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Address to the Board of Visitors

Robert E. Davis, Chair Faculty Senate

Let me begin by thanking you for the opportunity to speak with you directly about issues facing the faculty. I very much look forward to working with you this year.

This university is in the process of developing and refining a vision for its future role in American higher education. It is a vision that proffers a unique and highly personalized undergraduate experience at an institution that is simultaneously a major research force in academia. In many ways this vision is the embodiment of what is important in post-graduate education: the merging of exceptional teaching and cutting-edge research.

So as we begin to think about how to implement this vision for the University, it seems appropriate to ask what faculty resources are needed to make certain our ideals are realized. Three areas of critical importance are:

  1. competitive faculty salaries relative to appropriately benchmarked peer institutions,
  2. strong science programs, and
  3. competitive and well-funded graduate programs.

Without question, the primary topic of concern that I hear in talking with faculty across Grounds is the stagnation of faculty salaries and the decline in the level of faculty salary support relative to our peer institutions. I know that you are all aware of this situation, I know that you are concerned, and I know that you are actively working on solutions. We are heartened by your efforts and your attention to this critical issue. As this is essentially an introductory meeting for us, and because my time is limited, today I'd like to spend about five minutes today discussing the latter topic, graduate education.

Throughout the history of this institution, the importance and the role of graduate education has been lost in the ethos of Virginia being a place where a student can have a great undergraduate experience at a University with a number of highly ranked and well-respected professional schools. But the new vision of U.Va. as a growing force in research will certainly not occur without a dedicated effort to recruit top graduate students and to fully fund graduate education. Here, I refer to graduate students as distinct from professional school students. In general, professional school students, like those in law and medicine for example, are primarily consumers of our goods and services. Much like our undergraduates, professional students pay tuition and take classes to gain a credential. This is not meant to disparage professional students in any way--they enrich the lives of many faculty across the university. But their role is fundamentally different from that of a graduate student. Of course graduate students take classes-in most cases, this component accounts for much less than half of their time-but they also teach classes, labs, and discussion sections, they work with undergraduates in research mentorship roles, and they work with faculty on basic research. In fact, I think it's fair to say that without graduate students, most of the research at this institution would languish, and in many cases, our ability to perform competitive research at all would disappear entirely.

Last spring, my predecessor Michael Smith presented you with a detailed report on the status of graduate funding that the Faculty Senate had been working on for several years. In my opinion, it is a clear, coherent, and convincing statement outlining the problems facing graduate education at U.va.

In many cases, the salaries we offer our graduate students are not competitive. Depending on the particular department, we often are not only funding students at lower rates than our peer institutions, but at lower rates than institutions which I'm sure no one at this table would place in a "peer" category. We are competing nationally for these students--this is a much different market than is in play in our undergraduate recruiting efforts.

For many of our competitors, out-of-state graduate students are declared in-state for residency/domiciliary purposes after their first year, resulting in a tremendous savings in tuition. I understand that there are potential legal complications, but solutions need to be sought. It's important that we begin to look at graduate students not as a source of income to the university, but as employees. Our efforts to competitively recruit graduate students is hampered by this problem.

Based on the data we had available, coverage of tuition for graduate teaching and research assistants and a modest increase in stipend support would cost approximately $10 million annually. While this sum is not insignificant, it is a small percentage of the academic operating budget.

As part of the Faculty Senate's efforts to emphasize issues related to graduate education, two years ago we organized a special Faculty Senate Dissertation-Year Fellowship competition.

Often, graduate students complete all of their degree requirements, have well-defined dissertation topics, but because of their other responsibilities (teaching, mentoring, working as research assistants on other projects) they simply lack the time to complete their degrees. Too often, this last hurdle is a major impediment in moving these students through the system.

The Senate's program funded 11 fellowships at approximately $20,000 each to help a select group of students scale this final hurdle. The impetus for this program was provided by Ed Ayers, then new dean of A&S, with substantial support from the Provost, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. The unique aspect of this program was that we identified not only graduate students who were among our brightest young research minds, but also who excelled in the classroom. In many ways, this merging of excellent undergraduate teaching and high quality research is emblematic of this University.

It should be no surprise that these students benefited greatly. We asked them to submit comments about how they used this support and what they accomplished over the course of that academic year. I have two short excerpts to share with you that characterize the responses:

"Over the past year a dissertation-year fellowship has allowed me to devote all of my energy to my research in the area of space-time coding over wireless channels. This is a rapidly growing research area that has drawn the attention of many of the brightest minds in the communications field. As a result, the knowledge base in this area advances at a tremendous rate. I have been able to push the knowledge base forward as opposed to constantly chasing it because of the freedom afforded me by the fellowship. Without the fellowship and the extra time I could therefore commit to my work, my contributions to the research area would be much less significant ...Faculty and graduate teachers are partners in undergraduate education. By awarding dissertation-year fellowships, the Faculty Senate has shown that it is committed to the continued success of this partnership. I hope that in future years this fellowship program will continue to bolster undergraduate education at the University by recognizing graduate students with a passion for teaching." Todd Summers (Electrical Engineering)

"Shortly before the fellowship was advertised, I had been seriously considering dropping out of graduate school. This was partly for financial reasons (there was a time when I was working three jobs in addition to teaching and trying to write my dissertation, and my experience is far from unusual). But it was also out of a deepening, bitter conviction that the University did not seriously value the scholarly and pedagogical work done by its graduate students. The Faculty Senate Fellowship renewed my faith in the University and the larger profession...It not only facilitated my job-search; it also convinced every hiring committee I spoke to that I had been trained in an institution with a rich and strongly supported culture of teaching, a consideration that played no small part in their decision-making. And it convinced me and many of my peers that the academy is indeed a place where decency, idealism, and humane behavior are still possible." James Kim (English)

It was interesting to me how important these fellowships were in helping several of the students gain faculty appointments. But this program also demonstrated, in a very public way, the University of Virginia's commitment to acknowledge excellence in both teaching and graduate research.

I am pleased to report that the Faculty Senate will be continuing the Dissertation-Year Fellowship Program once again this year, with support from the Provost's office, the College of Arts and Sciences, and, a new partner in this program, the Curry School of Education. We are in the process of looking for additional support.

A few minutes ago, I mentioned three major areas: declining levels of faculty financial support, the need for strong science programs, and the importance of broad-based support for graduate education. I will be talking about the sciences at a future meeting. Without strong graduate programs, it will be difficulty to recruit and retain top faculty and impossible to build the sciences.

The good news is that you, the Board of Visitors, are working right now on these very issues. It is extremely heartening to the faculty that the Board is addressing, directly and fundamentally, the core issues that will ultimately determine this University's future and our standing in higher education. It shows that the Board is responsive to major issues facing U.va. and its faculty and I wanted to let you know that the faculty has noticed this and that we appreciate it.

I wish you all the best in your work, and I encourage you to contact me if I can help in any way over the course of the coming year.

Thank you for your time and attention.