By Ella Grossomanides, WVUA 23 Digital Reporter
The University of Alabama Graduate School celebrates 100 years of transformative education opportunities at Capstone. The Graduate School includes more than 150 master's, doctoral, professional and certificate programs.
The university has offered graduate degrees since its founding in 1831 and awarded its first master's degree in 1835.
“Graduate education has always been inseparable from the university's mission of teaching, research, and service,” said UA Graduate School Dean Susan Carvalho. “However, after World War I, UA experienced a surge in student numbers, buildings, and graduate education, resulting in the establishment of the Graduate School in 1924.”
Carvalho said the anniversary is a time for reflection, but it's also special to see the bridge from the past to the present and beyond.
With the growth of UA's Research-1 status, graduate student enrollment has continued to increase in recent years.
“When President Bell came to UA in 2015, he charged the campus with growing both the undergraduate research and graduate school missions hand in hand,” Carvalho said. “Growth in research has enabled us to create more funded positions for campus-based graduate students. Improvements in the Office of Educational Innovation and Digital Education have significantly expanded online graduate programs. I’ve grown.”
Graduate and professional students make up 15 percent of the student population, Carballo said. He says the goal is to reach his 20% as the research mission expands.
“Graduate education can be defined as the discovery of new knowledge,” Carvalho says. “In that sense, our graduate students are partners with our faculty, who are developing tomorrow's leaders in industry, business, and research.”
