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Graduate Education Committee

ASA Task Force on Graduate Education

REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON GRADUATE EDUCATION 2004

Prepared by George J. Sanchez, Chair (with much help from the notes of Michael Cowan)

The Task Force, despite the illness of its chair, had a successful meeting in Hartford, Connecticut that outlined much of its work for the year. Much of that meeting was taken up by a discussion of the draft statement on Standards in Graduate Education developed and circulated by the ASA Students’ Committee. The Task Force members supported the statement, but have made some revisions based on suggestions by various graduate faculty members who commented on the draft when sent to their campuses. The revised statement (complete with changes from the original noted) is now presented for consideration by the Executive Council of the American Studies Association.

In addition, the Task Force thought the following additions might be considered, but should not delay action on the original proposal:

1) perhaps the statement should include something about the responsibility of programs to inform their students understand the non-academic as well as academic uses of the knowledge and skills they are acquiring;
2) leadership training might be part of the graduate students’ training;
3) the statement currently focuses on student rights. Should it also contain more about student responsibilities (e.g. something parallel to AAUP statements on faculty responsibilities)?

Finally, Task Force members see value in bring together heads of graduate programs, student committee members, and Graduate Task Force members at an ASA convention to discuss the standards and strategies for effectively implementing them.

Secondly, the Task Force co-sponsored with the Student Committee a panel for the 2004 convention in Atlanta on job placement of interdisciplinary program graduates in traditional disciplinary programs, an ever-present issue of concern for Ph.D. students in American Studies and Ethnic Studies. Task Force member T.V. Reed facilitated the forming of this panel (#435). It includes Matt Basso, Department of History, University of Richmond; Kandice Chuh, Department of English, University of Maryland, College Park; and Nicole King, Department of Literature, University of California, San Diego.

Two other discussions were prevalent at the Hartford meeting. There was interest in finding a mechanism that would enable the Task Force to reach graduate students directly and to reach alumni of graduate programs directly, enhancing the ability of the ASA to serve as a conduit of information between programs and present and past graduate students. Many departments and programs, due to thin staffing, are unable to sustain systematic tracking mechanisms and information regarding career paths. Secondly, Task Force members discussed the value of examining systematically the American Studies M.A. Along the same lines, the Task Force felt a need to track M.A. students after graduation, those that move on to Ph.D. programs, professional graduate programs, non-academic careers, etc.

Increasingly, it has become clear that much of the work of the Task Force is continuous and would be better served by a standing committee on Graduate Education that would include Directors of Graduate Programs, both Ph.D. and M.A., as well as representatives of the Student’s Committee and the Committee on American Studies Programs. Given the importance of the graduate programs in American Studies and related interdisciplinary areas training the future generation of members of the profession, it is critical to have a standing committee that continually pays attention to these issues. The Task Force will spend much of its final year putting together a proposal for this standing committee. We ask, therefore, for a winter meeting in early 2005 for the Task Force to meet in Washington D.C. to finalize this plan and meet with ASA staff and selected Directors of Graduate Programs to discuss possible implementation.

The sorts of issues that this standing committee might take on relate to other conversations that the Task Force initiated at the Hartford meeting, but are unlikely to produce outcomes on, given the three-year limitation on task forces. These include:

1) It might be desirable for directors of Ph.D. graduate programs to meet (at a national ASA meeting) with directors of MA programs;
2) Interest in exploring further the relationship of American Studies and Ethnic Studies Ph.D. programs
3) Discussion of the decision of the National Research Council to include American Studies as a field within its ranking system and a wish to become involved in the development of appropriate ranking criteria for American Studies and related programs;
4) Desire to work with M.A. programs on an effort to diversify the graduate student pool;
5) Interest in stressing the importance of diversifying both the faculty and the student body in American Studies, focusing on developing diversity-sensitive recruitment and retention strategies.
6) Interest in facilitating conversations between various constituencies involved in graduate education and codifying what we learn from these conversation;
7) Interest in discussing the “Responsive Ph.D.” proposals and programs being developed by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation;
8) Interest in developing a guide for program directors and/or a graduate directors’ website that could be updated regularly or a listserv for graduate directors;
9) Updating a checklist of things that external reviewers need to look at when reviewing an American Studies or Ethnic Studies graduate program.

As you can see, our desire for action will probably outlast the time we have as members of this Task Force.

Respectfully submitted,

George J. Sanchez
Chair, Task Force on Graduate Education
American Studies Association