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Department's graduate students raising funds for travel from alumni
By Rebecca Ivic
When department Ph.D. student Ambar Basu attends an academic conference, in addition to his suits and Powerpoint slides, he travels with bottled water and assorted food items. Saving money by not having to eat his meals out is one way Basu is able to attend such conferences on his graduate student salary and the small stipend the department provides each year. For Ph.D. student Damion Waymer, it means piling as many people into one hotel room as possible to save on lodging expenses. "It is very difficult to go to conferences without a lot of funding," said Waymer. "The only way to make these conferences more affordable is for either the departments or the associations to provide financial subsidies for students." Because of these limitations, current graduate students in the department, spurred by the generosity of recent graduates, have started an alumni fund to help current and future students travel to conferences. Although vital, conferences are very expensive for master's and Ph.D. students to attend. Even when making frugal arrangements, a graduate student easily can spend $1,000 on travel, lodging, food, registration fees, and other necessities to attend an ICA or NCA conference. More than 40 Purdue graduate students attended the NCA conference in Boston this fall, and many students attend two or three conferences per year. Attending academic conferences always has been an important part of the graduate school experience. Conferences are a place where the department's graduate students see cutting edge research 6-9 months before it hits the journals, interact with faculty and graduate students from across the country (and increasingly, from around the world), and meet Purdue alums from three and 30 years ago. For those pursuing an academic career, conference participation is critical for building a vita and networking during the job search, said Professor Steve Wilson, director of graduate studies. Ask Waymer, who spent almost a month's salary to attend the NCA convention but was rewarded with numerous face-to-face interviews for teaching positions upon his graduation in May. "Being there in person meant everything," he said. Since 2002 the department has been awarding small "travel grants" to help graduate students attend academic conferences. During the 2005-2006 school year, the department is providing $200 to any graduate student who presents a paper at an academic conference and $150 to students who participate in some other way. Students are limited to one travel grant per academic year. Although this level of support probably seems quite modest, it still is a significant undertaking when 50-60 Purdue COM graduate students present papers at academic conferences each year.
For example, graduate student Jennifer Bernat spent over $800 in travel and registration costs to attend this year's NCA. But she only received $150 in travel money from the department and had to use her entire travel allotment on the one conference. But despite the extraordinary costs, Bernat said that attending conferences is a great way to network. As a student looking at Ph.D. programs, she said that she can meet other professors at conferences. For Basu, attending conferences is one of the best ways to grow as a scholar. "Your growth as a scholar and in terms of your career depends on how you are able to reach out, gather perspectives different from your own, share your thoughts and learn," Basu said. The department's travel grants program initially was supported by a donation from the late Professor Charles Redding and his wife Ann. Faculty members from the department have donated money to the program, as did many alumni when an initial appeal for support was made in 2002. Earlier this fall seven of the department's 2004 and 2005 Ph.D. graduates who themselves had benefited from travel grants made an unsolicited donation to the program. They are:
They suggested that it was time for the department to contact other master's and Ph.D. alumni who benefited from travel grants, as well as alums who wish such a program had existed while they were at Purdue.
"We are very proud of our COM graduate programs at Purdue; indeed, three of the six areas of study in our department were rated in the top 10 nationally in the latest (2004) NCA reputational study. Travel grants are important as we continue to recruit the very best students from across the world into our master's and Ph.D. programs and support their development as scholars and teachers," said Wilson. "As an alum myself, I want to say thanks for your continuing support of our graduate program. Our alumni network is one of our program's great strengths." |
