Institutional Site Visit Sample Interviews: University Staff

Institutional sITE VISIT Sample (SIX INSTITUTIONS)

INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS

I. Departmental Staff Protocol

Questions for relevant departmental staff members (e.g., graduate student office or student affairs staff members who have worked with GRFP Fellows):

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. How do Fellows benefit from their GRFP Fellowship? How does your department benefit from hosting GRFP Fellows?

3. Let’s talk about the program’s enrollment patterns in terms of gender, ethnicity, and Master’s/Ph.D. student ratios. Do Fellows differ from other graduate students in terms of these characteristics? To what extent does the GRFP promote diversity among graduate students enrolled in your department?

4. What kinds of supports are offered to Fellows that are different than those offered other graduate students? In your opinion, are these helpful to Fellows in terms of timely progress towards degree or better integration into the department?

5. How does your department financially support its graduate students, for example, how many students receive full support to the completion of their degree, and how is aid awarded? How would the department be affected if GRFP funding were to disappear? Does the GRFP figure into the financial planning of the department?

6. Now let’s talk about how the Fellows in your department actually use their Fellowships. When do most Fellows use the three years of the Fellowship? How common is it for Fellows to place their GRFP Fellowship on reserve for one or two years? How do most GRFP students secure funding when they are not receiving GRFP support? What supplemental funding, if any, is provided to Fellows by the department? How do the guidelines on when Fellows may use their funding affect the experiences of the Fellows and the department? How has this changed over the past few years?

7. What are the expectations and opportunities for TAing and RAing in the department? Do Fellows participate in these opportunities to the same degree as their peers? How has this changed over the past few years?

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 ideas would you like to communicate to NSF? [If perceived problems are reported:] What solutions would you propose?