mess with undergraduates?

You would think that undergraduates foot most of the bills around here. (Continued…)

Miami Jack

posted 11/21/08 @ 8:37 AM EST

To "let me shirk": There are seminars available on campus to teach faculty how to program their own auditorium-classroom clickers and how to prepare their own powerpoint slides, and they're conducted by scores of dedicated Miami personnel. (Continued…)

Post a Comment

  • NOTE: Email address will not be published

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Advertisement

Attention Photoshoppers! The Miami Student is looking for a Photo Editor. Must have strong organizational skills and good knowledge of Photoshop. E-mail Erin at maherem@muohio.edu for more information.


    Get this widget!

    Poll

    What's your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?
    Submit Vote

    View Results

    View the crossword puzzle

    Advertisement

    - Video: Miami Television News is at it again. Watch their latest report, episode 3 part 1 and part 2.

    - Photos: Students scribbled 'Love' on their arms last Friday to support Click the link to view a slideshow.

    - Hey! Read This! Is globalization good or bad for smaller countries? You be the judge. readthistoo.wordpress.com

    - New Blog: Campus editor Hannah Poturalski has a little problem...she's obsessed with movies. Check out her movie blog where she reviews movies, new and old. One Chick's Search for Flicks.

    Planning to take your laptop home over the holidays? There is a safe way to be online wirelessly from anywhere. It's called VPN or Virtual Private Network. VPN also gives you access to your Miami M:drive from anywhere. Read the article to stay safe over the break.

    Podcast
    View our current print edition
    Print Edition PDF
    Blogs
    DK Kountry Dan Kukla's blog on news from the Miami gridiron in his sports blog. One Chick's Search for Flicks Campus editor Hannah Poturalski has a little problem...she's obsessed with movies. Check out her movie blog where she reviews movies, new and old.
    Whimsies of a Hopeful Foodie McKenzie Graham loves to cook, and so should you! Chai Tea has never been so easy to make. Fun and easy recipes for the college student.
    Hey! Read this! Andy Sinclair talks about politics and tries to burst the "Miami Bubble."
    Brett's Review Read Brett Bergman's blog for TV show reviews.
    Fashionably Forward Read up on fashion tips and events around campus in Amy Booker's new blog, Fashionably Forward.