Dear Members of the Graduate Community, Recent events have been troubling to us all. The deterioration of public discourse, hostility towards individuals based on racial, ethnic, religious, and gender expression, and hate-based violence strike at the core of our shared values as a campus community.

By Anna De Cheke Qualls

Pattie Yu (‘77 Journalism ‘81 and Organizational Communication) was inducted earlier this month into the National Capital Public Relations Hall of Fame at the 50th anniversary of PRSA-NCC’s Annual Thoth Awards Gala at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

This semester, the Graduate School implemented a new policy that requires an expectation-setting meeting between graduate assistants and their supervisors. This policy is intended to enhance communication between graduate assistants and their supervisors. To assess the policy, we surveyed graduate assistants in late September to see if they had these meetings and, if so, if they judged the conversations useful. 

Spring is a great time to visit Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, China. All kinds of cherry blossoms bloom all over the city -– the Japanese Cherry, the Weeping Cherry, the Yunnan Morning Cherry and more. Devoted visitors from near and far make the pilgrimage to see this annual wonder, very much in the same way that people congregate around the Jefferson Memorial.

Pravrutha Raman has a unique challenge—to present her complex dissertation research on gene silencing in just three minutes for an international audience. Raman, a doctoral candidate in biological sciences, is competing for the People’s Choice and Judge’s First Prize, in the International 3 Minute Thesis Contest.

By Anna De Cheke Qualls Being in the military and completing a doctoral degree can be a lonely experience. Few have done it. And other than word-of-mouth stories, there isn’t much guidance on how to deal with the competing interruptions of military duty and the demands of research.

Dr. Saranaz Barforoush was born in Tehran, Iran in 1982 to a family of educators and dedicated liberals. The country just survived a revolution that ousted a Western-leaning leader, a group of Iranian students had just taken 52 Americans hostage, and the country was suddenly at war with Iraq.