These delegates were invited to exchange ideas about what graduate students think are the key issues in graduate education in the 21st century. The graduate student leaders set the conference agenda by proposing important issues in graduate education from which the following six topic areas were organized:

1. Social Responsibility
2. Diversity
3. Career and Professional Development
4. Mentoring and Interdisciplinary Training
5. Graduate Student Community and Student Life
6. Governance/Graduate Student Representation

During the summer the delegates communicated by e-mail with their panel group members; they organized talking points and key questions on their topics.

During the October 10-12 conference they served in assigned roles as facilitator, panelist, reporter, or response moderator for the panels. Each topic panel was 50 minutes, including a question and answer discussion among delegates and invited guests in the audience. Saturday evening dinner provided an opportunity for continued discussion of topics by delegates from other panels, guided by a response moderator. Delegates reconvened Sunday morning: response moderators summarized the Saturday dinner discussion of the 6 panel topics; this was followed by a brainstorming of next steps for dissemination of conference ideas and a conference wrap-up.

The National Conference and its continuing follow-ups are a unique opportunity to hear what graduate and professional student leaders think are the perplexing challenges and promising practices in graduate education in the 21st Century. It is an opportunity for graduate students to exchange ideas and learn from each other; to network with other graduate student leaders nationwide, and to bring back ideas and continue the conversations on their own campuses.

In addition there were opportunities for idea exchange and discussion beyond the panels. There were Friday dinner and Saturday lunch presentations by the President of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Dr. Robert Weisbuch and Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, respectively. Deans’ representatives from the 14 Responsive Ph.D. universities, WWF program officers, and representatives from Re-envisioning the Ph.D., the Council of Graduate Schools, and the National Association of Professional-Graduate Students attended to listen and learn, and serve as information resources.

On Saturday October 11th, the conference was opened to W.U. graduate-professional students, including those nominated by their graduate School Deans, and graduate school administrators from Washington University’s eight graduate-professional schools: Arts & Sciences, Art, Architecture, Business, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Social Work. Again there was an opportunity for informal discussion among delegates and W.U. participants, including an afternoon closing reception.

A summary of the salient conference points and their implications will be written by the reporters. A summary of campus follow-ups will be written by the Deans’ representatives. These will be printed in conference proceedings to be distributed to all participating institutions early 2004.