Collegiate Times

I am a doctoral student in family therapy with research interests in community capacity building and civic engagement.

My past three years at Virginia Tech have introduced me to a vibrant community and a special program called Transformative Graduate Education, and have also continuously inspired my commitment to service. As an engaged citizen scholar, Tech continues to nurture and engage me in personal and professional capacities. All of us involved in higher education, both students and administration, are facing challenges, some of which are beyond the scope of our current resources.

However, I believe as citizens of this land-grant institution, we can harness our relations, better connect our resources and mutually affirm our strengths as a community to solve the challenges of 21st century higher education.

As our university continues the global expansion of higher education, the graduate community will usher in a new era of learning through interdisciplinary education.

Interdisciplinary education provides the graduate school a competitive edge in bringing brighter students and better funding opportunities.

Graduate school dean Karen DePauw, in collaboration with students and faculty from across the university, leads the effort to increase Tech’s capacity for interdisciplinary education.

This attitude of collaborative learning reinvents pedagogy and affirms our identity as a 21st century university, one that must achieve a flexible system of adaptive learning to invent the future in a competitive global market.

This advancement in graduate education is another testament to our commitment to deliver quality education.

As the leaders of this university, we look forward to your active support and guidance to achieve these goals.As we grow globally, our populations within the state continue to grow in diversity. For example, we have more full-time graduate students in our National Capital Region this year than ever before.

Our graduate population welcomes several non-traditional graduate students — returning professionals, students with family — increasing the diversity of life experience, student relationships and age.

To better serve the needs of our constituency, graduate students continue to work on child care issues and graduate living options. Such amenities increase our chances of recruiting competitive talent into our colleges and also increase the chances of retaining the students that enroll.Graduate students are increasingly concerned about the rate of change in the capital fee they pay every semester.

While the comprehensive fee from the university has remained more or less the same, with an increase of only $8, the capital fees from the state have increased to $284 from $85 in 2008.

With a freeze on salaries and a rise in out-of-pocket expenses, it would be effective if the fee can be prevented from increasing any further.

Graduate students have been proactive in their efforts to understand the fees and have conducted education sessions to help the constituency better understand the fee structure.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 10 issue of the Collegiate Times.