Ad Hoc Graduate School Committee
This committee reviewed a set of questions arising from the provost’s decision in May 2012 to move responsibility for allocating graduate stipends from the Graduate School to the colleges. The decision to decentralize stipend allocations is one of several steps in recent years that have been designed to elevate graduate studies at Notre Dame.
While the committee was asked to carefully think through all the issues that touch upon this budgeting change, it focused on five in particular: (1) how to handle those stipends that are competitively awarded and centrally funded, such as the Presidential and Notebaert fellowships; (2) which, if any, responsibilities of the Graduate School other than the awarding of stipends should be decentralized; (3) how best to assure the continued strengthening of graduate programs through the new shared funding and governance model as well as via incentives and accountability; (4) how to ensure coordination and consistency in graduate student support in areas requiring coordination, such as the funding of health insurance; and (5) what, if any, changes are appropriate in the staffing and structure of the Graduate School and colleges as a result of these changes.