NEWS

UNC units chosen to participate in Carnegie initiative aimed at improving doctoral education

CHAPEL HILL -- The Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate has selected two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill units to participate in a five-year research and action project aimed at improving doctoral education at U.S. universities.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected 54 units from the disciplines of chemistry, education, English and mathematics for the project.

UNC’s School of Education is one of 10 education units nationwide chosen to serve as a "partner department." Thirty-two partner departments have been selected nationwide to analyze all aspects of their doctoral programs and link specific activities to desired outcomes. They will commit to creating "design experiments" in doctoral education to meet their identified goals.

The UNC department of mathematics, housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of four math departments nationwide chosen to serve as an "allied department." Twenty-two allied departments have been selected nationwide, and they will help form a network in their respective disciplines to help collect and disseminate information about the study.

Dr. Linda Dykstra, dean of the UNC Graduate School, said she was pleased that two UNC graduate programs – mathematics, and the Ph.D. program in the School of Education – have been invited to participate in the prestigious study.

"The Carnegie Initiative selected these programs," she said, "because of their potential to serve as models for transforming graduate education across the country.

"Since the Carnegie Initiative only considered applications from four disciplines this year, we are particularly pleased to have two participating departments on our campus. Clearly, this is a tribute to the commitment these programs have shown for providing the highest quality graduate training for the next generation of leaders and scholars."

Funding for the project is provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Carnegie Foundation. For more information on the study and other participants, click on www.carnegiefoundation.org.

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