Welcome from the Dean...

James H. Hageman, Dean

From the graduate dean… 

Welcome to Central Michigan University! I am very pleased that you have chosen to continue your academic studies with us. We have a variety of outstanding programs ranging from a nationally recognized physician’s assistant program to studies in the theoretical physics and chemistry of advanced materials. We recognize that students return to graduate school from a varied set of drivers – from pure intellectual curiosity to the need to retool knowledge and skills in better alignment with our rapidly changing economic landscape. You will find at CMU a group of faculty who are sincerely committed to helping you achieve your own particular goals. In undertaking the work to reach those goals, it is well for you to recognize that there is generally a qualitative difference in studies at the graduate level compared to the undergraduate level. (Never mind the wag who remarked that M.S. stands for “more of the same” and Ph. D. refers to “piled higher and deeper”.)

A provost once remarked to me in a seminar for new faculty teachers, “The learner controls the learning.” Fully recognizing this reality is perhaps what most distinguishes the graduate student from the undergraduate student. As a graduate student you might be said to have become a “professional” student. As with any professional, you will be expected to assume greater responsibility for any learning that takes place. You will be expected to probe deeply specific areas of inquiry and to challenge the underlying assumptions of the field you have chosen. The goal of all of our programs of graduate study is for you to achieve a significant mastery of your field and not merely an overview of various topics. Stated another way our hope for all graduate students is that they experience at some time in the course of their studies what the biologist Thomas Huxley claimed was the great tragedy of science, “…the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” I urge each of you to continually look at the information with which you are presented in new ways. What do these facts mean? Are the standard explanations and interpretations of these facts the only ones or even the best ones? Would new facts, if they could be collected, shed new light on the present way of thinking? How might such facts be collected? Whether you discover something really new or not, you will find that simply posing such questions will help you to master your chosen field.

The Associate Dean, Dr. Gail P. Scukanec, and I both want you to feel welcome here at Central Michigan University, and we want to encourage you to avail yourselves of the services and opportunities offered by the staff of the College of Graduate Studies. In addition to help with the dreaded but necessary paperwork, our office provides many useful publications to you and has funds to support your scholarly work, your travel to meetings and your dissertation development (www.grad.cmich.edu). We hope and expect that you will find your work here challenging and rewarding.

James H. Hageman, Dean College of Graduate Studies

"Learning for a Lifetime"

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