The Importance of Intellectual Community:

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The Importance of Intellectual Community

• Engaging the informal curriculum of graduate
  studies

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A Recent Study

• Sponsored by The Carnegie Initiative on the
  Doctorate
• 5 year study, 84 programs, 6 fields (chemistry,
  education, English, history, mathematics,
  neuroscience)
• The goal improve the effectiveness of doctoral
  education

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A Recent Study

• Authors
• George E. Walker
• Chris M. Golde
• Laura Jones
• Andrea Conklin Bueschel
• Pat Hutchings

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The Big Surprise

• The authors expected to discover new insights
  related to the dissertation, exams, and new
  directions for the disciplines.
• What they did not expect
• The importance of intellectual community
• The extent to which students would contribute to,
  shape, and enrich that community

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What is Intellectual Community?

• rich exchange of ideas and perspectives that
  characterized scholarly life
• knowledge-centered but relationship-based
• creating environments in which faculty and
  students flourish

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Intellectual Community Influences

• How people wrestle with ideas
• How teaching is valued
• How students engage with senior colleagues
• How failure is treated
• How the department and its members stay connected
  to the field

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Challenges

• Intellectual community is intangible and hard to
  measure.
• Overlooked as an important part of our work.

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Benefits

• To Students
• To Faculty
• To Departments

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Intellectual Community A Strength at Baylor
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The Key Question

• What qualities make intellectual communities
  more vibrant?
• They have a shared purpose
• They are diverse and multigenerational
• They are flexible and forgiving
• They are respectful and generous

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The Key Question (contd.)

• They engage students fully in the life of the
  department
• They collaborate on the curriculum
• They share research across boundaries
• They open classroom doors
• They set time aside for reflection
• They create physical spaces for community
• They encourage social events

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Implications for GPDs and other Department Leaders

• Intellectual community is often a deciding factor
  in a students choice of one program over another
  (recruitment)
• Good beginnings are essential
• Crucial transition from learning about to
  learning to be (socialization)

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Baylor Departmental Examples

• Recruiting Weekends
• Common Spaces
• Mentoring by faculty and advanced graduate
  students
• Departmental student organizations

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Baylor Graduate School Initiatives

• Graduate Student Housing Community- Quadrangle
• Interdisciplinary scholarship Forum - Graduate
  Student Association
• GRD 630X seminars interdisciplinary group of
  doctoral students
• Graduate Student Association

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Roundtable Discussion