Published May 17, 2004

By Greg Licamele

Continuing centuries of academic traditions, more than 200 doctoral degree recipients gathered at Lisner Auditorium on Friday, and were clothed with academic gowns and hoods signifying their ascension into an elite group of scholars across the country.

“You have reached the summit of the three ascending levels of tertiary education offered in the United States,” declared Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs. “It’s a summit that’s prized throughout the world for its standard against which all others are measured.”

In his remarks, Lehman said that doctoral education has been an extraordinary benefit to the United States.

“Up to this point in time, it has served this country extremely well, particularly in regard to the production of individuals who contribute to the nation’s economic, social and cultural well being through the research and development work they carry out,” Lehman said. He noted that doctoral degrees are relatively scarce — 45,000 will be granted this year in the United States, while by comparison, 400,000 master’s degrees and 1.75 million baccalaureate degrees will be awarded.

Five schools awarded doctorates from GW— the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, the School of Business, and the School of Public Health and Health Services. Topics of student dissertations included: “Mars Wars: A Case History of Agenda Setting and Alternative Generation in the American Space Program”; “A New Instrumented Approach for Translating the American Sign Language into Sound and Text (READ Related ByGeorge! Article)”; “Portrait of a Successful Urban Public School: Urbanville Elementary School”; and “The Use of Celebrities in Advertising High Tech Products: Technology Association’s Impact on Advertising Effectiveness.”

In his charge to the graduates, Lehman asked that the freshly minted Ph.D’s provide him feedback about their doctoral experiences at GW. Lehman said that to ensure the quality of GW doctoral degrees, reviews and feedback are critical to their sustainability. As part of the University’s Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence, a doctoral review has just concluded to assess GW’s current offerings.

“We asked many hard questions—we asked about faculty resources, student quality and expectations, program demand, and many aspects of doctoral education here at GW,” Lehman said. “I can safely say we’ve learned much about ourselves in how we bring more prestige to GW through doctoral education. Among the recommendations are things like achieving greater focus within programs and, in some instances, increasing collaboration across programs and schools in order to bring forth interdisciplinary endeavors.

“When you have a bit of time to reflect, I ask that you write to me about your personal experiences at GW,” Lehman continued. “Tell me how you would improve what we do in order to offer a world-class doctoral experience and to give an even higher level of prestige to the degree that you have earned.”

©2004 The George Washington University Office of University Relations, Washington, D.C.
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