The School of Graduate Studies and Research will host its 21st Graduate Feeder Conference and Research Forum this week under the theme “Making Research Work for You!”
Chanta Haywood, dean of graduate studies and research, said she is “thrilled about this week.” She said the conference “epitomizes the type of innovation that FAMU is about regarding research.”
Haywood said after this conference, “FAMU is going to be the envy of every HBCU.”
The symposium began on Tuesday with a welcome reception at the school of architecture.
The week long conference will include presentations on the graduate school application process, test-taking skills, writing research papers and managing life as a graduate student.
The events will conclude on next Tuesday with a graduate recruitment fair in the grand ballroom with more than 40 graduate institutions.
Haywood said she hopes the forum will “break the stereotype of research just being in the lab and encourage students to think critically, think analytically and write academically.”
The aim is to make “FAMU students known for their research,” said Haywood, regardless of their chosen career.
The Florida A&M University Feeder Scholars Program was founded in 1987 and has partnered with more than 40 universities across the country. The program has a database of more than 2300 students and will have 600 students enrolled in any given school year.
Linda Knight, director of fellowship programs, recruitment and academic affairs, said the “aim of the feeder program is to assist students in getting ready for graduate study.”
The program helps students with the application process, teaches them the steps to write successful research papers, creates opportunities for campus visits, provides fee waivers and negotiates funding for accepted students.
The program’s fall GRE workshop will begin Tuesday and run through Nov. 8. The classes will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in 102 Dyson Hall.
Knight said the GRE workshops are designed to benefit FAMU students.
The workshops will be taught by Samuel Pyne, the information technology director and feeder assistant in the school of graduate studies.
“The classes provide a viable alternative for students who cannot afford to pay for Kaplan or other prep classes,” Pyne said. “They get the same quality of teaching.”
Stephanie Isaacs, a 6th year Professional MBA student from Fort Lauderdale said she is taking advantage of the GRE workshops and is appreciative of the program.
” …the president is taking a more active role in the graduate program [and it] is a good look for FAMU,” Isaacs said. [FAMU’s] Graduate school is “developing a better system to keep graduate students more aware about what is going on in the graduate program.”
Knight said, “Students see an increase in their scores between the first time they take the diagnostic test and their final test in the workshop.”
The GRE test was revised over the summer, but the new components will not take effect immediately.
“The changes are not going to affect anyone this year,” Pyne said. “They are field testing the new questions to see how candidates respond, but they will not count toward the test.”
Knight said all information about the workshop has been posted on all of the university’s communication mediums and email messages have been sent to all of the feeder scholars.
For more information about the FAMU Feeder Scholars Program, please visit http://famu.edu/index.cfm?a=graduatestudies&p=GraduateFeeder#7. Those interested in the program can also contact Linda Knight and Chanta Haywood at (850) 599-3505 ex.3315