Turning Twenty: Reflection and Anticipation at the 20th Anniversary of the GSAB
In the 20 years since its establishment, the Graduate Studies Advisory Board (GSAB) has been instrumental in the success of graduate studies in Arts & Sciences at William & Mary. The board celebrated 20 years of supporting graduate students and their research at its latest meeting in March 2024, which offered an opportunity for the GSAB to reflect upon its past achievements and look ahead to future goals.
The GSAB was established in 2004, when William & Mary faculty and administrators sought to increase W&M’s investment in graduate studies. Carlane Pittman-Hampton, Ph.D. ’03, now the W&M President Katherine Rowe’s Chief-of-Staff, was the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at the time of the GSAB’s establishment. “The formation of the Graduate Studies Advisory Board was an opportunity to invest into the graduate student experience and graduate student research,” Pittman-Hampton said.
Alumni of both graduate and undergraduate programs at W&M committed themselves to that investment as they formed the GSAB. They defined four goals for the advisory board: to advocate on behalf of graduate studies within the W&M community, increase the financial resources of Arts & Sciences graduate studies, assist in building a graduate community and enhance professional development opportunities for graduate students.
By prioritizing advocacy, fundraising, community and professional development, the GSAB has changed the landscape of the Arts & Sciences graduate community.
The board’s support of graduate studies is diffuse. From advocating for subsidized health insurance for graduate students to providing funds for student research to establishing awards for distinguished theses and dissertations, the GSAB has impacted numerous aspects of graduate life.
Much of the board’s success is due to its “amazingly talented and enthusiastic” membership, said Laurie Sanderson, a professor of biology and former Dean of Graduate Studies. “They are corporate and community and educational leaders, and they support Arts & Sciences programs because of the value that they see in a William & Mary education.”
GSAB members collaborate with numerous university offices and programs to support essential graduate projects in Arts & Sciences. Working alongside administrators in the A&S Office of Graduate Studies, faculty in the Committee on Graduate Studies and students in the Graduate Student Association means that the board is attuned to the variety of needs within the graduate community.
Betsy Page Sigman ’78, the president of the GSAB, said that much of the board’s support centers around how to “create a sense of belonging among the graduate community.” That sense of belonging has been fostered through the GSAB’s funding of new spaces and programs.
The GSAB has contributed to two new spaces on the W&M campus that have been dedicated exclusively for graduate students: the Graduate Student Commons located in Swem Library, which opened in the fall of 2015, and a new Graduate Center in Ewell Hall, which opened in the spring of 2024.
The new Graduate Center will be a critical part of the graduate studies community, said the Director of the Arts & Sciences Graduate Center Sarah Glosson, ’98, M.A. ’09, Ph.D. ’15. “There has been strong desire among grad students in A&S to actively build a scholarly and social community for several years, especially coming out of the pandemic. The new space is going to finally allow us to do this in a way that is intentional and student-driven,” said Glosson. Advisory board members had the chance to tour the newly opened Graduate Center and see the place where graduate community will continue to be fostered at the March 2024 meeting and reception.
Yet community is formed through programs as well as spaces. The popular weekly Journal Club, for example, gathers graduate students across all departments to informally present their research and connect with other students who they might not otherwise meet. Heather Baier, a third-year Ph.D. student in Applied Science, said that the weekly event funded by the GSAB “provides such a wonderful opportunity for graduate students to hear about each other’s research and engage with students from other departments.”
Some of the GSAB-supported programs illustrate the board’s reach beyond graduate studies. The S. Laurie Sanderson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring, for example, recognizes graduate students who have been committed to mentoring undergraduate students outside of the classroom. The faculty who support the graduate programs in Arts & Sciences have long maintained that strong graduate programs elevate other aspects of the university. The GSAB mentoring award is the result of the board’s commitment to “increase synergies between graduate and undergraduate students,” said Sigman.
Those inter-degree synergies can also be seen in the Graduate & Honors Research Symposium, which began as a showcase for graduate student research in 2002 but expanded to include undergraduate student research in 2023.
While the GSAB does much to foster connections within the Arts & Sciences graduate student community, it also seeks to create networks across the entire W&M community. Its mentorship program, for example, matches graduate students with successful alumni to further the students’ professional development.
GSAB board member Susan Jensen Rawles, Ph.D. ’05, the Associate Curator of American Painting and Decorative Arts at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, said that “graduate studies – the thesis/ dissertation – is just the first step in a long career during which thoughts and opinions will develop and change.”
Alexandra Macdonald, a seventh-year Ph.D. student in the history department, was one of Rawles' mentees and credits Rawles with setting her on a pathway for success: “Beyond the myriad ways Susie went above and beyond to support me with letters and research experience, she has been a constant cheerleader and there to talk through any questions I had as I moved through the dissertation process.” 
The GSAB has also kept pace with W&M’s constant evolution as a place of innovative education and research. One upcoming change to graduate studies at W&M is the proposed creation of a school encompassing the existing units of Data Science, Computer Science, Applied Science and Physics. Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Professor of Physics Chris Carone said that about 47% of graduate students currently supported by the GSAB will move from the umbrella of Arts & Sciences to the proposed school. The GSAB, established within Arts & Sciences, currently only supports Arts & Sciences graduate students. At its latest meeting, however, the GSAB voted unanimously to begin the process of redefining itself as a board that supports the graduate student bodies of both Arts & Sciences and the proposed school.
In 2004, the GSAB committed itself to supporting the growth and strength of the W&M graduate community. Today, it is committed to continuing that mission. “Let’s keep doing what we’re doing,” GSAB member Dianne Alleva Cáceres, ’87, M.A. ’89, said to her fellow board members at the 20th anniversary celebration. “It’s impactful.”
