Dear Friend of Graduate Education:
 
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is the voice for U.S. graduate education. For over 50 years, CGS has been the only U.S. organization dedicated solely to the mission of advancing and improving graduate education and research. We pursue that mission through advocacy, research and best practices.
 
Core to CGS’s mission is supporting graduate leadership and promoting an active community for graduate deans: our membership includes over 500 U.S. and Canadian institutions that participate in regional, national, and North American networks. Recognizing the global scope of the research enterprise, CGS has also enriched our community by engaging international leaders in graduate education.
 
Building on Success. 
The extraordinary quality of our doctoral and master’s education is recognized worldwide. Every day in our labs, libraries, and classrooms, outstanding faculty and students are engaged in leading-edge research, scholarship, and advanced practice.
 
The success of the graduate enterprise yields broad benefits. Research advancements made in our graduate schools improve our social and economic well-being both nationally and globally. For students, a graduate degree opens doors and provides the gateway to a successful career. The productivity of our institutions and programs also ensures continued excellence in U.S. education, scholarship and research.
 
Positioning for the Future. 
A key focus of CGS is to build on these successes by encouraging the exchange of best practices while at the same time providing information, programs, and services that help members prepare for the future.
 
CGS’s 50th anniversary in 2010 provided an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come, and also prompted serious thinking about where we want to be in the future. Our aspirations are captured in a national report, The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States (2010), which provides a roadmap for achieving progress in key areas such as: broadening participation for underrepresented students, preparing students for multiple career pathways and global opportunities, and strengthening ties between academia, industry, and government.
 
Looking forward, CGS is focused on empowering institutions to shape the future.  New and ongoing projects at CGS support their efforts to enhance program quality, degree completion and accountability through improved use of evidence and data. We are assisting institutions to develop mutually beneficial connections and collaborations with others in the U.S. and abroad. And we are helping members to build innovative programs in new fields that prepare students to be the job creators in emerging sectors of the knowledge economy. 
 
Whether you are already a CGS member or are hoping to learn more about CGS and graduate education, we hope that our website proves valuable to you and inspires you to connect with others in the graduate community.
 
Debra W. Stewart                                                                        
President
 
Biography of Debra W. Stewart