Dear Vanderbilt PhD Students:

As this academic year concludes, I am pleased to share a number of improvements that my team, the graduate program deans, and Provost C. Cybele Raver are implementing to support you and advance your extraordinary research and scholarship. We identified and prioritized the implementation of these enhancements as a result of conversations, suggestions and feedback with PhD students and faculty.

Financial Enhancements

• Increased stipends
  Your academic deans increased doctoral stipends for academic year 2022-2023 by 3-5%.
• A regalia reimbursement of $200 was issued for students with degree conferrals in Spring 2022
  If you did not receive a $200 credit via direct deposit over the last week and you are participating in graduation on May 13, please email gs_commencement@vanderbilt.edu to request the necessary paperwork to receive this financial support designed to celebrate your accomplishment.

• New! Launching Student Success Stipend for incoming PhD students
  Beginning this July, newly enrolled PhD students will receive a one-time stipend of $2,000 to help them prepare for the upcoming academic year. The Graduate School, Provost’s Office, and the Schools and Colleges are pleased to collaborate on providing this new Launching Student Success Stipend.
• Vanderbilt Awards for Doctoral Advancement (VADA)
  Beginning this April, schools and colleges with PhD programs received funding from the Provost and the Graduate School to support doctoral student research and travel. Together, we provided funds to assist more than 235 students to advance their research by attending conferences, visiting labs for training, or doing fieldwork.
• New! Graduate School Honors Fellowship coming in two lump-sum payments
  The Graduate School Honors Fellowships (“Topping Awards”) will be paid out at the start of each semester to PhD students, thereby giving increased flexibility for you to use those funds when needed and in whatever way is most helpful for your training.
• Endowed Awards for PhD Students
  In Spring 2022, 20 students across the university were recognized for their outstanding research and received over $90,000 of endowed scholarship funding.

Support, Funding, and External Grant and Workshop Opportunities

• Grant Proposal Training
  To ensure graduate students know the best ways to apply for and win prestigious grants, PhD students can join a series of three grant writing trainings offered in partnership with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The series will launch in May 2022 and will continue through the summer and fall.
• New! NCFDD Summer 2022 WriteNow Access Sponsorship
  The Graduate School is sponsoring 36 PhD students to participate in a writing boot camp this summer. Led by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) program, this training provides 12 weeks of accountability and productivity tracking to help PhD students establish daily writing habits.
• National Humanities Center 2022 Virtual Summer Residency
  The Graduate School, in partnership with the Center for Teaching, is sponsoring student participation in the NHC’s Virtual Summer Residency: Meaningful Teaching and Learning in the Humanities Classroom. This one-week, virtual residency will model best practices for teaching in the humanities classroom, with a focus on effective instructional strategies.
• New! National Institute of Social Sciences (NISS) Dissertation Grants Program This spring, the Graduate School selected 3 PhD students to advance to the national competition for a NISS dissertation grant.
• Dissertation Enhancement Grants
  We are accepting applications for Fall 2022 Dissertation Enhancement grants (activities between July 1, 2022 and January 31, 2023), awards of up to $2,000 for research expenses related to a student’s doctoral thesis. Grants are designed for PhD students with outstanding potential to accelerate progress on their research, adding depth or breadth to their dissertation. Application deadline is Sunday, May 22 at 4 p.m.
• SEC Emerging Scholars
  This summer, the Graduate School will select a cohort of 5 PhD students and postdocs to participate in a career development program designed to prepare scholars for tenured faculty positions in higher education within the Southeastern Conference.

Graduate Community Enhancements

• New! Mentoring Awards
  Please join me in congratulating Bruce Compas, Kelly Oliver, and Meike Werner for being selected as the inaugural recipients of the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Awards. This new award recognizes the vital role mentorship plays in student success and encourages faculty and doctoral students to develop strong and supportive mentoring relationships.
• New! Department and Student Connections
  The Graduate Student Council and the Graduate School are collaborating to provide funding for departments to go toward hosting a dinner or providing refreshments for doctoral students to foster community and belonging.

Partnerships to Support Graduate Students

• Student Care Network Supports
  A number of additional support mechanisms were implemented by the Office of the Dean of students to promote student wellbeing:
  • The Dean of Students in partnership with the Faculty Senate developed a new training for faculty and staff regarding support for student mental health.
  • Drop-in consultation hours at the University Counseling Center were expanded for graduate and professional students.
  • The Student Care Assistance Program through the Office of Student Care Coordination (OSCC) was expanded to support graduate students with medical costs.
  • The Student Care Network offered expanded telehealth options, including physical and behavioral health, as well as nutrition and lactation consultations.

• Enhanced Programming for Career Development
  In partnership with Vanderbilt’s Career Center, we created fall and spring colloquia focused on career development specific to doctoral students. Additionally, we co-sponsored the first Graduate Career Closet to provide interview-ready attire to students preparing for the job search. This partnership will continue to grow with the arrival of the new associate provost and senior director of the career center.
• Tracking PhD Placements
  To track and celebrate departments’ and programs’ success in placing PhD students in academic and leadership roles requiring their doctoral degree, we invested in innovative university-wide longitudinal tracking of Vanderbilt PhD alumni using data from Academic Analytics. This investment allows us to support Schools, departments, and programs in tracking Vanderbilt PhDs in their job placements for the last 10 years and moving forward. This effort is central to our collective success in meeting our institutional objective of recruiting the best scholars and supporting their career trajectories in top positions across top-tier institutions of higher education as well as the public and private sectors.
• Clarifying the VU/VUMC dual identity process
  We have created a new website for students connected to both Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to outline the process of requesting dual identity and systems access.

I am honored to support your research, scholarship, and professional development in a place that actively seeks opportunities to continuously improve the experience and outcomes of all students. We continue to look for and implement improvements even as we celebrate this year of first steps toward enhanced doctoral education.

If you have ideas for future enhancements, please continue to share them with me or with your program Chair or Director of Graduate Studies.

Sincerely,

André Christie-Mizell
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Dean of the Graduate School
Centennial Professor of Sociology