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Dear Graduate Students,

Thank you for all you are doing to take care of yourselves and to support your community and loved ones during this incredibly challenging time. As I wrote earlier this week, the racial violence around the country is shocking and shameful, and I know it is deeply affecting many of you, as is the ongoing pandemic.

This week, the president and provost shared the latest on the university’s plans for next year. As they noted, “We expect graduate and professional education to move forward at near-full capacity next year, albeit with some instruction and research conducted online.” Hopefully this is reassuring, though I know you have many questions, too. Your school deans and department and program faculty are deep in conversation with me and others about how to provide you the best possible educational experience, and you will have opportunities for input.

I am writing to you today as one community of scholars. The care and support you are showing towards each other, while balancing your own pressing responsibilities, remind me that the issues you face as individuals are felt by the entire community of 9,400 graduate students. So while the information I’m sharing now may not directly affect you, I know that you care about how it affects other students.

Academic Progress

I mention our 9,400 strong graduate community. You are pursuing over 15 different degree types in nearly 200 graduate programs, ranging from masters degrees to joint professional degrees. Expectations about time-to-degree and funding vary enormously, even among our 5,000 or so PhD students. Most masters and doctoral programs do not have a firm time-to-degree, as students have the freedom to balance their courses, research, internships, and other academic endeavors as makes sense for them. The main professional degrees - MBA, MD, and JD - typically have a more structured curriculum, though many of those students also pursue a second degree while at Stanford.

I hope this detail helps explain why extending time-to-degree across the graduate population is not applicable to the majority of our students at Stanford. The university extended the candidacy milestone for doctoral students and loosened leaves of absence and grading policies (which vary by degree program) to help students whose progress is disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Expectations for spring quarter are also being modified in response to the racial violence and resulting unrest. And any student can discuss additional adjustments to their degree progress with their faculty advisor or director of graduate studies. This local, individualized approach is a hallmark of graduate studies at Stanford that I hope serves each of you well.

Financial Support

Although graduate funding at Stanford is highly decentralized and variable by degree and discipline, university leaders have been working with the deans of each school to determine how best to help you navigate these difficult times. Already, about 75% of doctoral students have a funding commitment from their department and faculty advisor until they complete their degree, including summer funding, as long as they are in good academic standing.

Now, as our deans have shared with their students, other funding commitments are being modified and new opportunities are being created for students in need of funding. Here are a few highlights:

  • The provost will fund up to 50 new competitive Graduate Teaching Fellowships, available this summer only, to support online course development for next year. Students who did not have or who lost summer funding, particularly for students in Humanities & Sciences and Education, can apply to be a Graduate Teaching Fellow. The application closes on Monday, June 15; Fellows will begin on Monday, June 22.
  • For students serving as Research and Teaching Assistants, the minimum assistantship rate will increase 4.5 percent for 2020-2021; university fellowship stipends will also increase at a comparable rate (increases that come even as staff and faculty salaries have been frozen).
  • In one of the programs that does have a fixed time-to-degree, late-stage PhD students in the Graduate School of Business are being allowed to extend their time at Stanford beyond the expected five years.
  • To help with the transition to an uncertain job market, the creation of new competitive postdoctoral scholar positions in the School of Humanities & Sciences will enable PhD alumni to stay at Stanford to conduct research or teach. We expect to offer at least 30 such positions.
  • As announced on April 27, Provost Drell has expanded existing emergency grant-in-aid funds to help support graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who are facing unexpected expenses for themselves and their families due to COVID-19. More information is available at the Financial Aid Office.

Returning to Research

I’d also like to highlight plans for gradually and safely returning to research activities. Kam Moler, vice provost and dean of research, and I are co-chairing the Research Continuity Policy Committee (part of the provost’s larger Academic Policy Group) and have invited several students identified by the Graduate Student Council to join the committee. Kam and I will hold a Research Restart Town Hall on Tuesday, June 9, 3:30-4:30 for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.  In preparation, please read the Research Restart Handbook and submit your questions about returning to research in advance. I hope you can join us, via Zoom: https://vpge.stanford.edu/research-restart. You can also ask your faculty advisor, director of graduate studies, or department chair for guidance on your specific research situation.

Graduate Housing

Stanford’s apartment-style living spaces on and off campus provide for greater physical distancing than do most of our undergraduate residences, so we do not anticipate major residential changes for graduate students. R&DE opened the Graduate Housing Lottery on May 28 with a June 10 application deadline. With EVGR opening, we expect that most students who apply will receive an on-campus housing assignment. The university has been able to retain some subsidized off-campus graduate housing; some students currently living in off-campus housing may request to stay in these off-campus apartments without a rent increase, though some will need to move. Studio 2 will be used as a temporary self-isolation space and unavailable at this time; although students and couples living there will need to move, they won’t be required to participate in the lottery and will have the option of moving to comparable studio housing at the same rent or to larger studios in EVGR.

Looking Ahead

As we work through this time of uncertainty and changing plans, we are anchoring our decisions in respect and concern for the entire Stanford community. I greatly appreciate your flexibility and understanding and am inspired by the energy and determination that I have seen in Stanford’s graduate and professional student community. Please let me know what’s on your mind and what else would be helpful for you to know and share your suggestions, questions and ideas through this webform.

Finally, I want to send sincere congratulations to all students who are preparing to graduate this quarter. Your perseverance through this challenging time is admirable, and I look forward to celebrating you in the weeks ahead.

With warm regards,
Stacey

Stacey F. Bent
Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs
Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Engineering
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Chemistry

Graduate Student Updates, Looking Ahead

Dear Graduate Students,