Graduate Family Support Working Group
Charge
A team is needed in order to broadly understand the environment for graduate student families at MIT, and options for ensuring they are appropriately supported within the broader context of priorities identified on the Graduate Student Roadmap.
The team will undergo a discovery process to identify the current state of affairs for graduate familes, catalog programs and policies of support, benchmark our peers, and provide information to senior leadership regarding any changes programmatically or financially that can help address family needs at MIT.
This team’s work supports the ongoing efforts of the Graduate Student Roadmap, as well as the strategic priority of “Serving our graduate students”.
The team will:
- Identify the current state of affairs for graduate student families at MIT
- Catalog current programs and financial support for graduate families
- Benchmark peer institutions
- Share preliminary work and collect input via public forum
- Develop guiding principles for supporting graduate student families
- Assess different options for changes or additions to programs and policies to strengthen our support for graduate families including estimating the associated costs. These should be evaluated within the context of the broader priorities of the Graduate Student Roadmap.
Membership
- Naomi Carton, Associate Dean, Graduate Student Support, Head of House
- Sarah Goodman, GW@MIT
- Greg Harris, Senior Project Manager, IR
- Jessica Landry, Program & Policy Administrator, OGE
- Jo Melville, GSC, Housing & Community Affairs
- Janka Moss, International Student Advisor and Coordinator, ISO
- Prof. Heidi Nepf, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty Grad Officer
- Lauren Pouchak, Director of Special Projects, Office of the Vice Chancellor (chair)
- Judy Robinson, Senior Associate Dean, Residential Education
- Gary Ryan, Senior Associate Director for Financial Aid
- Peter Su, President, GSC
- Ronnie Mae Weiss, Senior Manager, MIT Work-Life Center
- Heather Williams, Assistant Dean, School of Science
- ElDante Winston, House Executive Board, WestGate
Reporting
- Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 will be used to catalog and benchmark.
- Summer 2019 will be used to analyze and provide feedback to senior leadership, and to provide suggested guiding principles.
- This project may take up to a year to catalog, benchmark, conduct analysis, and provide potential changes or additions to how we currently support graduate families.