A Ph.D. Fellowship Program at Iowa

In 1968, the University of Iowa started a doctoral fellowship program named Teaching-Rese rch Fel lowships in those exuberant days of optimism and financial support for graduate education. Generally around the nation, in government, in business and in dustry, and in higher education the market for Ph.D.s was good, and only Allan Cartter and a few other Cassandras were prophesying gloom and the decline of the Ph.D. market. Times have changed with breath taking rapidity. Confrontations and demonstrations on campuses led to a wave of citizen reaction to the universities. Under pressure to reduce expenditures and to curb inflation, the federal government cut back sharply on programs, especially in education, in support for doctoral students. State legislatures followed with stringent hold the line allocations to universities. The economy suffered a recession,, unemployment reached threatening propor tions, openings for Ph.D.s diminished. The times made Allan Cartter's predictions of oversupply of Ph.D.s seem conservative and tardy by several years. Under the earlier circumstances in 1968 the new Teaching-Research Fellowship program at Iowa began with an allocation of one-third million dollars, expecting to increase to nearly a million dollars. This objective has been trimmed and readjusted to a modest annual budget of $300,000. Despite other strong competing program needs, the decision at the end of a careful recent review of the Teaching-Research Fellowship pro gram is to hold the line and maintain support for high quality Ph.D. students. Recognition that only a limited number of Ph.D.s can be placed in today's market is not a sufficient argument for dismantling a quality doc toral program. Since its beginning, 204 fellows have been appointed to the University of Iowa Teaching-Research Fellow ship program. It was initiated in order to meet the fol lowing objectives: Improve the ability of departments to recruit first rate doctoral students. By continuous support, speed the completion of the degree. By using these fellows as teaching assistants, add higher quality performance to undergraduate teaching. By assignment both in research assistance and teach ing improve the education of doctoral students and strengthen the sense of unity between teaching and research in the role of the scholar. Through involvement in the work of the department, contribute to the student's maturity as a scholar and to his identity with his profession. Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to applicants to 31 of the 54 departments in the Graduate College offering the Ph.D. Currently, one or two new fellows are appointed in each department each year. The fellow must be new to the Graduate College, though he may be a transfer from another graduate school or a holder of a bachelor's degree who is beginning his graduate education. Fellowships provide year round sup port for as many as four years. They interlock with appointments as a research assistant and as a teaching assistant for three of the four years. Involvement in these assistantship roles is viewed as an essential part of the doctoral learning experience. Usually the depart ments assign the fellow to research assistance for one year and to teaching for two years, though the pattern is variable. Summers and the dissertation year are given full financial support, free from the departmental as signments. The program was recently reviewed to see whether the original objectives were being met. A questionnaire was sent to all students who had held fellowships a minimum of two years. Departmental chairmen and faculty closely involved with the fellows were inter viewed. Results of the review and recommendations have been distributed to the departments in preparation for the activities of the fall semester. Full details in the report distributed to the departments are available on request. The results of the survey are favorable and con vincing. Admission GPA and GRE scores for all fellows were compared with other graduate students admitted to the departments. Higher GPA at time of admission and higher GRE scores, with the exception of only a few departments, show that the fellowships bring su perior students into the departments. In addition, the students responded that in six out of ten cases they would not have come to the University of Iowa or would have had to delay graduate study without the fellowship award.