Initiatives

The PGC has organized several initiatives over the years to advocate for better quality of life for our Ph.D. students. You can find records of some of these initiatives in our documents page. Some initiatives we pursued included but were not limited to:

• Creation of thesis advising committees
• Implementation of open thesis defenses
• Qualifying exam survey, report and reform
• Proposal for course requirements flexibility and new course offerings
• Push for diversity and inclusion in the department, including a series of town halls, talks about mental health and/or diversity among every semester's happy hours, and demand for an APS site visit
• New physics department website for better communication of department initiatives
• Assistance to international students, including serving as intermediaries between students and ISSO, meeting with members of congress about immigration, and answering questions from incoming international students
• Push for TAs in core courses of our Ph.D. program
• Creation of social events to foster community in our department
• Push for summer funding for students who had not secured it during the COVID-19 pandemic

And there's always more to come! We always have a list of initiatives that we want to implement every year. Contact us if there is something you would like to see improved in our department.