ANN ARBOR—The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected the University of Michigan as a national, multi-year partner in a project to improve doctoral education at American universities.

The foundation’s Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate has tapped U-M’s Chemistry, English, Educational Studies and Mathematics departments to participate in the five-year study. The departments will analyze all aspects of their doctoral programs and link specific activities to desired outcomes. Carnegie Senior Scholar Chris Golde explained that the project goals are to support and study experiments in doctoral education with leading graduate programs, and to document and analyze the character of those initiatives. Then, working with these innovative units, the project will help the disciplinary community create models and evidence of success to inform others in the field.

“We’re working with departments that are committed to being stewards of their disciplines,” Golde said.

“We don’t just mean a preservation of the heart and essence of the field, although that’s important, but we chose those departments who have a critical eye toward the future, who are willing to take risks and move the discipline forward.”

U-M and The Ohio State University were the only institutions to have four of their departments chosen to participate as partners.

“We are in a strong position to assist the Carnegie Foundation in a prolonged examination of reform in doctoral education,” said Earl Lewis, dean of the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

“I am pleased that the initiative has chosen four Michigan units to participate in this important national project. That all four of our projects were selected for inclusion is a clear sign of a level of commitment of the University and our colleagues to change.”

The other partnering universities are Arizona State, Columbia, Duke, Howard, Indiana University at Bloomington, Michigan State, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Texas A&M, The Ohio State University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Washington State University.

Carnegie also picked 22 allied departments to form a network in each discipline. More details are available at www.carnegiefoundation.org. The initiative is being funded by the Carnegie Foundation and by the Atlantic Philanthropies, which identifies and supports leaders and organizations dedicated to learning, knowledge building and solving pressing social problems. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center in Menlo Park, Calif., founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905.