GSO Creates New Research Grant, Starts Private Fundraising
ByGreta Petry
The Graduate Student Organization (GSO) is housed in a modestly furnished room in the Campus Center near the vending machines. The décor includes two nicked green tables that have a retro look, as if they have been around since the campus opened.

The GSO is obviously more interested in students than in furniture. And right now, its goal is to obtain more money to fund graduate student research. Toward that end, the GSO is creating a new research grant called the University at Albany Graduate Student Organization Research Excellence Award.

“We are seeking to increase the funding that GSO currently allocates for graduate student research at the University. We are now in the process of seeking sources of revenue for the new grant program. Ultimately, the GSO seeks to cultivate and actively promote graduate research excellence of the highest order at the University at Albany,” said GSO president Rosann Santos.

The idea is to attract enough money to award a $1,000 research grant, once in the fall and again in the spring semester. For now, money for the new grant is coming from the GSO’s general disbursement budget. In the future, however, three sources are being considered.

The first is the University at Albany’s Annual Fund, which has agreed to set aside time to solicit funds and donations that would go specifically toward GSO grants. “They plan to target past graduate students, who have received any kind of funding from the University including GSO grants, in hopes that they are in a position to give something back,” Santos said. In addition, donations will be sought from all UAlbany graduates, who may have attended a GSO social event or colloquium.

The second proposal is an endowment. “We would like to look into the advantages and disadvantages of creating an endowment allowing for long-term financial backing of this grants program,” said Santos, 29, a doctoral student in history from the Bronx. The endowment is being set up this semester, with the GSO seeking funds from various companies, including those with which it regularly conducts business. Foundations will also be contacted.

Finally, there is the possibility of a fee increase, which is “only a proposal and still needs to be discussed with the constituency,” according to the GSO Web site. If there were a fee increase of $10 (from $15 to $25), half of that would be automatically earmarked for the grants endowment; the rest would go toward an increase in operating expenses.

GSO Treasurer Christopher Bischoff of Albany, a doctoral student in political science, said, “GSO spent $42,000 - almost a third of its entire budget - on research and travel grants this year. He and Amy Lutz, GSO’s grants chair, have been hard at work obtaining outside funding for grants that allow graduate students to extend their research to libraries and universities out of the area. As a result, both travel and research grants have increased from $500 to a $650 maximum this academic year.

“We’re the only organization on campus that offers money for travel grants,” said Lutz, 28, of Albany, a doctoral student in sociology. Lutz, Bischoff, and Santos are all on track to graduate in 2002.

GSO is made up of all 4,800 graduate students at UAlbany. The organization’s budget comes from a mandatory fee of $15 for full-time students and $2.15 per credit hour for part-time students.

“One of the biggest problems an organization like this has is that many people do not understand how active GSO is. The departments have their own graduate student groups. Many don’t realize their money comes from the GSO,” said Bischoff.

The umbrella group also subsidizes low-cost activities and trips for graduate students. On March 17, for example, GSO is sponsoring a trip to New York City at $15 per person. Each UAlbany graduate student may purchase two tickets.

Santos thanked the University administration for its support of GSO’s efforts to extend the research grant. “We’ve received support from President Karen R. Hitchcock, from development services and the annual fund in the Division of University Advancement, and from Academic Affairs, and Carl Martin of Student Life,” she said.

Wyckoff, Lankford Expand Research on Attracting, Retaining Good Teachers
By Vera Dordick
Attracting and retaining high quality teachers is a concern for all schools, but a particularly critical one for low-performing ones. Now, thanks to three new grants, UAlbany researchers are expanding their earlier research on teacher labor force quality issues.

James Wyckoff, associate professor of public administration and policy, and Hamilton Lankford, associate professor of economics, will examine the career paths of New York teachers and reasons for the career decisions they make along the way. Their aim is to discover which strategies would be most effective in attracting and retaining more high quality teachers.

The research is supported by a $595,000 award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), a $205,000 grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation, and a $132,000 award from the New York State Department of Education and the Rand Corporation. When added to continuing support from the New York State Educational Finance Research Consortium, the new grants bring funding for these studies to more than $1 million.

The new studies will build on earlier work in which the researchers examined 30 years worth of state teaching records. This work documented the disparity in teacher quality that exists among New York’s public schools with particular focus on the quality of teachers in New York’s most needy schools.

“We took the pulse of teaching in New York State as a foundation for doing advanced work on how to improve the teaching force,” Wyckoff said. The report they issued in November 2000 found, for example, that the quality of New York teachers is much worse in urban areas, where teachers with no prior experience and with fewer qualifications make up an increasing proportion of new hires. Black and Latino students in urban areas are also more likely to have lower quality teachers than typical white or non-poor students.

That study, The Labor Market for Public School Teachers: A Descriptive Analysis of New York State’s Teacher Workforce, is available at the Education Finance Research Consortium Web site, www.albany.edu/edfin. Their current research explores how various factors affect the choices made by teachers--relationships that must be better understood in developing policy.

“There’s not going to be any silver bullet. It’s likely there are a lot of different things that can be done, and they all should be considered,” Wyckoff said.

The next round of studies will examine questions such as what factors determine why college students decide to pursue education careers, where educators choose to teach, why they transfer schools and districts, and why they decide to quit.

“Many issues affect these decisions, including student demographics and community composition, salary, class size, and professional development opportunities, as well as the economy and labor market in general,” Lankford said. “These studies are academically important, but at the same time, the findings will be very relevant to current policy issues,” he said, noting that all states are wrestling with teacher quality and supply issues.

“There are important gaps in our understanding of how to attract and retain high quality teachers. Unless we can understand what influences teachers’ choices, policies may not achieve their intended purposes,” Wyckoff added.

“Teachers are human beings who have preferences and face decisions. They shouldn’t be measured or considered in the same fashion as other physical resources, such as books or computers, when policy makers gather information to attract and retain high quality teachers for our schools,” said Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY). “The University will use these funds to help close this information gap,” McNulty said.

The UAlbany team -- including three graduate students -- will collaborate on the studies with Donald Boyd, director of the Fiscal Studies Program at the Rockefeller Institute, and Susanna Loeb, assistant professor of education at Stanford University.

Fresh Talent, by SUNY Community College Students, Opens March 13 at Art Museum
By Corinna Ripps Schaming
The University Art Museum has announced its next exhibition, FRESH TALENT: Selected Works by Art Students at SUNY Community Colleges, which will run from March 13 to April 6. The opening reception is Saturday, March 24, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The exhibition will highlight the rigorous and diverse nature of community college visual arts programs across the state and will offer a spirited mix of work being produced by its talented students. More than 60 works in a variety of mediums will be featured. FRESH TALENT: Selected Works by Art Students at SUNY Community Colleges is sponsored by the Office of UAlbany President Karen R. Hitchcock.

“This exhibition highlights so many of the rich resources of the State University of New York system,” Hitchcock said. “First, it offers the chance to view the work of students at the start of what we hope and expect will be long and rewarding careers. Second, it highlights the foundations laid by their superb teachers, our colleagues on the faculty of the state’s community colleges, which enables and develops their talented visions, revealing the strength of our state and our University system. And finally, it allows these works to be brought together in the state’s capital at the senior campus of the State University in the University Art Museum. “My congratulations to the State University’s community colleges, which offer such diverse environments for learning to these young artists. Most of all, my congratulations and best wishes to the talented students. “We are indeed delighted that the University at Albany campus can provide this showcase to our SUNY colleagues thoroughout New York State,” Hitchcock said.

The participating community colleges are: Adirondack Community College, Broome Community College, Cayuga County Community College, Columbia-Greene Community College, Corning Community College, Fashion Institute of Technology, Fulton-Montgomery Community College, Herkimer County Community College, Hudson Valley Community College, Jamestown Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College, Monroe Community College, Niagara County Community College, North Country Community College, Onondaga Community College, Rockland Community College, Schenectady County Community College, Suffolk County Community College, Sullivan County Community College, Westchester Community College, and SUNY College of Technology at Delhi. Museum hours are Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

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