Morgan State University Receives ETS®/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), in conjunction with ETS, awarded Morgan State University with the 2022 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. The University was recognized for its pioneering initiative, the Teaching Assistant Project (TAP). Morgan’s Mark Garrison, Ph.D., dean of the School of Graduate Studies, accepted the co-sponsored award during an awards ceremony at the CGS 62nd Annual Meeting held in San Francisco.

The ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s and doctoral levels, while promoting inclusiveness. The winning institution is selected on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools. The winner receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

“Our proposal reflects our commitment to student success through thorough and innovative preparation for the contemporary workplace of many of our graduates, higher education itself. The program prepares graduates for instructional demands that are ever-changing and increasingly challenging,” said Garrison. “The award supports a rigorous approach to training doctoral students in higher education instruction with exposure to the science of learning and immersion in the diversity and inclusion values held dear by Morgan’s faculty. Our students will achieve proficiency as instructors and have demonstrated those skills in the classroom.”

The TAP inititive was designed to balance the experience of doctoral students while building critical professional development in instruction. The program offers several innovative features intended to provide a progressive development from novice to proficient instructional skills, to foster a community of learners and coaches, and to ensure the development of a personal teaching philosophy informed by the science of learning that fully embraces inclusion and diversity.

TAP is designed as an instructional curriculum built on a series of four courses that, while providing a robust immersion in techniques and skills necessary for instruction in higher education, also emphasizes their commitment to principled, reflective teaching centered on inclusion and diversity. The first two courses will be required of TAs, with the opportunity to acquire a certificate by completing all four.

CGS’s President, Suzanne Ortega, noted that the project has the potential for replication at other CGS member institutions. “This project will provide CGS members with a new approach to better supporting teaching assistants and providing professional development for graduate students,” Ortega said. “We are so grateful to ETS for their support in recognizing this innovative way to promote best practices among graduate schools.”

“Morgan State’s innovative initiative is an important contribution to improving graduate education for students now and in the future,” said Alberto Acereda, Associate Vice President of Global Higher Education at ETS. “The institution has long maintained student success as a pillar in all that they do which is directly aligned with the spirit of this award and a priority that ETS strongly supports.”

As Morgan State University prepares itself to rise to the next level of Carnegie Classification of doctoral research universities, the School of Graduate Studies envisions its role to be one of providing seamless academic, operational, and programmatic support to those within the community who have similar visions of growth and leadership. The School of Graduate Studies embraces the roles of providing support to students, faculty, and programs; of providing leadership in best practices in admissions, enrollment management, professional development, and financial support; and embracing these tasks while maintaining commitment to the highest standards of academic integrity. Today, there are 1,500 students enrolled in the 28 doctoral and 45 masters programs at Morgan. Annually, about 70 doctorates are awarded in the areas of engineering, science, mathematics, education, health, business, and humanities.