Council of Graduate Students and the Graduate School at Ohio State are forming a committee

The Council of Graduate Students and the Graduate School at Ohio State are forming a committee to review the quality of life for graduate students at OSU.’We’re not looking for major problems to overhaul,’ said Susan L. Huntington, dean of the graduate school. The graduate committee on the Quality of the University Experience will be broken into three subcommittees: the professional development and employment subcommittee; the policy, governance, and advocacy subcommittee; and the student services subcommittee. Each subcommittee will consist of four graduate students and four faculty members. The committee will conduct a survey of graduate students put together by the council and the responses will be translated into recommendations, said Kathleen Carberry, vice president of the council. ‘We also hope to use the people serving on the committee as a resource to make recommendations for improving the quality of life,’ Carberry said. Huntington said the committee’s results will be helpful because it is the graduate school’s responsibility to ensure its students have a good overall experience. Kathy Gordon, a graduate student in higher education, said she thinks the committee is a good idea because such a committee hasn’t been formed before.’I’m glad students will be on the committee to provide input from their perspective,’ Gordon said.Denise Ferguson, a graduate student in black studies, said all institutions should have a committee to review their function and purpose. ‘OSU especially needs the committee because it’s so large,’ she said.Carberry said the council’s members decided to form the committee because of the success of the Committee on the Undergraduate Experience in 1995. ‘We saw how successful it was for undergraduates,’ Carberry said. ‘We think graduate students have special needs that the Committee on the Undergraduate Experience couldn’t address.’Huntington said the committee should have recommendations during the 1996-98 school year. Interested graduate students should contact the Council of Graduate Students at 292-4380.