For the first time this summer, graduate students will have the opportunity to partake in the Stanford Graduate Student Institute, a program established to better prepare them for diverse careers after they leave Stanford. Part of a bigger push led by President John Hennessy to enhance graduate education, the program will offer three options in business, design and genetics for attendees to explore areas beyond their concentrations.

The idea for the initiative was conceived as early as late 2004, when Hennessy formed the Commission on Graduate Education and charged them with the task of exploring ways to enhance the graduate experience to tailor to the range of careers in the future. The commission was co-chaired by Yahoo! Founders Mark Horowitz, a professor at the School of Engineering, and Chuck Holloway, a professor emeritus from the Graduate School of Business.

At the end of last year, the commission released its report with a focus on encouraging intellectual innovation and developing opportunities for cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning. One specific recommendation was to develop a cross-disciplinary summer program modeled on Sophomore College. According to Horowitz, this is where the idea for the summer institute originated.

The three programs offered this year include the Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship at the GSB, Adventures in Design Thinking offered by the Design School and Frontiers in Genetics from the Department of Genetics. According to Tom Federico, a staff member at the GSB who has been charged with marketing the institute, this is the first tangible product of the commission’s report.

“Stanford is in a unique position to do something like this because there are so many well-renowned schools on one campus,” Federico said.

In the program offered by the GSB, students will learn basic business concepts such as accounting, finance, marketing and management and why they are important. According to Dan Rudolph, senior associate dean for operations at the GSB and administrator of the summer program, the commission’s report found that an increasing number of graduate students plan to go into business after graduating.

Therefore, training in entrepreneurship would be beneficial, if not pivotal. Additionally, students will be able to explore the business ambitions they already may have.

“In the application, each student was to talk about an entrepreneurial idea they had,” Rudolph said. “They will be given the opportunity to further explore that idea during the four week program.”

Terry Seelig, executive director of the Stanford Ventures Design Program and one of the organizers of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, anticipates that this will be a unique and fun experience for students exposed to a different way of thinking.

“I see this program as an opportunity to bring together graduate students from across campus to work together on projects that stretch one’s imagination,” Seelig said. “We will teach and use many of the tools that students are exposed to in the design school courses. Essentially, this is a week-long summer camp for graduate students who are interested in experiencing the joy of design thinking.”

In the genetics program, students will study mechanisms for information flow between generations and how it changes over time in biological systems. They will also explore the implications of related research and current challenges. According to Andrew Fire, professor of pathology and of genetics and coordinator for the program, this knowledge can be applied to various areas outside of biology.

“This is one of the central areas of biology, and such knowledge will be especially useful for students who want to interface their studies with genetics,” Fire said. “Furthermore, ways of thinking in biology can be applied to other areas. For example, genetics algorithms have been used in the computer sciences.”

According to Federico, response from graduate students has been very positive.

“They are excited to have this opportunity to get out and try something new, which they often don’t have the time nor opportunity to do,” he said. “It’s a free week of learning from top professors with peers from other schools, as well as free meals.”

All three programs are free or highly subsidized. According to Rudolph, the University and Hennessy are funding the programs.

“I hope these programs will create addition opportunities for Stanford graduate students that aren’t available at other schools,” Horowitz said. “It should give graduate students a chance to learn about an area that interests them, but might not be something that they would do otherwise. I also hope that through this experience, students will get a chance to talk with graduate students from different areas and form connections that might not otherwise happen.”