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Patricia Gumport, the newly appointed Vice Provost for Graduate Education, is the first person to hold the office after it was created last year
The sign taped to the door is still a makeshift one, and the Web site is under construction. But new Vice Provost of Graduate Education (VPGE) Patricia Gumport, the first ever to hold the newly created office, has already begun taking the baby steps of her tenure in Building 310.
In an interview with The Daily, Gumport discussed her approach to the new position, emphasizing collaboration with other parts of the University and caution before making any big changes.
Professing that she is “bringing faculty sensibility to this role,” Gumport is giving priority to solid research before implementing any changes. She currently has one aide looking up the University’s past statements on graduate education, and another studying the success in graduate education at Stanford’s peer institutions.
“Everything we will be doing is going to be small and experimental so we can find out what works,” she said, adding that while changes may be needed, she also wants to keep an eye toward what “continues to make Stanford excellent.”
Since it is a new office, it is still unclear where the VPGE will fit in among other parts of the University administration, including the Graduate Life Office and the Vice Provost for Student Affairs.
“We need to be clear that this office was not meant to supplant the existing services for graduate students,” Gumport said. “We need to figure out what’s primarily in their purview, and what’s in our purview and where there’s overlap, so that we can work together.”
But more importantly, the VPGE’s involvement with student issues, like health care and transportation, has yet to be determined.
“She could eventually [be involved with student issues], but right now her focus is on graduate education,” said Graduate Student Council (GSC) co-chair Jenny Allen. Allen and other top GSC members met with Gumport last week to discuss possible collaboration, including arranging regular monthly meetings.
However, there is one issue that Gumport has already begun giving special attention to — diversity. She plans to have a Diversity Steering Committee composed of graduate students and diversity officers up and running by next month. The committee’s job will be to produce “an agreed upon set of priorities in the arena of diversity,” from which Gumport says the University can determine which areas — like recruitment and retention — deserve the most attention.
In its meeting last night, the GSC discussed who will serve on the committee and decided to hold an application process open to all graduate students. However, some GSC members expressed concern that the committee and the VPGE will not be promoting greater international diversity.
“It only focuses on Americans and not on international students,” said GSC member and business student Maxim Afanasyev, an international student on the council.
Two weeks ago, the ASSU and GSC passed a joint resolution calling on the University to improve diversity among faculty and graduate students, including developing a five-year plan and coordinating with peer institutions. While Gumport said she had heard of the resolution, she admitted she has not had the chance to read it herself, nor does she know of any potential responses by the University. But, she added, the resolution did show that “the timing is right” for the Diversity Steering Committee.
Gumport has been involved with the graduate community at Stanford for decades, first as a graduate student and then as a faculty member at the School of Education. And though she shared experiences many students can still relate to — working the breakfast shift at Hobee’s, making sandwiches at the Law School cafe and pulling her fair share of all-nighters — some things have changed.
“We actually went to the library, and we would study in there,” she said, laughing, before adding that the important things are still similar. “Many of the ideals that inspired our work — critical thinking and critical inquiry — are still the same.”
The Faculty Senate created the office of the VPGE last year on the recommendation of the Commission on Graduate Education. Gumport officially took office on Jan. 2, relieving interim VPGE Arthur Bienenstock from the position.