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An open meeting was held May 15 for presentations by the two shortlisted candidates for Dean of Graduate Studies, William Knitter and Elizabeth J. Saccá. As well as its administrative work on behalf of all graduate students at the university, the School of Graduate Studies directly administers two interdisciplinary graduate programs, the Special Individualized Program at the master’s level, and the PhD in Humanities. Concordia has about 4,000 graduate students. Education Professor William Knitter has been Vice-Dean of Administrative Affairs in the Faculty of Arts and Science since 1997. He has been an associate professor in the Department of Education since 1983, and served as chair for two terms. He served a term as president of CUFA, the faculty association, and served on a variety of committees, including nine years as a member of Senate. He taught the Core Methodology course in the PhD in Humanities, supervised doctoral candidates in the program, and was active on the Humanities Program Committee. In his presentation at the DeSève Cinema, Knitter said he would work on increasing the numbers and quality of graduate students, and do this in cooperation with the deans. He would try to increase funding for graduate students, and use advertising and increased accountability to raise the profile and credibility of the School of Graduate Students. He acknowledged the importance of professional as well as scholarly graduate degrees. Art Education Professor Saccá is Associate Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Her background includes teaching graduate studies in six universities and directing graduate programs in three. At Concordia since 1975, she has held the rank of professor since 1994. She has served as department chair, graduate program director, and principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute. She has also served on the Board of Governors, the Board’s advancement committee and Senate. Dr. Saccá used Powerpoint visuals to review the development of graduate studies at Concordia, where there are now 4,000 graduate students. She said that 30,000 positions are expected to open up in Canada for holders of PhD degrees by 2010, and the government wants to increase graduate enrolment by five per cent a year. She said that although her recent academic work has been studio-based and interdisciplinary, her earliest graduate work gave her experience in science-and-statistics-based research. A member of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, she feels it could do more effective lobbying. It costs about $18,000 a year to do a PhD, Saccá reminded her audience, and nearly half of Quebec graduate students drop out, most of them for lack of money, usually during the final thesis phase. The candidates’ curricula vitae may be consulted in the Dean’s Office, (contact Lidia Santos), on the SGW Campus and the Rector’s Cabinet Office, (contact Ann Bennett) on Loyola Campus. The search committee also invites comments from the community on the candidates. Please send signed, or if by e-mail, clearly identified, comments to the Secretary of the Search Committee, Ann M. Bennett, in L-AD-224, by e-mail to: amb@alcor.concordia.ca or fax: 848-4508. The submission deadline is 3 p.m., tomorrow. |
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