Several Graduate Student Learning Communities were kickstarted by CIRTL funding at ISU in Fall 2012. CIRTL funding is no longer available, but we encourage other programs and departments to start their own GLCs to enhance the graduate student experience at Iowa State. We also encourage distance graduate programs to propose virtual GLCs.
The cornerstones of a successful GLC are:
- Regular meetings which engage students in discussions about becoming successful in his or her particular discipline
- Seminars addressing the milestones of graduate work, research skills, teaching and learning pedagogy, and leadership
- A structured social atmosphere fostering peer-to-peer mentoring relationships, community building, and connections to faculty
Past and Present Graduate Student Learning Communities
- Aerospace Engineering Graduate Learning Community
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Graduate Learning Community
- Biochemistry and Biophysics Graduate Learning Community
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Laboratory Graduate Learning Community
- Center for Biorenewable Chemicals Graduate Learning Community
- Chemical and Biological Engineering Writing Graduate Learning Community
- Chemistry English Graduate Learning Community
- Human-Computer Interaction Graduate Learning
- Community Industrial Engineering Graduate Community
- Inspired by Teaching Graduate Learning Community
- Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Learning Community
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Learning Community
- Mechanical Engineering Graduate Learning Community
- Physics and Astronomy Graduate Learning Community
- School of Education Doctoral Learning Community
- Statistics Graduate Learning Community