6/20/08

The Commencement ceremony two weeks ago was once again a great celebration of the accomplishments of our students.  It was a great honor for me to represent the Department at the awarding of the degrees.  I was very happy to congratulate our graduates and to meet many of their families.  

I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the event particularly the post-commencement reception.  The number of people made it difficult to find our graduates and offer my personal congratulations.  Indeed my experience made me wonder if we as a Department should sponsor an event that would allow our graduates and their families to share the celebration with our faculty and their colleagues.  I am therefore looking for suggestions for next year.  Possibilities might include a post-commencement reception, a luncheon between the morning exercises in Cambridge and afternoon commencement at the School, or a reception the day before commencement.  I would particularly welcome suggestions from our recent graduates. I am sure you had a great day, but what could we have done to make the experience better for you and your families?

For our graduates who are still looking for jobs, we have received the vacancy announcement for the Director of the National Institute of Environmental health Sciences.  This announcement will be posted shortly on our web site at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/departments/environmental-health/job-announcements/.
While you might not feel qualified for this specific job, there are many other positions posted there which might be of interest.

While we are saying goodbye to many of our graduates, some are returning as post-doctoral fellows or as doctoral candidates.  Indeed, in the academic cycle we are preparing to welcome our new students in just a couple of months.  Student orientation starts August 25th, and many are coming for the summer session which starts July 2nd.  We have 36 new students entering in the fall -- 17 ScD, 15 MS, 2 MPH in Occupational Medicine, and 2 MS in Occupational Health Nursing.  We had a very substantial increase in our “yield” this year, that is the number of admitted students who have committed to come.  This reflects active follow-up by our faculty and the program staff with our top applicants.  It also reflects the increased financial support we have been able to offer.  This year we are providing over $1 million in support for the incoming students from training grants, school and university grants, and department and program funds.  This is in addition to the support for our continuing students.  The University and the School have defined student support as a priority, and we are starting to see the benefits of these efforts.  

For those of you who were wondering, I had a great day fishing off Nantucket with my family on Monday.  You can see a picture of some of our catches on the online version of these notes (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/departments/environmental-health/department-notes/this-weeks-notes/index.html).

Congratulations on their 17th Championship to the Celtics.  Now we can get a full nights sleep.

Doug