University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, July 24, 1991
9
Grad school enrollment increases nationwide
Reasons include poor job market, retiring profs
By Jeff Meesev
Kansan staff writer
A mass of faculty retirements is expected to occur toward the end of the decade, and Alex Garman hopes to use the exodus to his advantage.
But when Garman, Lawrence graduate student, finishes a master's degree in December, his work will have just begun.
His goal is to become a professor of history. Although he first needs to earn a doctorate, Garman expects that he will be able to set a job
"Most of the professors tend to be older," Garman said. "I hope by the time I get my degree, they'll be retiring so I can get their positions."
Nowadays, more people than ever are in graduate school nationwide, but the reasons vary, educators and researchers say.
College graduates are looking for an edge in the increasingly bleak job market, employers are looking for advanced-degree recipients for more technical jobs, and schools are recruiting top graduates to fill expected vacancies because of retiring faculty.
Record levels
Graduate school enrollment at KU is larger than ever before. Enrollment was 6,177 during the 1990 academic year.
It has been increasing gradually
from 105, when 3,49 students were
in grade 8.
The trend at KU mirrors a national one. Across the United States, graduate school enrollment stood at almost 1.52 million in 1990-91.
Stephen Welch, researcher at the Council of Graduate Schools, said enrollment nationwide had been rising about 2 percent annually since 1983.
The U.S. Department of Education predicts this trend will continue until the mid-'90s, when it says both enrollment and the number of those graduating with graduate degrees will level off.
The Education Department's pre-
minary figures for Kansas predict
a rise in state high school enroll-
ment.
"Ten years ago, the graduate school population was near where it is now," said Virginia Saylor, office specialist in the graduate school. "Five years ago it dropped. Over the last five years, it has gradually increased. Now, it is higher than it has ever been."
Saylor said many students earned degrees to have an edge in the job market.
"People really can't do much with a B.A.," Saylor said. "It seems like a B.A. is almost equivalent to a degree from high school."
Most people agree that one reason for this year's rise in enrollment is the bleak job outlook for college graduates.
Last month, the nation's unemployment rate was 7 percent.
Michael Baskin, chairperson of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the year-long, "white-collar" recession bottomed out last month. Those with college degrees were hit hardest by layoffs.
"Some people say that when the economy is bad like it is now, people tend to go back to school," said J. Fried Beamer, researcher for the education center for Education Statistics "Nationally, that is what is happening."
market were going back to school to earn higher, more marketable degrees.
Saylor said many laid-off workers and others who expected a tough job
"Some people can't get jobs," she said. "A lot of people have lost their jobs and think that going back to school will help them get a new job. More jobs these days require that the person have a higher degree."
Robert Sanders, associate dean of graduate school, said he knew of individual cases in which people saw a bleak economic situation at their companies and then decided to go back to school rather than be laid off.
Enrollment may be increasing for another reason as well.
Massive retirements
Although an amendment to the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1986 abolished mandatory retirement of faculty at age 70, a 1989 study by William Bowen and Julie Ann Sosa showed that more than half of the faculty in arts and sciences alone will retire by 2002.
Jack Schuster, professor of education and public policy at Claremont Graduate School in California, predicted that during the next 15 years a percent of the 463,000 faculty in the United States would need to be replaced.
Beginning Jan. 1, 1994, tenured faculty no longer must retire at age 70. However, if they are 70 before Dec. 31, 1993, they must retire.
"We expect large numbers of retirements because of those faculty that were hired in the 1960s," Sanders said. "Those individuals will be replaced, and new faculty will have to be hired in fields that didn't exist
Saylor said the University now recruited students with a 3.0 grade point average or better into graduate school to try to help replace retiring faculty.
in the 1960s."
The number of students in the graduate school population may be determined.
Sanders said the United States, as acknowledged leaders in science and engineering, was attracting large numbers of foreign students.
About 13 percent of KU's graduate students are foreign origin, 31 percent are foreign origin or TA or TAK.
Since 1987, the number of Chinese graduate students at KU has more than tripled.
In the United States, there is a need for about 18,000 Ph.D.s in science and engineering each year." Sanders said. "Now, U.S. citizens are obtaining about 12,000 Ph.D.s. That means that 6,000 Ph.D.s are being obtained by foreign nationals. We have a shortage of U.S. students earning science and engineering degrees."
He said that at some point the foreign students would go back to their home countries, leaving the United States with a shortage of qualified scientists, engineers and potential professors.
Although foreign students come to KU, they are not recruited by the school. Sanders said KU did recruit 21 KU students from across the country.
Despite the fact that graduate school enrollment is high at KU, the need for improvement as the state's education budget remains still is evident, said Frances
Improvement needed
Horowitz, dean of graduate school.
We have a strong graduate school, but it needs to be made stronger.
She said two critical areas that needed to be addressed were the faculty's quality and the availability of financial support in the form of graduate teaching assistantships, fellowships and fee waivers.
Alex Garman said he could not find a position as a graduate teaching assistant because the ancient-history department was underfinanced.
He has to work at Watson Library
He be able to work and pay tuition,
$120 a week.
Total Enrollment for Graduate School:
Fall 1981 - 5,729
Fall 1982 - 5,750
Fall 1983 - 5,494
Fall 1984 - 5,491
Fall 1985 - 5,489
Fall 1986 - 5,629
Fall 1987 - 5,637
Fall 1988 - 5,811
Fall 1999 - 6,094
Fall 1990 - 6,177
Katie Stader/KANSAN
Grad school creates job market for some
By Jeff Meesey
Kansan staff writer
When John Mahvi earns a computer science master's degree in December, he probably will have a job waiting for him.
After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1986 with an electrical engineering degree, Mahvi, a graduate teaching assistant in computer science, could not find a job.
"To be honest with you, I didn't look extremely hard," he said.
decided to enter graduate school in computer science.
"I sort of found my major."
Mahavi said. "The two degrees combined will make me more well-rounded; the two together are very strong."
Indeed, one reason for going to graduate school is to make the graduate more attractive in a discouraging job market.
He said that he liked being in school and that after graduating he began taking some undergraduate classes at KU. He then
He said that applications to the computer science graduate school had increased but that enrollment had stayed relatively steady.
Also, in computer science, earning a master's degree can make a substantial difference in salary.
Fire partly destroys farm field artist uses as his canvas
The Associated Press
SALINA — The weeks after a fire burned out of control and destroyed part of Stan Herd's environmental portrait, the artist difficult for the creative artist
He had to decide whether to abandon or continue the project near Salina Municipal Golf Course. Finally he went back to work
"I came to the conclusion that's what this project is about," he said. "There is adversity about working with nature."
The fire was started accidentally by volunteers working with Herd.
Herd uses farm fields as canvases, a tractor for a brush and foliage for eve.
His latest project is a four-acre portrait of a Kiekapoo Indian girl.
"it's progressing fairly well," he said, and much where I thought it would be.
This project is different from his others because he is using prairie grasses and other native plants. Fields and plants commercial crops.
Herd had hoped to plant some grasses and other plants this spring. They are now in the greenhouse.
Since then, he learned it was better to plant in the fall.
Now he is glad he waited because heat has gripped the area for the past two months. He is concentrating on preparing images of the portrait to give it detail.
"I really wanted to plant something this spring, but I'm thinking now that wasn't that big of a deal," he said.
His efforts are beginning to pay off.
During the heat of the summer,
Herd works on the project about
the same time as he spends more time working this fall
when he plants prairie clover, ver-
tian outlets and outskirts flower toms
add color.
The artist often flies over the project to keep an eye on his work. From the air, he noticed the field is covered by a series of small ridges.
He is not sure what created the ridges. He thinks they could be wagon ruts or plow marks from several decades ago.
Herd expects the project to last six years, in its prime stages in about a year.
He describes the project as his true
art, while he does other crop art to earn a living. Last year, he created a portrait of an Absolut Vodka bottle that is being used in a nationwide advertising campaign by the vodka company.
The Salina project is special for him because it is the first of what he hopes will be a 20-year project of portraits of young native women using their native lands.
Herd describes himself as a "rainbow supremacist," who believes people of diverse origin make the world a better place. He hopes his work
spotlights that diversity and keeps it from declining.
Herd has had initial talks about doing portraits in Australia, Hawaii, France, Italy and Costa Rica.
His first project is still his favorite, a 160-capacity portrait of Santana, a dance legend, who has accomplished in 1981 when he had a accomplishment and in 1981 when he made money and no major reputation.
Since then, the response to his work has opened doors in the national and international art worlds. He has been featured on national network news and in national magazines.
Clip and Save with Daily Kansan Coupons !!!
HOT SHOTS
BAR & GRILL
MON: CLOSED FOR SUMMER
TUES: Pool Tournament at 8:30 - $1.50 Bottles
WED: $1.50 Fishbowls
THURS: 25¢ draws, 25¢ kami shots, & 25¢ hotdogs
FRI: $3.25 pitchers
SAT: $2.00 Fishbowls - $1.00 shots
SUN: ALL YOU CAN EAT TACOS - $3.00
Free pool 7-9 every nite NOW OPEN FOR LUNCH
Now Hiring
11 TO 3
1) Reliable, motivated KU students to call
Monday and Thursday evenings
5:45-9:45 p.m.
September 5 through November 25
$4.90 per hour starting wage
Call Marie Adams-Young
8-12 and 1-5 Monday-Friday
964-1203
1) Reliable, motivated KU students to call KU alumni
19 and above admitted
623 VERMONT 843-0689
adent Assistants
17.5 hours weekly
Monday-Friday 8-12 and/or 1-5
Good word-processing/typing skills-50w.p.m.
$4.25 per hour
864-4201
2) Student Assistants
Call Shari Mohr
8-12 and 1-5 Monday-Friday
by August 1, 1991.
864-4201
Safety First.
corned beef
9th & Indiana
We Make Deli the Way You Like It!
SUNFLOWER
804 Massachusetts
843-5000
At Convenient Food Mart all popular meats, cheeses and breads are available fresh everyday to make your deli sandwich just the way you like it.
Helmets
Front and Rear Lights
Rim Reflectors
Mirrors
Seat Leashes
Locks
Bicycle Licenses
Energy Food
Reflective Clothing
Bicycle Repair Classes
Choose from your favorite meats like:
- chicken
*pastrami
- turkey
·roast beef
Convenient Food Mart
Where convenience is more than a name.
and more!
are available by the pound.
- turkey
- smoked turkey
- ham
- salami
*All popular meats are availa
Holiday Apartments by Westridge Construction
230 Mount Hope Court
Directly East of Lawrence Holdome (behind Coastal Mart)
- 1 BR from $325
- 2 BR from $375
Convenient to:
- Daycare Center
•Food Mart
•on Bus Route
•Laundromat
*Liquor Store*
*West Turnpike Entrance*
Energy efficient design
CRAZY
For information or tour call 843-0011
SUMMER SALE FRIDAY 4p.m.-6p.m.
25% off
EXCLUDES ORANGE TAG AND "BIG SALE" ITEMS. July 26, 4 - 6p.m. only
with coupon only
24th and IOWA LAWRENCE, KANSAS (913) 842-181