Graduate Education Now Has Its Own Caucus in the House of Representatives.
Graduate Education Now Has Its Own Caucus in the House of Representatives
By Kelley Karnes
GradEdge
Back in mid-July, CGS attended the launch of the Graduate Research and Development (GRAD) Caucus. This new bipartisan caucus in the House of Representatives was formed to address the needs and issues of graduate researchers, inform fellow members of Congress on the impact of graduate research, and develop policies that benefit graduate researchers and their research.
The event started with introductions from two graduate students who initiated the caucus, Divyansh Kaushik, a doctoral candidate at Carnegie Mellon University and Benjamin Lane, doctoral candidate at MIT. Then, they introduced the four chairpersons, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA-18), Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), and Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK-5).
The GRAD Caucus's top priorities will focus on ensuring accessibility to graduate school for people of all backgrounds, improving areas of support for graduate students, and creating more opportunities for graduate researchers to use their work and knowledge to tackle larger societal challenges.
Fellow Representatives, graduate students, and community members that are supportive of graduate education are invited to get involved or join the caucus. CGS encourages members to reach out to their Representative in the House to ask them to join the Caucus.
CGS staff supports having this group in Congress dedicated to graduate education and looks forward to working with the Caucus on important issues related to graduate education.