On May 11th, 2011 Geography graduate student Kate Deutsch accompanied the dean of the UC Santa Barbara Graduate Division, Gail Morrison, as well as the campus government relations representative and one other graduate student, on a trip to Sacramento to meet with California Legislators during a UC Graduate Research Advocacy day. Two graduate students from each of the ten UC campuses were selected to discuss the impact of their research on California’s economy and vitality and the importance of UC graduate studies with state policy makers. Kate, along with the rest of the UCSB team, met with five legislative offices during this time. She discussed the impact of the research conducted at Geography’s Geotrans Lab in developing computational models of behavior and travel demand, which aids in making policies for sustainable communities and transportation systems.
Kate’s participation in UC Graduate Research Advocacy highlights UCSB’s recommendations to the UC Commission on the Future. In a letter drafted by Geography’s Joel Michaelsen, Chair of the UCSB Academic Senate, the following points concerning graduate education were cited:
UCSB Graduate Council applauds the insights of both the Access and Affordability Subcommittee and the Research subcommittee that Graduate Education is a key component of the UC’s standing as a tier one research institution and that it is essential for California’s knowledge based community; we agree completely with the Funding Strategies committee that the UC needs to put more effort into informing the public about the fundamental role that our research and our role in educating the next generation of researchers plays in generating a healthy economy for the state. We agree 100% with the Access and Affordability subcommittee that excellent graduate students follow the funding, and that graduate funding packages in the UC system are no longer competitive with those of comparable institutions. If we want to hang on to our standing as a tier 1 research institution, indeed, if we want to hang on to our excellent faculty – which are our most important resource — we must make every effort to bring more funding support to our graduate programs.
We would add that a well-funded graduate program is a key component to the quality of undergraduate education in a public research university – thus the Education and Curriculum Subcommittee needs to direct its attention to issues of graduate education and the funding of graduate students: our graduate programs are supported primarily by teaching assistantships and research assistantships, both of which are crucial to the quality of the undergraduate experience and to undergraduates’ abilities to move quickly and smoothly through the pipeline. At the lower division level, graduate student instructors provide the intensive instructional labor that helps to transform UC’s undergraduates into the articulate, creative, critical leaders that our economy and society need. In recent decades the percentage of graduate students on our campuses has fallen relative to the number of undergraduates, and in the past year, especially, funding lines for graduate teaching assistants and research assistants have been cut dramatically – creating chaos in our lower division classrooms and high levels of anger and stress among our undergraduate constituents and their parents. Every dollar invested in graduate teaching assistantships and research assistantships constitutes an inexpensive way of enhancing the quality of undergraduate education right NOW while simultaneously investing in the next generation of innovative researchers and professors. There is no question that graduate education — and not online learning – is the best bet for the future of the UC system.
