This year the Graduate School proudly celebrates its 100th anniversary. For over a century, graduate education has flourished at Carolina, thanks to the dedication of the leaders who have come before us. To honor those who have carried this vision forward, the Graduate School has prepared a book, Pioneer to Powerhouse: The History of Graduate Education at Carolina. I think you will enjoy this exciting story and, through it, come to appreciate the many challenges that have made the journey so rewarding.

That journey still continues, as revealed by the many changes that have taken place at the Graduate School just within the last few years. Now, more than ever, the Graduate School is committed to creating a sense of community among our students and to fostering an environment that prepares them to encompass multidisciplinary perspectives.

Through our commitment to attracting the most qualified, diverse student body to Carolina, the Graduate School has created, nurtured and supported a range of privately funded fellowships that provide multidisciplinary opportunities for our students.

In the future, we will continue to make changes to benefit our graduate students. Our newest initiative is the creation of a Graduate Center — a place where graduate seminars can be held and students can interact. Once established, this center would provide, for the first time, a place that graduate students from across campus can call home.

We also will continue our efforts to ensure that our student body is inclusive, as illustrated by our cover story highlighting new initiatives to increase support for Native American graduate students.

Our centennial year will be filled with activities and stimulating discussions related to graduate education at Carolina. We welcome your participation in these events and encourage you to take a look at the insert in this issue of The Fountain for details.

-Linda Dykstra

© 2002, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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