Cornell University

Cornell University’s library will work with other campus partners including the graduate school and the campus writing center to address the problem of high attrition rates among doctoral students in humanities disciplines. National studies indicate this problem is shared by humanities programs in many universities across the country. A local assessment at Cornell indicated the high dropout rates among humanities graduate students are at least partially attributable to inadequate skills in core areas including research, information management, personal organization, time and project management, using new technologies, and writing. A four-day immersion course for fifteen selected second-year graduate students from the university’s humanities departments will offer sessions on each of these skills, taught by librarians and staff from other campus organizations. The project will explore the potential of such an intervention as a model for other universities.