UGA Graduate School to fund research on completion rates of doctoral students

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 16, 2004

ATHENS, GA.

The University of Georgia Graduate School has been awarded a $200,000, three-year grant from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) to fund research on completion rates of doctoral students, particularly those among minorities and women.

The funds will be used as part of the CGS Ph.D. Completion project, an initiative aimed at increasing completion of doctoral programs and providing practical models that can be used by graduate schools nationwide to retain graduate students. Attrition from Ph.D. programs across the nation currently averages 20 to 50 percent. The UGA Graduate School will work in conjunction with the University of Florida and North Carolina State University to launch successful interventions for doctoral completion in select science, engineering, math, social sciences and humanities departments within the three schools.

"We are so excited and honored about being selected to receive this grant," said Dr. Maureen Grasso, dean of the UGA Graduate School. "By being able to examine reasons why students do not complete their degrees, we will be able to offer solutions that will help them through an extremely challenging time in their lives. If we can assist them in finishing theft programs, we all benefit from their later contributions to society."

For more information, see <www.phdcompletion.org>.