Student concerns were top priority at the University’s “Open Mic with Mike” event at the Tate Student Center on Tuesday.

Adams fielded a broad spectrum of student questions – including issues of graduate education and environmental sustainability initiatives on campus.

Graduate Students

An increased focus on graduate education has to be a priority of the school, Adams said.

Though the majority of students at the University are undergraduates, the school enrolled about 10,000 graduate and professional students for the fall semester.

“One of my goals going forward is to spend a little more time than I have historically on graduate and professional education,” Adams said.

But some students brought forward questions about the state of the graduate and professional programs at the University, especially as budget cuts torment the school.

For example, the University had to cut 50 graduate assistantships – teaching and research positions providing a stipend for graduate students – in response to the budget situation.

Adams said he recognized

the importance of assistantships in recruiting graduate students.

“I know it matters,” he said. “We regretted that one of the things that was cut were assistantships.”

For fiscal year 2010, the school has added back $500,000 to support teaching assistantships, making up for the positions cut in the previous year, said Arnett Mace, senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost.

Graduate assistants were also one of the few groups shielded from furloughs this year, Adams said.

“We think [graduate assistants] are still students,” he said. “And with some pain we drew the distinction between graduate students and post-docs.”

Post-doctorial researchers, who support faculty members in the various labs across campus, are usually paid through grants and sponsorships coming from outside of the University.

Though some schools in the state decided to exempt these employees from mandatory furloughs, the University did not follow suit.

“I still think that those decisions were right,” Adams said.

Sustainability

Some students also wanted to ensure their voices were heard on future sustainability initiatives on campus.

“We just want to help,” said Mark Milby, co-chair of the Go Green Alliance. “We want to be involved.”

The Sustainability Working Group recently released a report addressing the possibility of creating a centralized body to address environmental sustainability at the University. Adams said he intended to offer a formal plan about this possibility by next semester.

He said he would seek input from several sources, including students and the Physical Plant staff.

“It’s going to take me a month or two to study [the report] and make sure that I’ve looked at all of the pros and cons and get my ducks in a row,” he said.