The Fountain, supporting graduate education at Carolina
A publication of The Graduate School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
On-Line Version Spring 2003

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Graph of average teaching assistant stipends for Carolina and peers

Talking Research Ethics

In the current atmosphere of commercially funded research, scientists must be ready to face the difficult ethical questions that arise when profit-seeking corporations and universities collaborate.

That was the message Nancy Olivieri delivered at the Ralph R. Landes and Annual Research Ethics Lecture on January 29. The lecture was sponsored by the UNC School of Medicine, the Graduate School and the John B. Graham Student Research Society.

The University of Toronto professor of pediatrics and medicine described her battle against Apotex, a drug company that sought to silence Olivieri’s concerns about patient safety during clinical trials for the drug deferiprone, and later sued when she made her research public.

Olivieri outlined the pitfalls and risks to scientific integrity and academic freedom posed by corporate-funded research, citing numerous instances when corporations forced researchers to keep negative, confounding or “boring” results to themselves. She said those who spoke out did so at their peril and, often, without the support of their universities.

Examining T.A. Pay

UNC’s teaching assistant pay ranks 15th in a list of 18 peer institutions, a fact that led the Teaching Assistant Advisory Task Force to recommend increases in 2004. To compete with private and public universities in graduate student recruitment, the task force said, UNC’s pay should rank in the top quarter.

Implementing the recommendations would cost the University $5.5 million and would depend upon the availability of funding. In a January report, the task force said the goal is ambitious, but worthwhile. Steve Allred, task force chair and associate provost for academic initiatives, said, “In order to attract the best graduate students and to provide a reasonable level of compensation for our T.A.s, and to reach our goal of being the leading public university, we can do no less.”

Teaching in the U.S.A.

Teaching in the United States can be a perplexing experience for a graduate student from another country. “In some Asian countries, for example, prolonged eye contact is considered rude,” said Amy Johnson, instructor for a Graduate School pilot course offered for international teaching assistants this school year. Some countries also use a different style of instruction — all lecture and no questions asked.

Johnson’s course, “Communicating in the American Classroom,” helps students with English pronunciation, teaching skills and cultural differences in the classroom. Before and after videos of simulated lectures showed marked improvement in students’ abilities, Johnson said. “They do feel much more confident as teachers and as communicators,” she said.

The Graduate School developed the pilot course with the help of the Parents Council, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Campaign Notes

Generous gifts from our supporters have enabled the Graduate School to raise nearly $9 million of our $18 million goal for the Carolina First Campaign. Graduate School initiatives that will benefit include Dissertation and University Fellowships within the Royster Society of Fellows, the Scholars for Tomorrow Fellows, the Graduate Student Opportunity Fund and the Dean’s Discretionary Fund.

The University entered the public phase of the Carolina First Campaign on Oct. 11, 2002, with the goal of raising $1.8 billion. As of Feb. 24, the University had raised more than $940 million, 52 percent of its goal.

 

© 2002, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
All text and images are property of The Graduate School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Contact Sandra Hoeflich at shoeflic@email.unc.edu to request permission for reproduction.