Institutional Site Visit Sample Interviews: University Administrators

III. University Administrators Protocol

Questions for graduate studies deans and other relevant university administrators (e.g., directors of student financial support, external fellowship advisors, designated Coordinating Officials (COs) of the GRFP):

1. What is your overall impression of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)? How does it compare, in reputation, with other fellowship programs?

2. What trends, if any, have you noticed in the granting of GRFP Fellowships? Has the recent increase in the number of Fellowships awarded contributed to these trends? [If needed: for example, in terms of quality of students, racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, field of study, etc.] How has this increase affected your graduate program, if at all?

3. We are interested in how the GRFP affects the university. To what extent does the program help:

   • Recruit students to STEM programs at your university?

   • Offset the costs necessary to fund students?

   • Diversify the student body of STEM programs?

4. How would your university be affected if GRFP funding were to disappear? Does the GRFP figure into the financial planning of the graduate studies office or any of your graduate programs?

5. Does the current amount of funding provided by the GRFP adequately meet the needs of graduate students at your university? How is the cost-of-education allowance provided by the GRFP Fellowship used by the university? Are Fellows provided any kind of supplemental funding if the allowance cannot cover their financial needs?

6. How many staff members are involved in the administration of GRFP Fellowships? Are there supports or activities provided by the university to the Fellows that are separate from those provided to other graduate students?

7. Compared to other students, to what extent are Fellows contributing to the research endeavors of the university while they are in graduate school? To what extent are they supporting the department through service and teaching? How has this changed over the past few years? (Probe specifically for changes in Fellows’ participation in teaching and research.) To what extent are they succeeding in STEM fields upon graduation?

8. Over the past few years, how would you say the GRFP has changed, whether in terms of regulations, how it affects Fellows, how it affects your institution, or in some other way?

9. How could the GRFP be improved? What changes to the program would most benefit your university?