The subcommittee was given two charges this year.  The first was to keep abreast of changes that might occur in the recruitment of international students following September 11th.  The second was to give advice on how the University could centrally assist the schools and departments with recruitment.  The committee met in December and in March.  This report includes items considered by the committee as well as other activities started this year by Graduate Studies, Office of the Provost, in the area of recruitment.

I.    International Students

Elizabeth Baranger reported at the March meeting that an informal poll of admission staff in various schools indicated that they could see no decline in numbers of applicants.  Members of the committee also reported no knowledge of a decline.  David Clubb, Director of the Office of International Services, reports that as of April 15 his office has seen no decline in applications.  He also expects no added difficulty for students to get visas.  The main effect will be after they arrive.  The Office of International Services will have additional reporting requirements.  It is working with CSSD to get better computing programs to enable them to do the required reporting.

II.  Centralized Assistance for Recruiting

a. Design and production of brochure directed at graduate students to highlight the advantages of living in the city of Pittsburgh.  This will be printed in large numbers (35,000) and distributed to units at no charge.  The design was shared with the committee at its meeting in March.  All agreed that it was a good brochure and would be very useful for the various schools to use in the recruitment of graduate students.  In late March Graduate Studies convened a focus group of graduate students, who made helpful suggestions as to the organization of material and the choice of pictures.  This is a joint project of Graduate Studies and University Marketing and Communications.

b. Improvement of Graduate Studies web site.  At its December meeting the Committee discussed the architecture of the site and made suggestions.  The redesigned site, a joint project of Graduate Studies and University Marketing and Communications, should be active in May.

c. Finding the Graduate Program That’s Right for You.  Graduate Studies is currently updating this very useful brochure, with the assistance of all schools and departments with graduate programs.  A web version will be designed at the same time.

d. Graduate Education Information Forum, hosted by the Graduate and Professional Admissions and Recruitment Committee (GPARC).  On May 8th GPARC will host a forum to which they have invited undergraduate advisors and career counselors from four-year colleges and universities in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Representatives from our professional and graduate schools will be present to talk to those attending and to supply information about our programs.  The event will be postponed until the fall due to a lack of registrants.

e. On-line applications.  The attached table showing how many students are using the current on-line applications in the various schools was distributed at the March meeting. The University is currently signing a new contract with ApplyYourself that sets prices for various modules.  The Provost will pay the annual service fee for the basic application module for all schools using ApplyYourself.  Additional services, such as on-line letters of recommendation, can be purchased by each school.

f. Increase in endowment funding for fellowships and financial aid.  Institutional Advancement is currently working with schools to highlight the solicitation of funding for graduate fellowships from prospective donors.
 

III.  Salaries of Teaching Assistantships

Science departments have reported that our TA salaries are low in comparison to their competitors.  Comparison with peers by the Office of the Provost does seem to indicate that we are low in the sciences and engineering, in contrast with the social sciences and humanities.  We are one of the few major institutions that have uniform salaries across all disciplines.  The Committee discussed this at their March meeting and was very sympathetic to this problem.  All agreed that we need to make it possible for science departments to compete.  They suggested that extra support might come in the form of guaranteed three terms of support.  The summer salary would be paid by research grants in most cases, minimizing the cost to the school. There was no suggestion that the policy of uniform salaries across disciplines be changed.