It was also a resounding success, and the University has been asked to host it again.

From Nov. 18-20, WUSTL and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation will convene the 2nd National Conference on Graduate Student Leadership (NCGSL).

Among the attendees will be teams of three graduate student leaders and one graduate administrator from each of the 20 institutions — up from 14 in 2003 — that participate in the foundation's Responsive Ph.D. Initiative.

The student delegates have set the conference agenda by identifying six key issues of concern in graduate education. The six topics — public responsibility and the role of the Ph.D.; diversity and inclusiveness; interdisciplinary education; professional development and career options; student life; and governance and graduate student leadership — will be discussed during panel sessions from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 19 in the auditorium of Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering.

WUSTL graduate and professional students, including about 25 nominated graduate student leaders, are invited to observe the Nov. 19 panel discussions.

"My hopes for this conference are that we will be proud to hear of the continued positive effects from the 2003 conference; fully engage the delegates representing the universities new to the Responsive Ph.D. Initiative; and continue to share ideas and take them back to our own campuses," said Christina Linsenmeyer, a doctoral student in music in Arts & Sciences.

She served as graduate student editor of the 2003 conference proceedings (available online at artsci.wustl.edu/GSAS/ncgsl2003/proceedings) and will have the same role this time.

"This process of evaluation and assessment is critical to the development of graduate education, and including such a community of institutions in the conversations multiplies our potential for results," she added.

The WUSTL delegates are Richard Souvenir, a doctoral student in computer science and engineering and president of the Graduate Professional Council; Brooke Van Horn, a doctoral student in chemistry in Arts & Sciences and co-president of Arts & Sciences' Graduate Student Senate (GSS); and Andrew Butler, a doctoral student in psychology in Arts & Sciences and GSS vice president.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will welcome the conference participants. Robert E. Thach, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, is the conference convener, and Elaine Berland, Ph.D., associate dean in the graduate school, is conference director.

Heather Nehre, a doctoral student in music and GSS co-president, is chair of the NCGSL Advisory Committee.

For more information, call 935-7355.