MAGS Fall 2020 Virtual Conference

We were not able to get together this past spring in Milwaukee, so now we are making up for lost time by offering MAGS events to keep us connected throughout the entire Fall semester!  This MAGS Fall Virtual Conference consists of social hours, a learning series, and a feature event.

MAGS Fall Featured Event – October 7, 2020, 1 – 3 pm CDT

This event includes a keynote and introduction of the MAGS 2020 3MT winners.  Click here to register!

Meet the MAGS 3MT Winners

MAGS members will have an opportunity to meet the top 3 awardees and view their video presentations during the October 7^th event. MAGS will hold its annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition virtually during the month of September. The 3MT competition challenges students to present a compelling oration of their thesis or dissertation research in just three minutes. Twenty-five Spring 2020 entrants will be participating in this event, submitting pre-recorded videos of their 3MT presentations, which will be viewed and rated by several groups of judges, following the same protocol and rubric as the live competition.

Keynote

Although many examples of graduate education’s public benefits are available, educators and university administrators face five obstacles to effective advocacy on behalf of graduate education’s public impact, including (a) a relatively small constituency; (b) less clear identity and community presence compared to undergraduate education; (c) a perception that graduate education is a luxury, rather than a necessity, an elective vs. a requirement; (d) a set of obvious personal benefits that often causes public benefits to be overlooked; and (e) a policy preference for student payments rather than public subsidies to fund graduate education. Dr. Nietzel will discuss these obstacles and then provide benefits of graduate education that should be emphasized to highlight the public goods.  These include professional expertise, valuable discoveries from research, economic spillovers, and stronger communities.  The experiences of the pandemic serve only to heighten the importance of these benefits.

Michael T. Nietzel is president emeritus of Missouri State University. Nietzel earned his BA from Wheaton College (Illinois) and his MA and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois. In 1973, he joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky, where he subsequently served as Director of the Clinical Psychology Program, Chair of the Department of Psychology, Dean of the Graduate School and University Provost. In 2005, he was named president of Missouri State University. Following his retirement from Missouri State 2010, he served as Governor Jay Nixon’s Senior Policy Advisor from 2010-2016 and as Deputy Director of Missouri Department of Mental Health from 2016-2018. Nietzel currently is a Senior Contributor to Forbes online.

MAGS Fall Learning Series

The executive committee of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools invites you and your team members to join us for the Fall 2020 MAGS Learning Series.  We will begin with a brief introduction from MAGS Board members, followed by small group discussion in breakout rooms, which will be reported back/summarized to the larger group.  We are replicating the structure that many of you may recognize from our face-to-face conferences.  If interested, please sign up via our MAGS Learning Series Google form so that we can send you a zoom link for the Learning Series events (one day prior to the event).

(All times are Central Time)

• September 15, 3:00 pm – Enrollment Management for 2021
• November 17, 3:00 pm – TBA

First Thursdays MAGS Social Hour

We also invite you and your team members to join us the first Thursday of each month for an opportunity to connect with colleagues, meet new members, and discuss issues that are currently impacting graduate education.  You could even just come to see a friendly face in our graduate community and get support for whatever the week might be throwing at you.  In order to participate in these events, your university needs to be a member of MAGS or eligible for MAGS membership.  Sign up via our MAGS Social Hour Google Form.

(All times are Central Time)

• September 3, 4:30 – 5:30 pm
• October 1, 4:30 – 5:30 pm
• November 5, 4:30 – 5:30 pm