ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

Our title is our goal.  All graduate students are created equal; the opportunities and expectations are equal for all regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, or other personal traits.  How far are we from that goal?  Do we have a model for meeting it?

The authors believe that our story may offer a model.  We met at the University of Kentucky, one as a new graduate student, the other as a senior professor.  We come from dramatically different backgrounds, we speak with different accents, and we represent opposite genders.  We, student and advisor, worked together through the completion of two graduate degrees (M.S. and Ph.D.), along with other students who were pursuing similar goals.  We all worked to maintain an atmosphere in which each student had equal opportunities and expectations, and we largely succeeded.  Several students pursued field-based research, and all students had similar experiences, including the challenges, joys, and frustrations with respect to the science, the logistics, and interactions with natives in the field.  All of the students presented their results at appropriate professional meetings and gained the experience of interactions with peers and colleagues.  Assignments as teaching or research assistants were distributed uniformly, making no assumptions about inherent abilities.  Students were not viewed as being genetically “better” at some things than others.  Incoming students were assigned a TA to gain the experience of teaching, and then moved to an RA appropriate to their research interests.  The only exception was a student whose spoken English did not meet university requirements for a TA and who held an RA throughout his tenure.

Establishing a model for equality of opportunity for all graduate students begins with a firm conviction that all students must have the same opportunity, and follows with making sure all students recognize and maximize that opportunity.  The primary requirement is complete dedication to these concepts.  The undergirding principle is mutual respect.  The model can be applied at multiple scales: from the individual research group to the department, the university, the nation, and the world.  Practically, this must happen at the local scale, but what can be done at the local scale can grow globally.  We can make this work.