The unfortunate result of opting for that status quo would be chronic dissatisfaction that frustrates serious attention to the things we are in a position to do best, including graduate studies. In saying this, however, I have to express some puzzlement that many at Memorial assert the need for graduate studies to expand as a seemingly a priori truth. I would like to examine the foundation of this conviction, determine what drives the passion and identify the circumstances in which the judgment is sound. I want, though, to avoid groundless hubris or longing to emulate those large-sized universities, the likes of which Newfoundland and Labrador will never be able to sustain during my lifetime. Before explaining my own convictions, I should pause over another matter of definition.
Graduate studies are academic programs.
A school of graduate studies is an administrative device for facilitating these programs in various ways, attending to such necessary functions as admission, financial aid, counselling and testing. Or it is at least this. When the present Dean of Graduate Studies agreed to be considered for the job he articulated a more ambitious vision. The SGS should provide the meeting place for the best and most dedicated researchers and scholars at Memorial and the best and brightest apprentice scholars and professionals. . . . It should also be a place where the University's role in the national debates about Research and Development and Science and Technology is discussed and defined.