Rackham Associate Dean Talks Rethinking Graduate Education

In a new article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Rackham Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives Rita Chin discussed the growing sense among faculty members for the need to interrogate their assumptions about what graduate education looks like.

“[We need] to consider the fact that it’s possible that the model of graduate education that we have been using, which really goes back to the 19th century, may no longer in its entirety be the best model for our current situation,” Chin says.

As part of this effort, Chin, who also serves as a professor in the U-M Department of History, helped spearhead a new kind of graduate research course that allows participants to team up and create curated sets of primary sources for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Experiencing History teaching tool. The course helped students build project management, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills critical to success in the wider workforce beyond academia.

Chin’s work functions as part of Rackham’s Strategic Vision for Graduate Education, which will guide the graduate school’s direction over the next five to eight years as it works to build a student-centered, holistic model for graduate education.

Read the full article from the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required).