Adrienne Carter-Sowell

Graduate Students with Dependent Families: Responding to a Marginalized Population

Abstract: Graduate students with family responsibilities constitute a vibrant part of the learning community at Purdue University. By responding to the special challenges and the distinct contributions of family members of graduate students, Purdue University will be in a better position to recruit and retain talented academics in training. This program proposal is a follow-up to the 2008  09 Graduate Students with Dependent Families: Recognizing a Marginalized Population initiative. As with the Recognizing program, this newly proposed Responding to program is designed to meet all the objectives specified in the guidelines of the Bilsland Strategic Initiatives Fellowship. Specifically, this proposal involves creating an orientation session for the partners and children of graduate students to explain the different responsibilities of being a graduate student. Next, I propose to extend the Graduate Student Professional Development program to address the role of dependent partners in helping graduate students achieve important milestones in their degree programs from presenting at conferences to preparing for the job market. I believe that these suggested outreach initiatives will bolster the support provided by dependent family members and promote use of current resources at Purdue University.