Lisa Kaiser is a graduate student in Ohio State’s labor and human resources department. But that is not the only ball she has in the air.Kaiser attends classes, works 50 hours or more a week, is beginning her thesis project, and is in the midst of planning her wedding.”I have to coordinate school, work and an outside life,” Kaiser said. “Most of the time I can do two out of the three well, but when there is added pressure on any one area, I can get stressed out.”Kaiser is one of the thousands of graduate students at OSU, and across the country, who face these kinds of pressures on a daily basis.In August, Jason Altom, a 27-year-old Harvard doctoral candidate and high achiever in Harvard’s chemistry program, buckled under the pressure and committed suicide by swallowing cyanide.Another incident occurred at Wayne State University when troubled doctoral student Wlodzimierz Dedecjus murdered his adviser in December. Dedecjus shot his adviser, professor Andrezj Olbrot, during a final exam Olbrot was administering to his students.”Graduate students can have a very stressful time,” said James Siddens, faculty adviser to the Council of Graduate Students at OSU. “Many juggle school, a dissertation, and a family, possibly with children, all at the same time.”Siddens said student pressures are a concern of the council and of the graduate school.”We are now starting to get a good handle on things,” he said.To better assess graduate problems and improve student life, OSU created the Graduate Quality of University Experience (g-Que) census. G-Que is a survey that determines the quality of the campus environment, both inside and outside the classroom, in order to improve graduate student life. “There are unique challenges to being a graduate student,” said Chuck Clink, director of Counseling and Consultation at OSU. Graduate students are both students and employees of the university, he said. They come back to school at all different ages and can have a difficult time finding social support. They also have to worry about an enormous financial burden.Recently added to the list of stressesearly specialization and the pressure to publish prior to graduation.”I have definitely felt the need to publish,” said Kelly Costner, a fourth year graduate student in OSU’s college of education. “I have been trying to get some things published, but I have not been successful yet as far as any major publications.”Costner said a positive connection with faculty members is another essential, but not always easy.”Graduate school is a very distinctive experience in light of relationships with faculty members,” he said. “It can be a very tricky game to play.”Altom, the Harvard student, left three suicide notes criticizing his adviser and the current system where in most cases, a single faculty adviser determines a graduate student’s fate. He reiterated the request of many others to replace the single-adviser system with a committee.”At OSU, each Ph.D. student now has a committee of three people for the dissertation and four for the candidacy exam,” Siddens said.Kathleen Carberry, the president of the Council for Graduate Students, said students at OSU generally have a positive experience.”I am pleased to see graduate pressures getting the attention they deserve,” she said. “I think OSU has been a good leader with all of the services they offer and especially with the creation of the g-Que survey.”Tracy Paul, a graduate student in the business school, said she has not had any major problems.”In general, the professors in the business school have been extremely helpful and have been available whenever I have needed them.”Kaiser, however, has decided to give her wedding priority and will take next quarter off to plan for it.”It will probably put me behind a little, but it will be hard to work on my thesis project if I want to take my honeymoon in the Bahamas,” she said.